Susan Herring has an article that addresses state of the field in CMC at: Herring, S. C., Stein, D., & Virtanen, T., Eds. (2013). Introduction to the pragmatics of computer-mediated communication. Handbook of pragmatics of computer-mediated communication (pp. 3-31). Berlin: Mouton. Prepublication version: http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/CMC.pragmatics.intro.herring.et.al.pdf She also has an article that tackles the nomenclature issue but I'm not putting my hands on it at the moment. I've cc'd her so maybe she can contribute that information or one of the other readers may have it as well. Lois On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 4:21 AM, Pask-Hughes, Alexander < a.pask-hughes@lancaster.ac.uk> wrote:
Dear all,
I did reply off list to suggest Caroline Tagg's book about the discourse of text messaging, though in retrospect I'm not sure that really answers Darja's question.
One problem, which has been alluded to, is that the term CMC presupposes that the thing doing the mediating (the "computer"), is what defines the communication in some way. And it might be, but I think it might be dangerous to presuppose this.
The other issue is what CMC is contrasted with. Are we saying that "computer-mediated communication" is somehow different from "face-to-face communication"? What about those contexts where face-to-face communication is computer-mediated in a less obvious way? For example, when I go into a coffee shop and am speaking to the cashier, is this "computer-mediated communication"? Well, yes, in the sense that the "computer" (the "till" or "cash register") is mediating our interaction. And if we're extending the term to account for practices such as these, does the term start to lose it's usefulness?
From this perspective, I have a feeling that some of the Scollon's work (e.g. Mediated Discourse: The Nexus of Practice [2001] or Nexus Analysis: Discourse and the Emerging Internet [2004]) or work in Literacy Studies (e.g. by David Barton, Michele Knobel, Colin Lankshear, Guy Merchant) may be useful for you.
Alexander David Pask-Hughes
Department of Linguistics and English Language Lancaster University
a.pask-hughes@lancaster.ac.uk adpaskhughes@hotmail.co.uk
Twitter: @adpaskhughes ________________________________________ From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Lovaas,Steven [Steven.Lovaas@ColoState.EDU] Sent: 16 July 2013 07:33 To: Charles Ess; Jennifer Stromer-Galley; Darja Dayter; Air list Subject: Re: [Air-L] CMC - mobile phones included?
Charles, Jenny and Darja,
Personally, as an IT security professional, I find the notion of 'digital bug spray' quite appealing :)
But as for CMC, while the term has a certain cachet simply through repeated use, it does seem (to me) to suggest a limit on what counts as a valid instance of "communication": the transmissional model of person-->technology-->person and back again. The computer (or a network thereof) is the mediator... a mere tool; only people are privileged as proper communicators. I'm not necessarily suggesting that we always (or ever) have deep, meaningful relationships with our computing platform of choice, but certainly we ought at least to consider that some non-human elements of our vast global technological web might be considered valid communication partners in their own right. If that's even vaguely palatable, what then is the mediator in CMC?
"ICT" seems too heavily technology-oriented, while "HCI" seems to ignore the human-to-human aspect. Ought we strive for an all-encompassing term that expresses something like "communication across, through, with, and about computer technology"? Or maybe we should take a step back... what did we call it before the advent of the interwebs? I believe we naively, quaintly referred to it simply as Communication, understanding that it could happen face-to-face or over a telephone line or two-way radio or even video-phone. If it was one-way, from single producer to many consumers, we might narrow it down to "Mass" comm, but it was still communication no matter what technology was used (paper, radio waves, or whatever). "Technical" communication had more to do with communicating technical topics than with any particular medium. In fact, "medium" is the mediator (if not always the message). Can I have mediated communication in which the mediator is a human? Certainly. Can I similarly have direct, unmediated communication with a computer artifact? I think so. And, based on the wonderfully diverse papers I heard in Salford last year, we care about all of those shades of meaning.
