Bridging the Subdisciplines: An Overview of Communication and Technology Research

Abstract

Communication and technology (CAT) research is concerned with the development, uses, and consequences of information and communication technologies (ICTs) across all types of social, cultural, and institutional settings. Technology includes the artifacts or devices that enable and extend our abilities to communicate, the communication activities or practices in which we engage when developing and using those devices, and the social arrangements or organizations that form around those practices and devices. Together, these elements also constitute the central phenomenon of interest for CAT research, the mediation of communication processes by ICTs. ICTs are used across many social settings and applications, so CAT research does not fit easily into either the traditional “mass media” or “interpersonal” specializations within the communication discipline. The present essay is organized broadly around the contexts of ICT use and research in society and organizations and by individuals and groups. Three themes resonate throughout this literature: the pervasiveness of electronically mediated communication in contemporary society (ubiquity); the multiplex social formations and phenomena associated with ICTs, rather than effects on particular audiences or demographic groups (the network metaphor); and the changes entailed by the ongoing rearrangement and redefinition of ICTs to suit oeoole’s