Computer-mediated Communication Systems Research Articles

Piloting a new approach: making use of technology to present a distance learning computer science course

Teaching projects which make use of new technology are becoming of interest to all academic institutions in the UK due to economic pressure to increase student numbers. CMC (Computer- Mediated Communication) such as computer conferencing appears an attractive solution to higher education's 'numbers' problem, with the added benefit that it is free from time and place constraints. Researchers have discussed CMC from a number of different perspectives, for example Mason and Kaye (1989) describe a CMC system as a system of interactivity between tutors, students, resources and organizational structure. Steeples et al (1993) consider CMC in terms of group cohesion, modes of discourse and intervention strategies to stimulate and structure participation. Goodyear et al (1994) discuss the Just in Time (TT-Based) Open Learning (JTTOL) model in terms of a set of educational beliefs, role definitions, working methods and learning resources, together with a definition of infrastructure requirements for CMC. Shedletsky (1993) suggests that a CMC should be viewed in terms of an 'intrapersonal communication' model, while Mayes et al (1994) identify three types of learning which is mediated by telematics, that is, learning by conceptualization, construction and dialogue. Other researchers, such as Velayo (1994), describe the teacher as 'an active agent', and present a model for computer conferencing which neglects the social aspect of CMC, while Berge (1995) mentions the importance of social activity between students and the importance of the role of the moderator. From these accounts, there appear to be a number of dimensions which can be used to evaluate CMC. Not all researchers emphasize the same dimensions; however, this paper proposes that computer conferencing systems should be designed to encourage students to participate in all three of the following dimensions. These can be summarized as: (a) a knowledge dimension (includes domain and meta knowledge); (b) a social dimension; and (c) a motivational dimension. We will focus on the design and management of a conference M205-STILE, which was employed by the Open University's Computer Science department to supplement the teaching of an undergraduate course. The conference was structured into sub-conferences to take account of the above three dimensions and to facilitate students' computer-supported collaborative learning. This paper reports on the construction of the CMC environment, but more importantly how the three dimensions can be sustained through the role of a person whom we have called an Interactive Media Facilitator (IMF). This implementation is part of the 'Students' and Teachers' Integrated Learning Environment' (STILE) project.DOI:10.1080/0968776960040110

Computer-Mediated Communication Systems

The essence of communication is to exchange and share information. Computers provide a new medium to human communication. CMC system, composed of human and computers, absorbs and then extends the advantages of all former formats of communication, embracing the instant interaction of oral communication, the abstract logics of printing dissemination, and the vivid images of movie and television. It also creates a series of new communication formats, such as Hyper Text, Multimedia etc. which are the information organizing methods, and cross-space message delivering patterns. Benefiting from the continuous development of technique and mechanism, the computer-mediated communication makes the dream of transmitting information cross space and time become true, which will definitely have a great impact on our social lives.

Computer-Mediated Communication Systems

The essence of communication is to exchange and share information. Computers provide a new medium to human communication. CMC system, composed of human and computers, absorbs and then extends the advantages of all former formats of communication, embracing the instant interaction of oral communication, the abstract logics of printing dissemination, and the vivid images of movie and television. It also creates a series of new communication formats, such as Hyper Text, Multimedia etc. which are the information organizing methods, and cross-space message delivering patterns. Benefiting from the continuous development of technique and mechanism, the computer-mediated communication makes the dream of transmitting information cross space and time become true, which will definitely have a great impact on our social lives.

The Effects Of Computer-Mediated Communication Systems On Writing

Computers are changing the way we communicate. Examples of new communication patterns abound, supported by variousoften conflictingtheories. This paper examines how electronic mail, in particular, may be changing the way we write. Included is discussion of an original study which sought to clarify some of the conflicting theories. The literature review and the results of the study, although tentative, provide a research agenda and useful findings for application to organizations.