OK, so where does that leave us? We tend to want to say things that are fairly broadly (if not universally) true, or at least useful across contexts. The internet (yes, including mobile phones) has become a pretty stinkin' huge context, and some folks are wondering whether we need to be attending to the possibilities of communicative relationships with non-human actors. So. If the M (mediated) feels too limiting, and the first C (computer) is too prescriptive, does retreating to "just" Communication feel somehow unsatisfying?
Some organizations from the early days of the internet (q.v. Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) have folded. I suspect, in part, that the ubiquity of the internet has lessened the interest or impact of groups specifically dedicated to looking at how computers have *changed* traditional fields. Computers are now inextricably *part* of every traditional field. So what does it mean to be an internet researcher? Is there a name we can claim that's different from those organizations that focus on traditional issues in Communication (though acknowledging internet issues)? I suspect that, as a baseline, our organization requires *some* sort of involvement with a technological element. As a newbie in some senses (though an experienced internet dude in others), I'll throw out a few possibilities... just to roil the waters.
Human-Computer-Communication (HCC) Networked Communication Networked Human Communication Riding the Shockwave (sorry, just had to) Network Actors, Technologies, Communicating Humans ('natch!)
Yikes... time for bed.
Steve
=================== Steven Lovaas IT Security Manager Colorado State University steven.lovaas@colostate.edu 970-297-3707 =================== ________________________________________ From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Charles Ess [charles.ess@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 10:53 PM To: Jennifer Stromer-Galley; Darja Dayter; Air list Subject: Re: [Air-L] CMC - mobile phones included?
Thanks for this, Jennifer, Darja - This helps reinforce my sense that we don't really have an accurate (much less sexy) term that is both broad enough and precise enough.
I've been objecting to "digital" media for some time now - though not nearly as long as Brian Massumi (2002) - because while the main processing and transmission technologies are certainly digital, they operate (necessarily) with analogue inputs and outputs. (We remain stubbornly embodied, for better and for worse, and our senses are analogue, not digitally-based.)
While CMC admittedly seems quaint (I'm sure I do too ...) - it does seem to me to be accurate: so far as I can tell, everything that we examine in the various foci and topoi characteristic of AoIR and what some of us simply call Internet Studies, depends on computer processing, whether within mobile devices or laptop/desktop computers, along with all of the processing that takes place in order to facilitate networked communication between these devices and ultimately those of us using them as communication devices. I have a vague hunch as to what Jennifer might mean by the term being too restrictive - perhaps along the lines of my finding "digital media" too restrictive? But perhaps you could spell that out a bit just for the sake of discussion? (For the record: "quaint" doesn't bother me so much ... Smile)
In any event, while I don't have a handy scholarly reference or two to suggest as documentation, I don't think there's any question but that mobile communication - what some call mobile and mobility communication, others mobile and locative communication, and so on, all for good reasons - including
texting and voice communication on mobile phones certainly counts as CMC. (Indeed, the current generation of smart phones offer more computational processing power and memory than the supercomputers of the 1970s, FWIW. Maybe we could call it super-computer mediated communication, just to gum up the works further?)
Again, many thanks - - charles
On 16.07.13 04:38, "Jennifer Stromer-Galley" <jstromer@syr.edu> wrote:
This is a great question. I ponder a lot the terminology we toss about these days related to the phenomena we study that has something to do with the Internet, but now that the Internet is accessed through so many devices "computer-mediated" communication seems too restrictive, maybe even quaint.
The shift to reference the technologies, such as information and communication technologies, or my made-up phrase 'digital communication technologies' (or simply digital media) are what I have shifted to using as my covering terms, rather than CMC.
I don't find those satisfying either. DCT is an unsexy acronym that makes me think of bug spray, but I liked it better than ICT for reasons I can't really articulate.
I personally find 'social media' objectionable, since the telephone and e-mail are also social media (strictly speaking), but most mean Facebook or Twitter, which is too limiting, so I avoid that phrase as much as possible.
I would be curious what others think about the jargon and covering terms we use these days.
~Jenny
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Darja Dayter Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 10:24 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] CMC - mobile phones included?
