Technical and Social Aspects of Computer-Mediated Communication
Technical and Social
Aspects of Computer-Mediated Communication
Ifedayo Akinwalere
2017
Introduction
The
Latin root of ‘communication’ – ‘communicare’ – means ‘to share’ or ‘to be in
relation with.’ Through Indo-European etymological roots, it further relates to
the words ‘common,’ ‘commune,’ and ‘community,’ suggesting an act of ‘bringing
together’ (Woods, 2016). According to Soola (2000) in Obe (2008), communication
is the process by which any person or a group shares and impacts information
with/to another person (or group) so that both people (or groups) clearly
understand one another.
Computer-mediated communication (CMC)
is a general term that includes all forms of communication between people that
take place through some computer, electronic, or Internet connection, for
example, e-mail, texting, blogging, instant messaging, tweeting conversational
components of online games and date-finding sites, or chatting on social
network sites such as Facebook or MySpace or on your phone. All of these
computer-mediated forms, like their face-to-face counterparts, are used both
socially and in the world of business. According to DeVito (2012), some CMC
(such as e-mail or blogging) is asynchronous,
meaning that it does not take
place in real time. For instance, messages sent today might not be read by the
receiver for a week and may take another week to respond. Consequently, much of
the spontaneity created by face-to-face real-time communication is lost in
asynchronous communication. Other forms of CMC (such as tweeting, chatting on
social network sites, interactive websites, and instant messaging) are often synchronous—they occur at the same
time and are similar to phone communication except that CMC is largely
text-based rather than voice-based.
In
some ways CMC is a simple alternative to other forms of communication, with
some socio-technical features that alter communication dynamics. In other ways
CMC offers significant opportunities that enhance communication in personal
settings by allowing users to contact a large field of potential communication
partners, reducing aspects of human interaction that impede communication effectiveness
in conventional interaction. CMC can enhance personal communication by allowing
users to enhance messaging in ways that conventional interaction does not as
readily afford, facilitating new relationships and relational maintenance
(Ewoldsen, 2015).
Technical
Considerations of CMC
Since
CMC relies heavily on electronic gadgets, purveyor of information must act in
accordance with the technical and operational structure of the gadgets in use.
Any deviation from the set standard will break communication flow. The following are some of the CMC avenues;
Text Messaging
Text
messaging is one popular CMC tools. It is incorporated with phone and other
mobile devices with a view to conveying information via letters and numbers. In
an advanced situation, text messages can have as part of its components
emoticons, sound and clips. When this happens, this type of message is called
Multimedia Messages (MMS). Depending on the device in use, text messages on
mobile phones are written and charged in pages i.e. each page attracts a fee.
For unsuspecting individuals whose messages go beyond a page, they are alerted
by the sudden switch from text to MMS so that they can decide if to continue or
not.
In
most cases text messages (on GSM and CDMA platforms) do not depend on internet
to get through to the recipients. Once there is credit on the mobile Subscriber
Identity Module (SIM) Card, the message will be delivered. However, hitches can
occur when the Message Centre Number is altered. Message Center Number is a
unique number peculiar to telecommunications service providers for SMS
distribution.
In
order to reduce the formality that characterizes SMS, phone makers are created
an SMS platform that has interactivity and conversational outlook. Traditionally,
SMS is designed for conveying information with few words.
Blogging
The
word is an abbreviation of weblog, itself an amalgam of web and log. Thus a
blog is a type of Web site where entries are written, or posted, the same way
you would update a journal or diary. Blogs often provide commentary or news on
a specific topic, but the largest group consists of personal diaries. The big
difference when compared with traditional diaries is that people share their
blogs. Blogs and their relatives represent part of a media revolution known as
social networking, participatory journalism, or citizen reporting (Quinn and
Lamble, 2008).
Blogs represent some of the more interesting
developments for the publishing world since the arrival of the web more than a
decade ago. The “blogosphere” consists of all the content built by blogs,
moblogs, video blogs, vodcasts, and podcasts.
