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As more of our human interaction moves online and facilitated by digital channels, it becomes increasingly important to understand how being online influences how we interact with others and ourselves. This textbook introduces students to the fundamental concepts, theories, and applications of computer-mediated communication. To prevent information from being dated, the text begins by building a foundational understanding of CMC theories-including CFO, SIP, SIDE, and hyperpersonal-to understand how being online affects human-human communication in a way that is not dependent on or embedded in a particular channel. From there, subsequent chapters explore how CMC intersects with and affects other communication subdisciplines, including interpersonal, organizational, and intergroup. After exploring these intersections, the textbook considers various uses of CMC, including to persuade, to entertain, and to facilitate relationships. Though contemporary examples are offered to illustrate theories and application, the text is written in a way that allows and encourages scholars to think about their own media use in a broader and channel-agnostic mindset, applying what they learn beyond just Instagram and Snapchat, to make sense of their modern and digital world.
List of contents
Preface
Part I. Infrastructure
1. What is the Internet?
2. The Nature of Computer Mediated Communication
Part II. Theories
3. Impersonal Communication Theories
4. Interpersonal Communication Theories
5. Group Communication Theories
Part III. Contexts
6. Organizational Communication
7. Group Communication
8. Interpersonal Communication
9. Intrapersonal Communication
10. Social Media
11. Video Games
12. Advertising & Public Relations
13. Politics
14. The Future
About the author
Caleb T. Carr (PhD, Michigan State University) is currently an associate professor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University, in Normal, Illinois. His research addresses how new media alter communicative processes, including how social media are used for organizational uncertainty reduction, in group collaborations, and to create and maintain identity online. His work has appeared in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Human Communication Research, The Journal of Applied Communication Research, and Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networks, and has received numerous awards from the International Communication Association and National Communication Association.
Dr. Carr has researched and taught courses in computer-mediated communication for almost a decade. He has authored or coauthored four book chapters addressing online communication and interpersonal and intergroup effects, most recently a full entry exploring intergroup communication via social media the encyclopedia of intergroup communication from Oxford publishing, edited by Howie Giles. He is currently back in the lab collecting data for the next series of studies; but is excited to get back to Computer Mediated Communication: A Theoretical and Practical Introduction to Online Human Communication.
Summary
Caleb T. Carr introduces students to fundamental concepts, theories, and applications of computer-mediated communication. Building on CFO, SIP, SIDE, and hyperpersonal CMC theories, this engaging text gives students a framework for human communication across all existing and future digital channels.
