Computer-Mediated Discourse by Susan
C. Herring
Book
computer-mediated discourse by Susan C. Herring published online in 2008 are the communication produced when
human beings interact with one another by transmitting messages via networked
computers. The study of computer-mediated discourse (henceforth CMD) is a
specialization within the broader interdisciplinary study of computer-mediated
communication (CMC), distinguished by its focus on language and language use
in computer networked environments, and by its use of methods of discourse
analysis to address that focus.
Most CMC
currently in use is text-based, that is, messages are typed on a
computer keyboard and read as text on a computer screen, typically by a person
or persons at a different location from the message sender. Text-based CMC
takes a variety of forms (e.g., e-mail, discussion groups, real-time chat,
virtual reality role-playing games) whose linguistic properties vary depending
on the kind of messaging system used and the social and cultural context embedding
particular instances of use. However, all such forms have in common that the
activity that takes place through them is constituted primarily - in many cases, exclusively
-
by visually-presented
language. These characteristics of the medium have important consequences for
understanding the nature of computer-mediated language. They also provide a
unique environment, free from competing influences from other channels of
communication and from physical context, in which to study verbal interaction and
the relationship between discourse and social practice.
Early history designed in the United States in the late 1960's to facilitate the
transfer of computer programs and data between remote computers in the
interests of national defense (Levy, 1984; Rheingold, 1993), computer networks
caught on almost immediately as a means of interpersonal communication, first
among computer scientists in the early 1970's (Hafner & Lyon, 1996), then
among academic and business users in elite universities and organizations in
the 1980's, and from there into popular use - facilitated by the rise of
commercial Internet service providers - in the 1990's. The first wide-area network,
the U.S. defense department sponsored ARPANET, was replaced in the early 1980's
by the global network Internet, which as of January 1999 comprised more than 58,000
networks supporting an estimated 150 million users (Petrazzini & Kibati,
1999).
CMD continues to
grow and misunderstandings about CMD that had gone before. Popular claims -
some endorsed by published research - held that computer-mediated communication
was "anonymous", "impersonal", "egalitarian",
"fragmented" and "spoken-like", attributing these
properties to the nature of the medium itself, and failing to distinguish among
different types and uses of CMD. Ferrara et al. (1991), although contributing
useful observations on one form of real-time experimental CMD, also
overgeneralized, characterizing what they termed "interactive written
discourse" as a single genre. In fact, subsequent research has revealed
computer-mediated language and interaction to be sensitive to a
variety of technical and situational factors, making it far more complex and
variable than envisioned by early descriptions.
The remainder of
this chapter is organized into four broad sections, each of them representing a
currently active area of CMD research. Section 2, on the 'classification of CMD',
addresses the nature of CMD in relation to written and spoken language, and identifies
some technologically- and culturally-determined CMC types. Section 3 describes the
structural properties of CMD at the levels of typography, orthography, word
choice and grammar. Section 4 considers how participants in CMD negotiate
turn-taking and maintain cross-turn coherence, despite constraints on
interaction management imposed by CMC systems. Section 5, entitled 'social
practice', discusses CMD in the service of social goals ranging from
self-presentation to interpersonal interaction to the dominance of some groups by
others. The chapter concludes by considering the prospects for CMD research in
the future.
And the conclusion of this book is CMD as a single genre. It should also be clear that
not all properties of CMD follow necessarily and directly from the properties
of computer technology. Rather, social and cultural factors -- carried over from
communication in other media as well as internally generated in
computer-mediated environments -- contribute importantly to the constellation
of properties that characterizes computer-mediated discourse.
The wide variety
of discourse activities that take place in CMD and the range of human
experiences they evoke invites multiple approaches to analysis, including approaches
drawn from different academic disciplines as well as different sub-fields of discourse
analysis. This richness and diversity of CMD, concentrated into a single
(albeit vast) phenomenon which is the Internet, is its strength. CMD study
enables us to see interconnections between micro- and macro-levels of
interaction that might otherwise not emerge by observing spoken or written
communication, and potentially to forge more comprehensive theories of
discourse and social action as a result.
That said,
further specialization in CMD research is desirable and inevitable, given that
the field covers a vast array of phenomena and is still new. In this overview,
I have focused on issues of categorization, linguistic structure, interaction
management, and social practice in computer-mediated environments. Other
important topics, such as the effects of computer mediation on language change
over time (Herring, 1998a, 1999c), children's learning and use of CMD (Evard,
1996; Nix, 1998, Forthcoming), pedagogical CMD (Herring & Nix, 1997;
Warschauer, 1999; Zyngier & De Moura, 1997), and cross-cultural CMD (Ma,
1996; Meagher & Castaños, 1996), have not been treated here. Each
potentially constitutes a sub-discipline of CMD research that can be extended
in its own right.
The future prospects
for the field of CMD analysis are very bright. As of this writing, new research
on computer-mediated communication is appearing almost daily, and a growing
proportion of that work is making language its focus. This flurry of activity
is certain to turn up new areas of research, as well as problematizing existing
understandings; such are the signs of a vital and growing field of inquiry.
Moreover, as CMC technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, new and
up-to-the-minute research will be needed to document its use. For example, we
can anticipate structural and cultural changes in on-line communication as the
World Wide Web increasingly integrates Internet modes such as email, newsgroups,
and chat rooms under a single graphical interface. We can also look forward to
new understandings (and new analytical challenges) as CMD enhanced by audio and
video channels comes into more popular use. CMD is not just a trend; it is here
to stay. For as long as computer-mediated communication involves language in
any form, there will be a need for computer-mediated discourse analysis.