Blogs have boomed because they are easy to set up and maintain. A
“blogger” creates an account via the Web with a free or paid blogging service
and can be updated as often as you like if you have internet access.
A
blog, according to Quinn and Lamble (2008), is a personal online journal. With
blogs, the most recent item is displayed first. A typical blog combines text,
images, and sometimes sound with links to other blogs, Web pages, and other
media related to its topic.
Moblog
is an amalgam of mobile phone and blog. People produce these blogs using cell
phones. They send or post images and text to the Web by sending an e-mail
(sometimes called a multimedia message, or MMS) from their phone to a Web site
set up like a blog.
Video
blogs, known as v-logs, are the video versions of moblogs. The simplest form
occurs when people take videos with their mobile phones and send them to a blog
site, in the same way they post a moblog image. A more sophisticated process
involves editing video from portable video cameras, assembling it into packages
and short programs, and posting that to a site.
A
podcast is a do-it-yourself form of broadcasting that became popular about the
middle of 2004. You could argue that it is the verbal version of a blog. Guardian journalist Ben Hammersley
coined the term, basing it on Apple's portable digital music player, the iPod.
Listeners download podcast files onto their music players.
Podcasting
represents another example of personal and convenient media, where individuals
choose what they hear rather than relying on radio station schedules. Listeners
can automate the download process, so new items are available on their
computers soon after they are published.
Electronic Mail
Electronic
mail (‘email’) is a primarily text-based form of communication exchanged
between computing devices that incorporates hyperlinks, or file attachments.
Originally developed and used by the military, computer scientists, and other
specialists, email has grown into one of the most common forms of human
communication
The
popularity of email has been
hailed as contributing to the creation of a “virtual community” Rheingold (2000)
in Hassan and Jethani (2015). It has
also been argued that email is a creative medium where self-expression has
taken new forms, such as the use of ‘emoticons,’ where emotions may be
expressed in text by arranging printable characters into icons, such as :-) to
symbolize happiness, and acronyms such as ‘LOL ’ (laugh out loud). In the
workplace, email communication can link an organization with its customers and
increase productivity to allow workers in multiple locations to communicate,
share documents, and work collaboratively without the need for face-to-face or
telephone communication.
From
a negative perspective, an
estimated 88 percent of total daily email volume occurs in the form of junk
email or ‘spam.’ Another related concern is identity theft through practices
such as ‘phishing’, where individuals posing as representatives of institutions
such as banks make fraudulent attempts to gain passwords and credit card
details.
Social Media
In
its core meaning, ‘social media’ is closely allied to the terms ‘Web 2.0’ and
‘social web.’ However, while these describe the novelty of the Internet’s
second generation, the term ‘social media’ covers the specific types of
participatory digital media.
Two
key characteristics are
‘user-generated content’ (UGC) and ‘produsage’ (Bruns 2013) in Haferkamp (2015).
Both terms connote the idea that people are actively participating in social
media; they are generating and sharing content themselves. UGC emphasizes that
it is not only professionals who are creating content, but mainly ordinary
people, who need only access to the Internet. All types of media – including
social media – have a specific audience, but only social media allow sharing,
copying, and generating content without having specific professional qualifications
or expertise. Thus, social media cannot perpetuate the traditional roles of
recipients on the one hand and producers on the other.
Another
feature of social media is interpersonal communication. Obviously social
networks facilitate communication among users, by offering comment functions,
email accounts, or chat. As research has already shown for social networks,
communication partners frequently know their counterparts from everyday life,
but this is not always the case.
Particularly
when dealing with wikis, people with different backgrounds collaborate on a
subject of common interest, although they have never met in person. Linking also comes into play in
various contexts. It means adding someone to one’s ‘friends’ list; linking
hypertexts in wikis; placing web links in personal weblogs; or simply having a
URL for connecting content to external networks. Also, tagging can be
understood as linking. The opportunity to connect content has significantly
changed people’s use of media, as extensive searching is abandoned in favor of
spontaneous and interest-based use.
