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Computer Mediated Communication

SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS, FACULTY OF ARTS

Online discourse: Discussion

What is online discourse? What is its history? How is it affected by
medium and channel? What is the role of social practice in
computer-mediated discourse? Any criticisms?

• Somewhat simplistically, perhaps, Herring • CMC medium variables focus on

defines computer mediated discourse --
CMD -- as “the communication produced
when human beings interact with one
another by transmitting messages via
networked computers” (Herring, 2002, p.
612)
Subject Coordinator: Dr Paul Gruba
• CMD sits within CMC -- and that area, as
8344-8973 / paulag@unimelb.edu.au
we know, is focused on language and
Room 511, Arts Centre language use in computer networked
environments.
Tutor: Kerrie Delves
• CMD interactions are investigated through
k.delves@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
methods of discourse analysis, but
Room 510, Arts Centre sociolinguistics and other areas may come
into play
S C H O O L O F
L A N G U A G E S
A N D • Not a long history of CMD -- basically,
L I N G U I S T I C S
things got going in the early 1970s
• One approach to analysis is to examine
medium and channel: CMC seen as a
medium of communication through visual
channels (not a form of writing)
synchronicity, and reciprocity (one or two
way) as well as message size, persistence,
ease of message incorporation, selective
attention and many others
• There’s a popular misconception that
CMD is less ‘correct’ than standard forms;
only a few variations are actual errors in
style or structure but rather deliberate
choices to economize, be creative or signal
interactivity
• Interaction management (turn taking, gap
filling) is challenging for two reasons: a)
disrupted adjacency pairing, b) lack of
simultaneous feedback
• Social and political factors impact CMD
• Although research is growing, the field is
wide-open for investigation particularly in
audio-video interactions and languages
other than English
“Over time, computer-mediated groups develop norms of practice regarding 'how
things are done' and what constitutes socially desirable behavior; these may then be
codified in 'Frequently Asked Question' documents (FAQs; Voth, 1999) and
netiquette guidelines (e.g., Shea, 1994). Norms vary considerably from context to
context; for example, flaming is proscribed in many academic discussion groups, but
positively valued in the Usenet newsgroup alt.flame (Smith, McLaughlin &
Osborne, 1997).”





Herring, 2002

Message and channel:

• Why is CMC largely text-based?
• How might the focus on a specific medium variable (text) or channel (visual) affect our
understanding of how online discourse takes place?
• Do you think the inclusion of cameras on computers and phones affect communication
in any way?

Linguistic structure:
• Why do researchers dismiss the idea that there are many ‘errors’ in CMD?
• Is a need to economize a result of limitations of the medium, the social practices of the
medium (that is, what is expected) or cognitive and physical limitations of the
communicator?
• How does the structure of CMD differ depending on synchronicity?

Social practice:
• Why was early CMC not very well suited to open, democratic, egalitarian exchanges?
• With respect to socially-conditioned variations: do demographics make a difference?
Geographic location? Social class, race, ethnicity?
• What are some of the markers of intra-group CMD, and how does it make use of
discursive markers, culture specific lexis, verbal genres, code switching, and ethnic
language?
• How might linguistic cues, such as message length and assertiveness, may reveal aspects
of identity?
• What are some examples you can think of ? Do you communicate regularly online with
people you do not know and have never met?

Some reflection and criticisms:

• Power not limited to accomplishment of interactional work between individuals
• Societal institutions are themselves constructed and maintained through
discourse (c.f. Foucault) -- CMS is good example of this
• CMC inherits power asymmetries from larger historical and economic context
of the Internet

Key reading this week:

• Herring, S. C. (2001). Computer-mediated discourse. In: D. Schiffrin, D.
Tannen, and H. Hamilton (Eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (pp.
612-634). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/cmd.pdf