Module 1:

Introduction to Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

Module Overview
Introduces the concept of Computer Mediated Communication.
Defines the important terms of this course such as Internet, World Wide Web, and Multimodality.
Provides a brief history of the internet, the evolution of the World Wide Web, and the
classification of CMC.

Lesson 1: Understanding Key Concepts of CMC

Learning Outcomes:
1. Define and describe CMC
2. Comprehend the major concepts of CMC
3. Trace and establish the history of Internet, World Wide Web, and CMC Research

➢ CMC: KEY WORDS

CMC
• Online
• Medium/Channel (Internet)
• Sender & Receiver
• Alternative for FtoF communi-cation
• Use of technology
• Aided by gadgets

In a strict sense, CMC as a field of study is inclined towards Computer Science (Internet
Studies), Communication and Media Studies, because CMC's configuration and application is
anchored on Computer Science while CMC's theories and principles borrowed those of
Communication and Media Studies. Perhaps, you might wonder how it is connected to the study
of language.
CMC refers to communication that takes place between human beings via the
instrumentality of computers (Herring, 1996).
CMC is "the method of creating, exchanging and perceiving the information, which aids, encode,
decode and transmit the messages by means of telecommunication network." It also includes
"any human interaction, which are symbolic text-based, directed or facilitated over digitally-
based technologies" (December, 1996).
Since CMC is text-based, language is, then, its most basic tool. However, even though CMC is
text-based which consists mainly of linguistic signs, it was not immediately considered as a
legitimate object of study by linguists. Recent studies of CMC that are in line with Language
Studies focused more on how language is being used, contextualized, localized, and foreignized
to some extent.

• History of the Internet

Brief History of Internet, Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0, and CMC Research

1. The Internet
1960 – birth of the internet
1969 - (US Defense Department) [wartime digital communication]
2. a network connecting millions of computers by using a number of protocols.
1970 - (DARPA internet) [academic and military researches]
1975 – success
1980 – DARPA stability
3. transfer of data or file from one computer to another
1985 (NSF)[Super Computer Programs] make resources available by building networks and
links
1990s (New Internet) [embraced by business community ]
 • Main Types of Network:

• capable of connecting two or more computers sharing a certain resource in a small

geographic location (closely positioned group).

Main Types of Networks:

• consists of two or more LANs. Hence, Internet is the largest WAN in existence.
• covers a large geographic area such as a city, country, or spans even intercontinental
distances, using a communications channel that combines many types of media such as
telephone lines, cables, and air waves.
 • Internet Functions
1. Sending and receiving email
2. Searching and browsing information archives
3. Copying files between computers
4. Conducting financial transactions
5. Navigating (in your car, smart scooter, smart bike, etc.)
6. Playing interactive games
7. Video and music streaming
8. Chat or voice communication (direct messaging, video conferencing, etc.)

• The World Wide Web

1990 – developed by Tim Berners-Lee
Collection of web pages available on the internet.
A virtual network of web sites connected via hyperlinks or links.
It contains URL and a web browser (Berners-Lee et.al. 1992).
URL or Uniform Resource Locator as a unique code/address that helps users locate specific
document or file on the web.
Web browser is a tool that allows users to view web pages such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla
Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge
 • Web 1.0 and Web 2.0
Web 1.0 Web 2.0

Personal websites Blogging

Publishing Participation

Britannica Online Wikipedia

Content management systems Wikis

Directories Tagging

• Web 2.0 Timeline

 • Timeline and Trends in CMC Research
Researchers Research Focus
Timeline

Late Starr Roxanne Hilts • U.S. government-sponsored a

1970s and Murra Turoff project to explore the implications
(1978) (sociologists) of computer networks for
government communications.

Mid- Sara Kiesler et al. • Compared computer-mediated and

1980s (social psycologist) face-to-face behavior in
(1984) communication

Mid-to- Sproull, Kiesler, • Research in CMC in organizational

late 1980s Zuboff and business settings
(1986-88) (entrepreneurs)

Late Batson, Cooper and • Explored the implications of

1980s Selfe, Faigley, and networked classrooms for teaching
(1988- Peyton (composition writing
1990) specialists)

Baron and Murray, • “Interactive Written Discourse”

Ferrara, as an emergent discourse genre
Early
Whittemore, and
1990s
Bruner
(1990-
1991)

Mid- Various scholars and • Analysis of gender and cultural difference

1990s to researchers from in CMC.
21st different fields.
• Dynamics of virtual communities
century
• Psychotherapeutic uses of computer-
mediated interaction
• Pragmatic and Sociolinguistic Analysis
 • Classification of CMC
Lesson 2: Classification of CMC
Learning Outcomes:
1. Classify CMC
2. Distinguish CMC modes
3. Elaborate each mode according to its historical origin, system design features and typical
context of use.