Technical Aspects of CMC
Privacy
The
issue of privacy in CMC is highly relative depending on the channel of
communication. Telecommunication and internet service providers have access to communicational
exchanges (voice calls, messages, chats, etc.) of people that use their
platforms. For instance, Sahara Reporters was able to get a telephone
conversation between Senator Dino Melaye and a high court judge, Akon Ikpeme. The
former had been accused of bribing the later so as to secure a favourable judgment.
Where social media is concerned, managers of
the applications have an unrestricted access to personal accounts of
subscribers. Recently, there was a convergence of Facebook Messenger and SMS
account of subscribers. With this development, Facebook has direct access to
users’ SMS platform. This however is an infringement of the privacy of
subscribers. This is why there is an option where this service can be activated
or deactivated.
Another
level of privacy, most especially on social media is targeted at fellow users
and/or followers. Here, the account owner decides who sees, reacts or respond
to his/her posts. In a serious situation, the account owner can permanently
block another person from accessing his/her page.
Security
The
place in security in CMC cannot be undermined. Here, security is conceptualized
as measures put in place to avoid infiltration into a personal device and/or
account. This is why people involved in CMC should be wary malwares, spywares,
hackers and viruses. Where telephonic communication is concerned, it is
advisable for user to manage extraneous access to their devices by putting
access code. More so, other CMC tools like electronic mail and social media
also have access code that must be provided before access can be gained. It is
no doubt that hackers can be on rampage, however it should be known that there
is no smoke without fire. Consequently, account holders are expected to keep
their access code secret, while also avoiding clicking on links from strange
websites and individuals. Where group communication is concerned, identity of
the participants should be authenticated before the commencement of the
conversation.
Gadgets and
Compatibility
Computer-mediated
communication in recent times is taking a multimedia approach. This is why
gadgets are being designed to suit various needs. For instance, usage purpose, social
class, industry/profession, physical condition, physical environment, among
others are some of the factors that determine gadget selection. In the case of
mobile gadgets and computers, people can buy one based on the available funds.
In addition to this, the profession which an individual belongs can also
determine the gadget to use. For instance, while a communication lecturer uses
a windows operating system, a security expert will prefer Linux. More so,
someone that is physically impaired will use a digital Braille.
Media Outputs
Computer-mediated
communication is usually relayed using text, voice, image and video. Text is
the commonest as others are mostly seen as accompanists. It is necessaries for
CMC users to have understanding of the various formats of the CMC so as to
avoid “noise” and other technical disappointments. It is also important to note
that the bigger and sophisticated a gadget is, the more its adaptability to
different formats. For instance, a 3gp video will appear blurry or not play at
all on big tablets.
Some
of the popular formats include;
·
Text:
Document (DOC.) Text (TXT.) Rich Text Format (RTF.) Portable Document Format
(PDF.)
·
Audio:
Music Player 3(MP3), Adaptive Multi-Rate Audio (AMR.) Windows Media Audio (WMA.)
·
Image:
Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Portable Network Graphic (PNG) Tagged
Image Format (TIFF).
·
Video:
MP4, (3rd Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP), Audio Video Interleave (AVI) Flash Video (FLV)
Social Aspects of CMC
The
advent of computer technology into communication has brought mixed developments
– positively and negatively. According
to Kiesler, Siegel, and McGuire (1984), computer technologies are improving so
swiftly these days that few of us comprehend even a small part of the change.
Computers are transforming work and, in some cases, lives. Whether eager for
this or resistant, many people believe the organizational, social, and personal
effects of computers will be deeply felt.
Establishing and
Maintaining Relationships
One
of the social importance of CMC is that it helps in building new relationships,
while also improving on existing ones. The type of relationship could either be
good or bad. These relationships spread across educational, business, romance,
religion and other frontiers. Interestingly, CMC tools as social media and
blogs help in widening the scope of relationships across international space.