Analysis of Communication Barriers to Distance Education: A Review Study

Now that the technology is changing fast and due to the multitude of people demands and conditions, traditional educational systems and institutions have to provide additional educational alternatives. There are some educational establishments contributing to these conditions and demands by developing and offering distance education programs. In such programs, teachers and the students do not establish a face to face communication thus creating difficulties and are separated by physical distance and time. As a result alternate media sources are used to deal with these difficulties. That is to say, different delivery systems such as computer mediated communication systems, video tapes, printed material, cassettes and instructional television are used to deliver instructions from tutor to students. Moreover, the universities have the advantage of using World Wide Web to deliver the instruction to nearly any node in the world, regardless of the physical distance and time because of the developments in the Internet and the global network systems, Almost all institutions which are offering distance education should try and find the most effective program and make sure that it is a sufficient replacement for face-to-face education. Its effectiveness of course is dependent on how interactive the process is and how it overcomes the communication barriers among the members involved. Communication barriers, on the other hand, as in any communication process, also exist in distance education because of such reasons as the physical distance between members, the difficulties of dealing with new media, having time constraints and restrictions, background knowledge of distance education, incompetence in skills of using technology, and the interactivity level of the process. Put all together, effective distance education process becomes almost impossible. The levels of these barriers are different in different institutions or in different programs and in different delivery systems used.

Fit Does Matter! An Empirical Study on Product Fit Uncertainty in Online Marketplaces

This paper examines the antecedents and consequences of product uncertainty in online marketplaces by conceptualizing the dimensions of product uncertainty - description uncertainty (identifying product characteristics), performance uncertainty (inferring product’s future performance) and fit uncertainty (matching product’s characteristics with buyer’s needs). It also theorizes the distinction, relationship, and effects of the dimensions of product uncertainty. Finally, it proposes a set of IT-enabled mechanisms to reduce product uncertainty. The hypotheses are tested with data from 274 buyers in the largest online marketplace in China (Taobao). The results first demonstrate the distinction between the dimensions of product uncertainty, show that relative to description and performance uncertainty, fit uncertainty has the only significant effect on price premiums, satisfaction, product returns, and repurchase intentions, and support the effects of computer-mediated communication (between buyers and sellers and among buyers), product forums, and decision support systems on fit uncertainty. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Blog-supported scientific communication: An exploratory analysis based on social hyperlinks in a Chinese blog community

As a new-style computer-mediated communication system, the blog has been gaining popularity among various Web users. Blog communities come into being in the process of self-organized communication between bloggers and the community structures are reflected by the embedded social networks. This study research the communication patterns of scientist bloggers with the data from the largest Chinese-language scientific blog community specializing in computer and information sciences and technologies, i.e. the Csdn blog. The social network analysis of its blogroll link data suggests that the Csdn blog community is a small-world network. Many sub-communities exist in the blog community. The communication between the central and ordinary bloggers within the same sub-community is usually one-way and dense. The structure of the Csdn blog community indicates that distributed central actors are still important in the diffusion and communication of scientific knowledge.

From TV to Twitter: How Ambient News Became Ambient Journalism

Scholars have applied the term "ambient" to journalism to describe the omnipresent nature of news in society through the proliferation of one-way media into public spaces. This approach is based on a one-directional model of mass media where the audience is framed as the receptor of communication. However this paper suggests that we need to reassess the meaning of ambient as applied to news and journalism due to the participatory and interactive characteristics of the networked digital media. The Internet has changed the relationship between journalists and audiences from a one-way, asymmetric model of communication to a more participatory and collective system, where citizens have the ability to participate in the news production process. This paper argues that ambient news has evolved into ambient journalism – an awareness system that offers diverse means to collect, communicate, share and display news and information, from both professional and non-professional sources.

Design with event-related potentials: a Kansei information approach on CMC design

MATiK is a Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) system for interdisciplinary workgroups. Its core function, the jump-analyser, enables to recreate the 'cocktail party phenomenon', viewed as an information social flow optimiser. Justified by MATiK's original design method, the criterion weights used for the switch evaluation were proposed to be quantified using auditory ERP techniques. The lack of clear results could not output quantitative data. However, this explorative study pointed out tendencies to confirm the validity of the chosen criteria and the extractability of quantitative. Moreover, the tool used in the study showed an original approach for experiments in Kansei design.

