[Air-l] Theoretical Approaches to CMC Research

[Denise N. Rall]

Okay, I seem to be posting here a lot, hope I'm not on
any twit lists, but to follow on from John Daly:

CMC approaches - Bodies of theories

CSCW - computer-supported cooperative work
approaches(mentioned by John Daly)

HCI - CHI approaches - I think they are closely
aligned but not identical to activity theory - in CHI,
I haven't read in it for a few years, but I would put
the cognitive theories (as opposed to activity
theories) - those writing about cognitive approaches
and computers as cognitive artifacts include stuff by
Donald A. Norman, Ed Hutchins (_Cognition in the
Wild_) and even Sherry Turkel (1984) book. I would
include Weizenbaum and Turing in the cogitive
approaches to computing, not sure how that interfaces
with the communicative theory.

SCOT - Social construction of technology approaches
(too many to list, and what's the communicative side
of social construction) - but I do like David Hakken's
work (1993) Computing myths: Class realities. And
there's lots more where that came from, Bjiker, Pinch,
and there's an old volume by Bernard & Pelto.

Rhetoric - rhetorical approaches - this could follow
on from cognitive, rhetoric being the stategic side of
communication rather than the purely descriptive side.

Metaphorical approaches - have heard this mentioned in
the panels coming up, can't think of an author right
now, but some of the feminists come to mind here.

Feminist approaches - Susan Leigh Starr, Sandy Stone,
Sadie Plant, Cynthia Cockburn, Juliet Webster, Joannne
Braglidiccio (mispelled name certainly) etc.

Consumer approaches - Media as it is consumed. I'm not
a media theorist, but Daniel Miller usually has
something to say about this side of things. He's got a
good listing in the bibliography of _Internet
Ethnography_ (2001) Daniel Slater, and I forget the
coauthor. Also Castells, not that I've read him, maybe
a media - anthropological approach.

Ok, just off the top of my head, not too profound.

Denise





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"I want to focus on my salad" (M. Stewart, 2002)
Denise N. Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator &
PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University,
PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia
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Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344
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