The limitations hitherto domiciled in face-to-face communication have been
effaced to a reasonable extent.
Absence of “True” Regulating Feedback
Does
communication through text alone reduce coordination of communication? In
traditional forms of communication, head nods, smiles, eye contact, distance,
tone of voice, and other nonverbal behavior give speakers and listeners
information they can use to regulate, modify, and control exchanges. Electronic
communication may be inefficient for resolving such coordination problems as
telling another person you already have knowledge of something he or she is
explaining (Kraut, Lewis, & Swezey, 1982) in Kiesler et al (1984).
This
limitation as observed by Kraut et al, less challenging where video based
communication is concerned. With video chat or call, emotions and gestures as
released by the source are easily interpreted by the receiver if the two of
them are in the same field of meaning.
Knowledge Check
Computer-Mediated
Communication is playing an important role in colleges where examination is
concerned. Corporate organizations and government also use Computer Based Test for
prospective employees. This helps in saving cost, while also minimizing risks.
As laudable as this feat is, many cases of breach have been reported. For
instance, the 2017 Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination,
which was computer-based was said to have been marred by the unscrupulous
synergy between JAMB officials and CBT operators.
Digitization of Biological Activities
Amorous
tendencies have been heavily trivialized by CMC. For instance, CMC aided the
popularity of concepts as sexting, voice sex, online sex, exchange of nudes
among others. There have been cases where couples (both married and unmarried)
express love by exchanging nude photographs. Inasmuch as this development is
bad, it is trending among young people. For instance, some students of Covenant
University were expelled because a nude video they “playfully recorded” found
its way to the public space. The affected students must have been affected
psychologically as their unclad phones are available for download on the
internet.
Social Pressure
Access
to computer and other digital devices is still a bane in many developing
countries including Nigeria. Even the communication gadgets have been
proliferated by companies from China, there are still numerous individuals that
cannot afford it.
Generally
speaking, it is presumed that social class should affect choice of digital
devices, however, it appear some people despite occupying middle or lower space
use gadgets that are far above their status. This is why there incessant cases
of robbery, bloody rituals, prostitution, internet fraud, among other social vices.
Exposure
to foreign cultural practices, most especially from the West, and frequent
access to luxury life of celebrities can instigate forceful and most of the
time a negative re-stratification.
Conclusion
The
place of computer-mediated communication cannot be undermined in contemporary
societies as it is helping in broadening relationships, while also introducing
a high degree of flexibility into communication process. This is why it is
important for every user of digital gadgets for communication to understand the
rudiments of the gadgets, platforms and service providers they are operating
with. It is also necessary to understand that the ease these tools have
introduced to communication process also have some impediments, most especially
when not properly utilized. Conclusively, there is also the need to identify
and/or the roles of all the aforementioned stakeholders in the CMC process i.e.
users, regulators, service providers and application developers. this will help
in resolving privacy related issues.
References
·
DeVito, J. A (2012).
Human communication: The basic course (12th Ed.) Pearson: New York
·
Ewoldsen, D. (2015). Personal
Communication by CMC. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The encyclopedia of communication (pp.
444-445). New York: John Wiley and Sons
·
Haferkamp, N. (2015). Social
media.
In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The encyclopedia of communication (pp.
538-539). New York: John Wiley and Sons
·
Hassan, R. and Jethani, S. (2015). Electronic mail. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The
encyclopedia of communication (pp. 172-173).
New York: John Wiley and Sons
·
Kiesler, S. Siegel, J. and McGuire, T. (1984). Social
psychological aspects of
Computer-mediated communication. Retrieved 3th of June, 2017 from http://www,xyhd.tv/2008/socialpsychology
·
Obe, J. (2008).
Introduction to Mass Communication. Noun: Abuja
·
Quinn, S. and Lamble,
S. (2008) Online News Gathering: Research
and reporting for journalism. USA: Elsevier
·
Woods, J.T. (2016).
Interpersonal Communication: Everyday encounters (8th Ed.). Cengage
Learning: Boston
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