Collaborative Information Seeking in Intercultural Computer-Mediated Communication Groups

This article examines the process of collaborative information seeking in intercultural computer-mediated communication (CMC) groups. The authors conducted a field experiment in which 86 students from three distant universities (one in the United States, two in Singapore) participated. The students participated in a collaborative learning practice in which they socially recommended information using a CMC system. The results demonstrate that the social context—that is, preexisting social networks, groups, and intergroup boundaries—significantly constrained the flow of information across intercultural CMC groups. The authors also found that the influence of the social context on CMC collaboration could be moderated by other contingent factors such as national culture and individuals' outcome expectancies of Internet use. The authors present the results from testing their hypotheses using multivariate p* and Quadratic Assignment Procedure network regression analyses and conclude with a discussion of the findings and implications for future research.

Cues to identity in online dyads: Effects of interpersonal versus intragroup perceptions on performance.

This article examines the impact of cues to personal identity on the quality of dyadic collaboration via computer-mediated communication systems. Study 1 (N = 180) shows that an absence of cues to personal identity resulted in more work satisfaction and better subjective performance. Analyses suggested that this effect was mediated by perceptions of shared identity that emerged in cueless dyads. Study 2 (N = 91) confirmed and extended these effects, showing parallel effects on objective performance. The effects of Study 1 were replicated among high identifiers but not low identifiers. This provides direct evidence that social identity played a role in enhancing the quality of dyadic collaboration. It also illustrates the distinction between interpersonal and intragroup processes in online interaction. We conclude that when individuals in a dyad consider themselves part of an overarching social group, anonymity can improve collaboration performance as a function of shared social identity.

CyberGate: A Design Framework and System for Text Analysis of Computer-Mediated Communication

Content analysis of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is important for evaluating the effectiveness of electronic communication in various organizational settings. CMC text analysis relies on systems capable of providing suitable navigation and knowledge discovery functionalities. However, existing CMC systems focus on structural features, with little support for features derived from message text. This deficiency is attributable to the informational richness and representational complexities associated with CMC text. In order to address this shortcoming, we propose a design framework for CMC text analysis systems. Grounded in systemic functional linguistic theory, the proposed framework advocates the development of systems capable of representing the rich array of information types inherent in CMC text. It also provides guidelines regarding the choice of features, feature selection, and visualization techniques that CMC text analysis systems should employ. The CyberGate system was developed as an instantiation of the design framework. CyberGate incorporates a rich feature set and complementary feature selection and visualization methods, including the writeprints and ink blots techniques. An application example was used to illustrate the system's ability to discern important patterns in CMC text. Furthermore, results from numerous experiments conducted in comparison with benchmark methods confirmed the viability of CyberGate's features and techniques. The results revealed that the CyberGate system and its underlying design framework can dramatically improve CMC text analysis capabilities over those provided by existing systems.

Perspectives and issues of the creation for weblog‐based electronic portfolios in teacher education

The article discusses the continually evolving presence of the Internet in education. The use of synchronous chat rooms, newsgroups, and discussion forums is well established in education, but other computer-mediated communication systems, such as weblogs and blogging, are relatively new developments. The article discusses the use of weblogs as a means to establish an archive of information by date, as well as to provide hyperlinks to other blogs or sites of interest. Also considered are weblog-based electronic portfolios, and the role of weblogs in teacher-student relationships.

Enhancing the teaching experience of pre‐service teachers through the use of videos in web‐based computer‐mediated communication (CMC)

The provision of feedback to students is an important aspect of teaching and learning processes. It is often a necessary requirement for the stimulation of self‐reflection. This paper describes the use of video‐enabled, web‐based computer‐mediated communication (CMC) for the provision of feedback to pre‐service, trainee teachers who were involved in a Teaching Practicum course within a teacher‐education programme. Pre‐service teachers’ micro‐teaching and field‐teaching performances were videotaped and made available for viewing within the CMC system. Experienced high‐school teachers were asked to critique the pre‐service teachers’ performances and to lead the discussions using the CMC system. The results of questionnaires that were administered to all participants of the study indicated that the system effectively enhanced pre‐service teachers’ teaching experience. Five reasons cited for the success were: easy access to taped teaching sessions; better assessment of personal teaching style; more sharing of one’s teaching and more learning from peer teaching; more concrete feedback; and more effective involvement of experienced teachers.

