Hmm... 'Media' doesn't cut it, cause Barry's talking about all the two way media. Which is more like 'communication'. Just saying media actually includes too much. Digital doesn't cut it, because cell phones are usually digital. Neither does social, since ALL media are social (including one-way media such as a static web-page). Internet gets us back where we started. So my vote is with "online communication" Regarding the meta-issue of whether we would benefit from such a word, I think it is fair to say we will. I think the goal is to discuss a situation where many people are using computers (loosely defined) to interface with other people. Unlike a telephone, the social affordances of a computer are not clearly defined (except perhaps, that it affords text communication given the big keyboard which comes standard with every computer). The relevance of this discussion becomes clear when we assert that there is something qualitatively different about two-way communication over TCP/IP. Or perhaps something qualitatively different about communication that is mediated by software design in addition to hardware. TCP/IP is not the raison d'etre of the Internet, only the current necessary condition. If it was magically switched tomorrow, there are millions of people who would not notice the difference. Furthermore, in the short period of time where I tried a Vonage VOIP phone, I didn't consider it Internet communication, even if it was communication over the internet. There was no software component. So, it seems that software, that is really at the heart of this issue (at least for me). So now, having asserted that its the fact that its software, and we are referring to online 'two-way' communication, I propose the eminently silly word 'softalk' - pronounced 'soff-tok', if you want something a little more exciting than 'online communication'. (or perhaps we reasert social software?) Take Care, BERNiE Bernie Hogan Ph.D. Student Department of Sociology [NetLab, Knowledge Media Design Institute] University of Toronto -- Reply to Bernie.Hogan@Utoronto.Ca