Computer-mediated Communication

15.1.1.1 Principal Focus. This chapter will focus essentially on asynchronous text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC). By this, we mean email, whether one-to-one or one-to-many, e-mail-based discussion lists, bulletin boards, computer conferencing environments, and the growing number of Web-mediated manifestations of these types of communication. As technologies change, the forms of CMC evolve. Sometimes there is divergence, for example, the newer audiovisual possibilities to contrast with the purely text-based, while in other aspects there is convergence, as in the amalgamation of many forms within a single Web-browser environment. Some forms of CMC are purely synchronous, some purely asynchronous, while others (e.g., NetMeeting, ICQ) are now allowing the two to occur in the same environment. Technological issues, such as system and interface design, and speed of message transmission, have been known for many years to influence CMC use (Collins & Bostock, 1993; Perrolle, 1991; Porter, 1993). With this in mind, the technology should “be transparent, so that the learner is most conscious of the content of the communication, not the equipment” (Mason, 1994).