Educational Applications of CMCS: Solving Case Studies through Asynchronous Learning Networks

Case studies are an important component of many business curricula. However, in-class discussion of case studies suffers from temporal and geographical limitations. Computer-mediated communication systems (CMCS) can be used to overcome these constraints. An Asynchronous Learning Network, a CMCS supporting “anytime/anywhere” interaction and tailored for educational activities, may be used to expand and enrich case discussions. ALN-mediated discussions allow students and instructors from remote locations to participate in the discussion at their own convenient times. A field experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of an ALN vs. traditional manual methods in individuals and groups discussing and solving a case study. Findings indicate that groups working in an asynchronous networked environment produced better and longer solutions to the case study, but were less satisfied with the interaction process.

First Things First: Internet Relay Chat Openings

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was the Internet's first widely popular quasi-synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) system. While research has consistently demonstrated the interpersonal nature of IRC, and is now turning to more structurally-oriented topics, it is argued that IRC research now needs to systematically address links between interaction structures, technological mediation and the instantiation and development of interpersonal relationships within a framework that privileges IRC interaction and social explanations. This exploration of the openings of IRC interactions is positioned as a step in that direction. The openings investigated in the study are those that occur directly following user's entries into public IRC channels, termed the newly-joined users' Channel Entry Phase (CEP). It is found that turn coordination in the CEP is often ambiguous, has the potential to disrupt relationship development, and leads to considerable emphasis on interactive strategies for the clear ordering of opening phases.

Development of computer-supported collaborative social networks in a distributed learning community

This study examines the formation and change of collaborative learning social networks in a distributed learning community. A social network perspective is employed to understand how collaborative networks evolved over time when 31 distributed learners collaborated on a design project using a computer-mediated communication system during two semesters. Special attention was paid to how pre-existing friendship networks influenced the formation of macro-level collaborative learning networks and individual level social capital. We discovered that pre-existing friendship networks significantly influenced the formation of collaborative learning networks, but the effect was dependent on the developmental phase of community. Also, pre-existing networks generally acted as a social liability that constrained learners' ability to enhance their social networks and build social capital when they participated in a new learning environment. The results suggest that, in order to fully understand how to build effective collaborative learning and work environments, participants' social network structures need to be considered.

The role of cultural diversity and leadership in computer-supported collaborative learning: a content analysis

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies are increasingly being used to support collaborative learning in groups. Its potential to shift the traditional pedagogical paradigm triggers considerable amount of research. However, very few of the research studies focus on the social interactions and their influences on the learning process, which are crucial to understanding computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). This paper reports on a laboratory experiment with a 2×2 factorial design, conducted to investigate the influences of cultural diversity and leadership availability on the CSCL process using a content analysis approach. With the mediation of CMC systems, cultural diversity is found to engender more informational influences but reduce normative influences. Leadership has a positive effect on both normative and informational influences. Taking into account the learning outcomes, it is evident that the influences of the interaction process are closely related to CSCL effectiveness.

Persuasive Effects of System Features in Computer-Mediated Communication

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems can be augmented beyond basic text messaging by a variety of features. However, research has not addressed the effects of these features in negotiation settings. In this article, I present an experimental study of effects of three CMC system features on interpersonal persuasion, an important part of negotiation. System features that augment messages with images and graphics and support conforming use of spelling and grammar were found to increase message persuasiveness. The results suggest a number of ways CMC can be enhanced to improve support for negotiation.

Use of Computer-Mediated Communication in a Teaching Practicum Course

This study investigates how Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) can be effectively used in a teaching practicum course to enhance preservice teachers’ learning. We constructed a web-based CMC system and used it in a Teaching Practicum course. Computer science preservice teachers and experienced secondary school computer teachers, who served as mentors, participated in the study. The research findings indicate that the preservice teachers considered the CMC system helpful for supporting their learning. The findings also indicate that some initiating/follow-up discussion styles of the mentors were more effective than others in promoting interactions in the discussion forum. It was also found that a teaching-video-enhanced CMC environment is valuable in improving quality of mentoring and in increasing preservice teachers’ reflection on teaching.