Dear AIr'ers - Well - I'm not a communications scholar. So I had a difficult time understanding communication generally. This textbook helped me a great deal: Burgoon, J. K., D. B. Buller, et al. (1996/1989) Nonverbal communication: The unspoken dialogue. (New York: McGraw-Hill). Nonverbal sounds like a strange option until one realizes that most of what happens on a computer screen is non-spoken. Regarding CMC, Lucy Suchman's book is THE place to start (IMHO). Suchman, L. (1987) Plans and situated actions: The problem of human-machine communication. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). I have also found that much of the CMC material doesn't do justice to HIP - Human Information Processing. While that's a difficult subject, here's my favorite textbook on that: Proctor, R. W. and T. Van Zandt (1994) Human factors in simple and complex systems. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon). Another textbook that I refer to, time and again: Fiske, S. T. and S. E. Taylor (1991) Social Cognition, 2nd Ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill). I know there is an updated edition of the Fiske & Taylor. It was very very helpful on human cognition and covered a lot of ground that I found helpful when looking at CMC later on. This came from our list a while ago, I haven't read it: Wood, A, & Smith, M. (2004, in press). Online Communication: Linking Technology, Identity, and Culture - Second Edition. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates. Cheers, Denise ===== Denise N. Rall, PhD candidate, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 - Mobile 0438 233 344 Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & Internet Researcher http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html