[Air-L] CMC - mobile phones included?

Tue Jul 16 01:21:24 PDT 2013

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 at lancaster.ac.uk
adpaskhughes at hotmail.co.uk

Twitter: @adpaskhughes
________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Lovaas,Steven [Steven.Lovaas at 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 at colostate.edu
970-297-3707
===================
________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Charles Ess [charles.ess at 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 at 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 at listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org]
> On Behalf Of Darja Dayter
> Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 10:24 AM
> To: air-l at 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 at uni-bayreuth.de _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at 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 at 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 at 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:
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===================
Steven Lovaas
IT Security Manager
Colorado State University
steven.lovaas at colostate.edu
970-297-3707
===================
________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Charles Ess [charles.ess at 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 at 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 at listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org]
> On Behalf Of Darja Dayter
> Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 10:24 AM
> To: air-l at 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 at uni-bayreuth.de _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at 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 at 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 at 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 at 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:
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