Computer Mediated Communication

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Units of Analysis for Internet Communication

John December
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Table of Contents

Introduction Defining Internet-based, Computer-mediated Communication Approaches to Defining Communication Figure 1. Basic operation of the Internet's TCP/ IP switching protocols Figure 2. The client-server data communications model Integration Examples of Internet Communication Units of Analysis for Internet-based Communication The Server-Client-Content Triad Contextualizing Media Units of Analysis Figure 3. Symbols for graphic representation of media classes and objects Figure 4. Graphic representation of a media class Figure 5. Graphic representation of three media objects. Integrating Diverse Landscapes References

When communication researchers make claims about the relationship of media to individuals or society, they use the term media to mean a variety of things. For example, a researcher might try to prove the claim "television causes X," where X might be anything from aggressive behavior to bad vision or a crisis in a sense of self. In this case, is the researcher talking about the television signals in the air, people who work at television stations, people who produce or act in television programs, the television programs themselves, television receiving sets, or some or all of these things?

Of course, the research context, setting, and constraints usually define what is meant by the term television as a medium, but how can researchers talk about new media that involve communication on computer networks? The Internet, a cooperatively run, globally distributed collection of computer networks, provides a communication forum in which an estimated 20-40 million people in 90 countries (Society, 1995) participate. The Internet provides an array of tools for

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