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Reading Reflection #1
Geschrieben von
thomas t
,
17 März 2009
·
381 Aufrufe
Computer-Mediated Communication
First of all it is all about definition. This may be a boring part, but it is necessary to understand the rest. So, what is CMC? In fact it is all communication between people that works over computers. When I say computer I mean internet, because without the net CMC won't work. So that means, that CMC is nearly everything on the net, especially on web 2.0 based applications, like chat, discussion board, blog, e-mail, skype, video blog and chat or every MMO. In my course we focus on text based applications, that means chat, discussion board and blog.
Communication
Although everyone seems to know what communication is, it is not that easy to define. Communication is the very base of social interaction between people. You can't not communicate. So communication means everything from mimic to spoken or written words.
The standard way of communication is sender → message → receiver. Well, it is not that easy, because words have many meanings. So you also need the context to decode the message. And the way you send your message effects also the massage that answers yours.
With communication you can do a lot of things. Not only inform people or seek information, you can also influence peoples behavior or exert control over them.
Communication is necessary to express ones identity and building relationships and communities. All things web 2.0 is famous for.
Mediated
To mediate means to act as a medium for something. That's it. So CMC means that the computer is a medium for communication. Great thought, isn't it?
Computer / Net
You all have to know what a computer or the net is, otherwise you can't read this blog. So why define? I really don't know. So I just give you an interesting fact. With every new communication technology human invent, communication moves farer away from the origin - face-to-face communication. But with the computer, and everything that comes after, it turns the other way. Webcams and other things we are able to talk face-to-face with someone from the other side of the world. That's cool.
The other part of this reflection deals with communication technologies and their history, especially the internet. Well, I think I don't have to write about the history of the internet. If someone wants to know about it go and ask Wikipedia. But it has to be said, that communication technology starts with the invention of writing.
Technology is from the Greek word techne, which means art, artifice or craft.
Although we all know the internet and the world wide web and use the one for the other, the net and the web are not synonymous. In fact the web is just a part of the net. Well, it is the biggest part that is able to host many others, but it is just a part. Applications like chat, discussion board or e-mail are part of the net, not the web, even they are hosted by the web. You don't need to open your Firefox, when you use Outlook, do you? Or if you use a torrent.
And now it is time to use the word 'cyberspace'. First mentioned by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer ten years before the net started to get popular, it is now a common term for the net as a palace of social interaction. That means CMC is a necessary part of the cyberspace. But cyberspace is more. It also includes or evolve to peoples real world, not just interact with it. So the cyberspace is a sociologists first aim on research the internet.
As mentioned before CMC is build up of various parts or subsystems. These are [copy-paste]chat, discussion board, blog, e-mail, skype, video blog and chat or every MMO[/copy-paste]. So it's obvious that the net is not one single communication technology, it's more a vast universe. Continuously evolving and one of the fastest media ever the research of the Cyberspace has started just a few years ago.
Readings: Thurlow, C; Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer mediated communication. Social interaction and the internet. London: Sage.
Communication
Although everyone seems to know what communication is, it is not that easy to define. Communication is the very base of social interaction between people. You can't not communicate. So communication means everything from mimic to spoken or written words.
The standard way of communication is sender → message → receiver. Well, it is not that easy, because words have many meanings. So you also need the context to decode the message. And the way you send your message effects also the massage that answers yours.
With communication you can do a lot of things. Not only inform people or seek information, you can also influence peoples behavior or exert control over them.
Communication is necessary to express ones identity and building relationships and communities. All things web 2.0 is famous for.
Mediated
To mediate means to act as a medium for something. That's it. So CMC means that the computer is a medium for communication. Great thought, isn't it?
Computer / Net
You all have to know what a computer or the net is, otherwise you can't read this blog. So why define? I really don't know. So I just give you an interesting fact. With every new communication technology human invent, communication moves farer away from the origin - face-to-face communication. But with the computer, and everything that comes after, it turns the other way. Webcams and other things we are able to talk face-to-face with someone from the other side of the world. That's cool.
The other part of this reflection deals with communication technologies and their history, especially the internet. Well, I think I don't have to write about the history of the internet. If someone wants to know about it go and ask Wikipedia. But it has to be said, that communication technology starts with the invention of writing.
Technology is from the Greek word techne, which means art, artifice or craft.
Although we all know the internet and the world wide web and use the one for the other, the net and the web are not synonymous. In fact the web is just a part of the net. Well, it is the biggest part that is able to host many others, but it is just a part. Applications like chat, discussion board or e-mail are part of the net, not the web, even they are hosted by the web. You don't need to open your Firefox, when you use Outlook, do you? Or if you use a torrent.
And now it is time to use the word 'cyberspace'. First mentioned by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer ten years before the net started to get popular, it is now a common term for the net as a palace of social interaction. That means CMC is a necessary part of the cyberspace. But cyberspace is more. It also includes or evolve to peoples real world, not just interact with it. So the cyberspace is a sociologists first aim on research the internet.
As mentioned before CMC is build up of various parts or subsystems. These are [copy-paste]chat, discussion board, blog, e-mail, skype, video blog and chat or every MMO[/copy-paste]. So it's obvious that the net is not one single communication technology, it's more a vast universe. Continuously evolving and one of the fastest media ever the research of the Cyberspace has started just a few years ago.
Readings: Thurlow, C; Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer mediated communication. Social interaction and the internet. London: Sage.
