14.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF CMC

A working definition of computer-mediated communication is "communication between different parties separated in space and/or time, mediated by interconnected computers." The computer network acts as a communication medium just as if it were a printed book containing text and graphics or a video broadcasting system. However, the computer brings certain characteristics to the communication process that the majority of previously available communication media did not offer.

14.2.1 Highly Interactive Communication

The first of these characteristics is the capability of supporting complex processes of interaction between the participants. The computer combines the permanent nature of written communication with the speed and to some extent the dynamicism of spoken telephone communication. Unlike the limited interactivity available in other forms of computer-based leaming such as CAI, the possibilities for interaction and feedback are almost limitless, being a function of the creativity and personal involvement of the participants in the on-line discussion.

The feedback messages do not have to be preprepared and stored, as is the case with CAI. Also, the participants are able to some extent to express within their messages not only the bare content but also their personal viewpoints and, to a limited extent, the emotional overtones that may be present. Thus, the potential for interaction in a CMC system is both more flexible and potentially richer than in other forms of computer-based education.

14.2.2 Multi-Way Communication

Another aspect of the communication process is that it is essentially multiway communication. At the very least, the communication is two-way, as in the case of two people exchanging messages in an electronic-mail environment. More often, however, the communication is multiway, between all the participants of a group who may receive and respond to messages from all the other participants.

One point that should be considered is whether unlimited multyway communication is in fact always desirable within an educational situation. Many participants in computer conferencing have expressed frustration and disappointment With the difficulty they have had in sorting out relevant from irrelevant information, because there are so many participants contributing messages on a variety of different topics. One approach to creating some order in this chaos is through the development of special-purpose educational CMC software environments that may break down a complex conference into subthemes and issues held in separate "areas"," as if in separate rooms in a convention center (for example, CoSy, PARTIcipate). Another approach is through the use of hypertext environments (see Chapter 22) that automatically link the incoming messages so that the users of the CMC system can get a clear idea of the structure of previous discussion. Such hypertext environments have also been applied to breaking down a large group of participants into small groups for intensive discussion, replicating in the on-line environment the classroom-based techniques of seminars or case study (Romiszowski & Chang, 1992; Chang, 1994). The latest windows-based conferencing systems allow participants to view a list of messages in a conference and then to point and click on those they wish to read. This facilitates greater selectivity for users than the old command line systems.

14.2.3 Synchronous or Asynchronous Communication

Finally, the communication process may have both synchronous and asynchronous characteristics. By synchronous communication, we understand communication between two or more people in real time, such as classroom-based, face-to-face discussion, or a telephone conversation. In asynchronous communication, the participants are not on-line at one and the same time, as in the case of correspondence by letter or fax. The interesting aspect of using the computer as a communication medium is that it is possible to use it at will both as a synchronous communication medium like a telephone or an asynchronous communication medium like a letter-writing or fax system, depending on what is ideally required by the particular situation (Rawson, 1990; Sheffield & McQueen, 1990). We will later explore these characteristics of synchronous and asynchronous communication in a computer-mediated environment, identifying potential benefits in different situations for each one of these modalities.