Hi Jillana, :-) I think the special issue (2005, vol.21, no.4) of The Information Society may be helpful in answering your question. Some of the authors in the issue discuss how the internet/CMC/ICT is conceptualized for its study/discipline(?)/field to be thought of. The authors in the issue say that there isn't really any clear-cut difference among CMC, ICT and digital communication, and all other sorts. Rather they serve as vague umbrella terms that in a way provide us with a coherent sense or shared faith of "it"--whatever it is that we are studying, organized under, have created specific journals (e.g., NEW MEDIA & Society, Journal of COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION) for so that we can submit our research to and get tenured, etc. Also I recall from the AoIR conference in Chicago that someone did a content-analysis-like study on all the published articles of Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and presented what types of articles have been published and how the terms have changed over a decade to refer to "it". CMC was widely used in the beginning then has faded away, sort of. Now ICT seems used more widely. Anyway, although it's just a case of one particular journal, it should be worth looking at. Then again, there are at least two different ways of answering that question. That is, as scholars who are pioneers of internet research in its early stage and shaping what "it" is, we can discuss what CMC, ICT, and digital communication SHOULD mean. Or we can look at what CMC, ICT, and digital communication DO mean grounded in empirical data (e.g., users' everyday language, popular media's rhetoric). I prefer the later. Cheers, Han -- Han N. Lee, Ph.D. Student Department of Communication, Machmer Hall University of Massachusetts 240 Hicks Way Amherst, MA 01003-9278 Curriculum Project Assistant Commonwealth College 408 Goodell Building 140 Hicks Way Amherst, MA 01003-9272 vm: 413) 577-0729 On 7/24/06, Jillana Enteen <jillana@jillana.net> wrote:
Hello all,
I'm trying to sort out the differences in etymology and meaning between CMC, ICT and digital communication. I'm having a hard time-- other than recognizing the academic/educational basis for ICT and its roots in IT, it seems to me that these terms are used interchangeably.
Any thoughts?
best wishes, jillana Jillana Enteen jillana@jillana.net
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