Dear all,
I am wondering what exactly is included into the term 'CMC' these days. Does texting and voice communication on mobile phones count, for instance? It would be great if you could point me in the direction of sources that deal explicitly with this issue!
Thanks beforehand, Darja
-- Darja Dayter, M.A. Universität Bayreuth, Englische Sprachwissenschaft Tel. 0921/55-4644 daria.dayter@uni-bayreuth.de_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ =================== Steven Lovaas IT Security Manager Colorado State University steven.lovaas@colostate.edu 970-297-3707 =================== ________________________________________ From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Charles Ess [charles.ess@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 10:53 PM To: Jennifer Stromer-Galley; Darja Dayter; Air list Subject: Re: [Air-L] CMC - mobile phones included?
Thanks for this, Jennifer, Darja - This helps reinforce my sense that we don't really have an accurate (much less sexy) term that is both broad enough and precise enough.
I've been objecting to "digital" media for some time now - though not nearly as long as Brian Massumi (2002) - because while the main processing and transmission technologies are certainly digital, they operate (necessarily) with analogue inputs and outputs. (We remain stubbornly embodied, for better and for worse, and our senses are analogue, not digitally-based.)
While CMC admittedly seems quaint (I'm sure I do too ...) - it does seem to me to be accurate: so far as I can tell, everything that we examine in the various foci and topoi characteristic of AoIR and what some of us simply call Internet Studies, depends on computer processing, whether within mobile devices or laptop/desktop computers, along with all of the processing that takes place in order to facilitate networked communication between these devices and ultimately those of us using them as communication devices. I have a vague hunch as to what Jennifer might mean by the term being too restrictive - perhaps along the lines of my finding "digital media" too restrictive? But perhaps you could spell that out a bit just for the sake of discussion? (For the record: "quaint" doesn't bother me so much ... Smile)
In any event, while I don't have a handy scholarly reference or two to suggest as documentation, I don't think there's any question but that mobile communication - what some call mobile and mobility communication, others mobile and locative communication, and so on, all for good reasons - including
texting and voice communication on mobile phones certainly counts as CMC. (Indeed, the current generation of smart phones offer more computational processing power and memory than the supercomputers of the 1970s, FWIW. Maybe we could call it super-computer mediated communication, just to gum up the works further?)
Again, many thanks - - charles
On 16.07.13 04:38, "Jennifer Stromer-Galley" <jstromer@syr.edu> wrote:
This is a great question. I ponder a lot the terminology we toss about these days related to the phenomena we study that has something to do with the Internet, but now that the Internet is accessed through so many devices "computer-mediated" communication seems too restrictive, maybe even quaint.
The shift to reference the technologies, such as information and communication technologies, or my made-up phrase 'digital communication technologies' (or simply digital media) are what I have shifted to using as my covering terms, rather than CMC.
I don't find those satisfying either. DCT is an unsexy acronym that makes me think of bug spray, but I liked it better than ICT for reasons I can't really articulate.
I personally find 'social media' objectionable, since the telephone and e-mail are also social media (strictly speaking), but most mean Facebook or Twitter, which is too limiting, so I avoid that phrase as much as possible.
I would be curious what others think about the jargon and covering terms we use these days.
~Jenny
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Darja Dayter Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 10:24 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] CMC - mobile phones included?
Dear all,
I am wondering what exactly is included into the term 'CMC' these days. Does texting and voice communication on mobile phones count, for instance? It would be great if you could point me in the direction of sources that deal explicitly with this issue!
Thanks beforehand, Darja
-- Darja Dayter, M.A. Universität Bayreuth, Englische Sprachwissenschaft Tel. 0921/55-4644 daria.dayter@uni-bayreuth.de_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Lois Ann Scheidt Doctoral Candidate Department of Information & Library Science, School of Informatics & Computing Indiana University, Bloomington IN USA Webpage: http://www.loisscheidt.com CV: http://www.loisscheidt.com/cv.html Blog: http://www.professional-lurker.com