Magazine

Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine
ISSN 1076-027X / Volume 4, Number 1 / January 1, 1997

Editor's Page: What Are We Talking About?

It's a term in our magazine's name, but what does it mean? This issue presents perspectives on the views of the term computer-mediated communication.

SPECIAL FOCUS: WHAT IS CMC?

What is CMC? An Overview of Scholarly Definitions

Scholars have been studying what we know today as computer-mediated communication for decades, resulting in set of terms for a variety of study areas. Pixy Ferris sorts out scholarly definitions of CMC and terms used in CMC application research.

Does CMC Present Individuals with Disabilities Opportunities or Barriers?

The Internet can bring significant opportunities for people with disabilities to communicate. Jennifer Gold describes the opportunities and barriers the Internet holds for individuals with disabilities.

A Rose by Any Other Name

Is Computer-Mediated Communication one entity which performs only one function? Peter Murray suggest not, and applies Wittgenstein's ideas of family resemblances to provide a useful way to consider the variety of CMC and the interrelationships of its forms.

Intercultural Computer-Mediated Communication

As online interactions increasingly become intercultural, how can we focus on designing computer-mediated communication systems that show an awareness of international languages and perspectives? Néstor G. Trillo explores the role of culture in technology-mediated communication.

Notes on Defining of Computer-Mediated Communication

Viewing computer-mediated communication merely as the manipulation of technologies leads toward a limited, technologically-deterministic stance. John December sketches a definition that relies instead on a human-centered, contextual, and process-oriented definition of CMC.

DEPARTMENTS

MBOX

A reader responds about imagination and hypertext.

Call For Articles: Writing and the World Wide Web

If this is a new medium, then what about writing for the Web is new? Our June 1997 issue will look at this and related questions about communicating on the Web.

Call For Articles: Spirituality and the Net

The Net has never been about technology only, but how does the human spirit find a home online? Our March 1997 issue will look at the issue of spirituality online.

The Last Link: Dreams Engineers Have

Where does the infrastructure of technology-mediated activity end and imagination begin? Richard Thieme identifies the structure that creates the "space" in cyberspace.

Letters to the editor always welcome: mailto:john@december.com