Two Major Classification of CMC

1. Asynchronous – Discussion boards, quizzes, polls, email, digital docs., recorded
audio or video, recorded slides with narration, self-paced courses.
2. Synchronous – Virtual classroom, live presentations, live text chat, instant
messaging, live audio or video chat, live quizzes, live polling

Modes of CMC
• text-based, asynchronous, and involves message-by-message transmission.
• 1972 = first electronic mail or "e-mail" message was sent by engineer Ray Tomlinson as a
test of the SNDMSG protocol he was developing.
• 1973 = e-mail had become the most popular use of the U.S. defense-funded ARPANET.
Features:
• "header" which contains "to", "from", and "subject" lines
• epistolary formulae such as greeting, closings, and signatures
• three-part structure (opening-message, body, closing).

Listserv Discussion Lists

• also known as distribution lists and mailing lists. It is textual and asynchronous.
• distribute email messages posted to a listserver (or listserv) to a list of subscribers.
• 1975 = one of the discussion lists, MsgGroup, was started by ARPA to share information
on the development of electronic messaging protocols
• 1980s to 1990s = there was an increase of listserv discussion lists reflecting the interests
of primary users of the Internet for intellectual topics including academic and
professional readership
Features:
 • has a list of subscribers
• archive messages and other textual resources and make them accessible to subscribers on
demand
• moderated discussion lists where messages are controlled by a person (or persons) who
looks over approves them for distribution

Listserv Discussion List Samples

[email protected] (University of Houston)

➢ Usenet Newsgroups
• Usenet represents "Unix Users Network"
• an asynchronous bulletin board system in which email messages are posted to a publicly
available site.
• 1979 = developed by three graduate students at Duke University and the University of
North California.
• 1999 = posting to Usenet was the third largest activity on the Internet, after email and
browsing the Web.
Features:
• Users access the messages via newsreader client (since the mid-1990s, a Web browser)
• allows users to view messages which are grouped and posted into "threads" according to
subject line.
• Communication are organized into hierarchies by topic and named with identifiers in
order of increasing specificity.
• Usenet messages are publicly accessible and postings are archived in searchable
databases.
Usenet Newsgroup Samples:

➢ Split-Screen Protocols: Talk Phone, and ICQ

• earliest synchronous protocol, UNIX 'talk“
• available in the 1970s alongside email
• "Talk" and the similar VAX "phone" utility are synchronous protocols in which two (up
to three) users can altogether logged on to a UNIX or VAX system.
• mid-1990s, this concept was added as an option into the ICQ (I Seek You") an Internet
communication network.
• In 1991, ICQ has become widely popular
Features:
• Split-screen protocol
• user's monitor screen splits horizontally into two or three sections, and their messages
appear character-by-character within each section where they can scroll independently.
 ➢ Chat
• It enables synchronous communication among multiple participants.
• 1988 = the first chat program, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), was written by Jarkko
Oikarinen, a student at the University of Oahu in Finland.
• AmericaOnline (AOL), and "Web Chat“
Features:
• involves message-by-message (one-way) transmission.
• users connect on a chat site or join "channels" (on IRC) or "rooms" (on AOL)
• communicate typically by typing brief (one-line) message, which can be transmitted by
pressing the "send" key.
• earlier messages can be scrolled back and forth within a limited buffer.
• chat rooms are typically sociable, playful, and disinhibited as its content varies according
to purpose and topic.

➢ Multi-User Dimensions (MUDs)

• MUDs are multi-user virtual reality environment where textual representation of a spatial
environment are navigated by users.
• 1979 and 1980, Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle created the first MUD.
• It was a role-playing adventure game patterned on previous online games such as
"Rogue" and "Dungeons and Dragons.
• MUD originally meant "Multi-User Dungeons", but was reinterpreted to mean "Multi-
User Dimensions" with the rise on popularity of social MUD in the late 1980s and early
1900s.
Features:
• users can engage in synchronous chat with other participants logged on to the MUD.
• users can also interact with programmed objects, create new objects, and extend the
environment itself especially in some user-extensible MUDs.

➢ The World Wide Web

• All other CMC modes were integrated in the Web, making it a "meta" mode (Wakeford,
2000).
• it can link to chat interfaces, discussion lists, Usenet newsgroup, and email – in addition
to Web pages written in Hyper-Text Mark-up Language (HTML) – because of its
hypertextual nature.
Features:
• Web communication characteristics is very broad as it subsumes different communication
multimedia as such text, graphics, audio, and video
➢ Audio and Video

• 1993 = a parallel development to the Web through the incorporation of sound and moving
images into Web pages.
• CUseeMe = the first Internet audio and video conferencing software Web communication
characteristics is very broad as it subsumes different communication multimedia as such
text, graphics, audio, and video.
• 1996, a free telephony via the Internet (www.pulver.com) was introduced.
• 1998, CUseeMe added group conferencing, application sharing, and whiteboard features.
• Internet Phone, Netscape CoolTalk, and Netspeak WebPhone