CMC Information Sources

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) Information Sources; CMC is communication via computers

Welcome

This web helps you explore computer-mediated communication (CMC); here, you'll find organized and annotated links to Web sites about information sources related to CMC technology, use, and study, with an emphasis on Internet-based CMC. You can view and link to this information in a variety of ways, and your suggestions are welcome. Use the links at the top of this page to navigate and access this information

• Edited by: You can contact the editor of this information with your ideas and corrections; there are different formats for this information
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  • John December: Editor of this information since 1992; see first edition from 1992
  • Suggestion?: please send a correction of any information you find here or your suggestion to johndecember@gmail.com via email with the subject line cmc-info
• Formats: You can view and link to this information in a variety of ways; find the level of detail that is right for your needs; pages are available for each section; you can link to and use the page that fits your needs
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  • CMC brief: Outline of sections; shows the section names with a link on the section name to a file showing the entries and annotations for that section; put your cursor over the section name to see a popup describing it; this format is useful to quickly select and load only the section that you'd like to see; this is a good format to show someone new to this information so as not to overwhelm them with too many links on a page
  • CMC Info: Table; shows all entries with short labels in a table format; put your cursor over labels or section headings to see a popup description; links on section names take you to a file showing the entries and annotations for that section
  • CMC mini: Compressed table; shows all entries and section names with short labels and no linebreaks; put your cursor over labels or section names to see a popup description; links on section names take you to a file showing all the entries and annotations for that section; useful if you are familiar with the information and want all the links in a smaller amount of space
  • CMC all: Everything in one big file; shows all entries and all annotations in one HTML file; useful if you want to see everything at once or search for a text string in this information; to search, use your Web browser's Find feature; in Microsoft Internet Explorer, do this by selecting from the titlebar menu "Edit," then "Find on this page"; or you can just hit Control/F keys; links on section names go to a file showing entries and annotations for that section
• Updates: List of recently-added entries or entries that have a new Uniform Resource Locator or description
  • C2i2 (Study Groups), TCFIR (Study Groups), AoIR (Study Groups), Doc Ctr (Orgs Standards)

Technology

Computer-mediated communication relies on technology to mediate messages

Infrastructure

Computer-mediated communication infrastructure includes computers, networks, and content

• Computing: Computers are the hardware that enable computer-mediated communication
  • Security: Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center; a center of Internet security expertise; handles computer security incidents and vulnerabilities, publishes security alerts, researches long-term changes in networked systems, and develops information and training to help improve security; at the Software Engineering Institute, operated by Carnegie Mellon University
  • CHI: Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction; covers the design, evaluation, implementation, and study of interactive computing systems for human use; an international, interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas about the field of human-computer interaction; part of the Assocation for Computing Machinery
  • HCI: Human Computer Interaction bibliography; a collection of resources on Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer: list of computer-related resources online
  • Software: list of software sources online
• Networks: Computer networks enable computer-mediated communication to take place among widely dispersed participants
  • Mapnet: Illustration of Internet networks; provides a mainly historical look at visualization of the Internet beyond the topology of single provider
  • Cybergeography: Maps of cyberspace and its networks; a directory and discussion of diagrams, maps, and graphics that capture the online world in terms of visualizations of networks, resources, and information spaces.
• Content: Content mediated by computer-mediated communication can be encoded into text, graphics, multimedia, hypertext, and other formats
  • Multimedia: Special Interest Group on Multimedia; provides a forum for researchers, engineers, and practitioners in all aspects of multimedia computing, communication, storage, and applications; part of the Assocation for Computing Machinery
  • Graphics: Special Interest Group on Graphics; promotes the generation and dissemination of information on computer graphics and interactive techniques; part of the Assocation for Computing Machinery
  • HTML: HyperText Markup Language; information about HTML activity

Organizations

Organizations cooperate to make sure technology works together

• Networking: Organizations involved in coordinating and developing online communication technologies
  • IANA: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority; works on coordinating functions for the Internet
  • ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers; the corporation that is responsible for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions of the Internet
  • IETF: The Internet Engineering Task Force; a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet
  • IRTF: Internet Research Task Force; promotes research for the evolution of the future Internet by creating focused, long-term and small research groups working on topics related to Internet protocols, applications, architecture and technology
  • ISC: Internet Software Consortium; develops and maintains production quality Open Source reference implementations of core Internet protocols
  • ISOC: Internet Society; a professional membership society; provides leadership in addressing issues that confront the future of the Internet, and is the organization home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
  • W3C: World Wide Web Consortium; develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) for the World Wide Web
  • CAIDA: Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis; provides tools and analyses promoting the engineering and maintenance of a robust, scalable global Internet infrastructure
• Standards: Organizations and resources related to technology standards
  • ACM: Association for Computing Machinery Technical Standards Commitee; coordinates all official ACM participation in standards-related activities; ACM is an educational and scientific computing society
  • ANSI: American National Standards Institute; a private organization that administers and coordinates the United States voluntary standardization and conformity assessment systems
  • BSI: British Standards; the National Standards Body of the UK, responsible for facilitating, drafting, publishing and marketing British Standards and other guidelines
  • CSR: Communications Standards Review; reports on formal telecommunications standards work-in-progress (US and International) covering multimedia and wireline access technology standards
  • Doc Ctr: Document Center; search for standards
  • ETSI: European Telecommunications Standards Institute; an organization whose mission is to produce the telecommunications standards for Europe and beyond
  • IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission; a global organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies which serve as a basis for national standardization
  • IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; an international membership organization serving industry with standards programs
  • IAB: Internet Architecture Board; a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); responsible for oversight of IETF activities, Internet Standards Process oversight and appeal, and is responsible for the management of publication of the RFC Series and the management of the IETF protocol parameter registry, operated by the IANA
  • ISO: International Organization for Standardization; a network of the national standards institutes of some 140 countries, with a central office in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system and publishes the finished standards
  • ITU: International Telecommunication Union; an international organization within which governments and the private sector could work together to coordinate the operation of telecommunication networks and services and advance the development of communications technology
  • NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology; develops and promotes measurement, standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life; a non-regulatory federal agency within the US Department of Commerce
  • TIA: Telecommunications Industry Association; trade association representing providers of communications and information technology products and services

Use

Computer-mediated communication is used for all kinds of social, commercial, and cultural reasons

Internet

The Internet is the best known and most widely used example of a global computer-mediated communication system

• Training: Resources to help learn about how to use the Internet
  • Web Text: Internet Web Text; an online textbook for learning about the Internet; includes links to online guides and reference information
  • Internet Docs: Internet document archives; repository of Internet RFC/STD/FYI/BCP documents; a collection of information on topics related to the Internet, including historical memos; includes the Request for Comments (RFC) series of notes used to exchange information about Internet topics; many of these notes are of value for their historical interest; also includes FYI (For Your Information), STD (standards), and BCP (Internet Best Current Practices)
  • History: History of the Internet; section from the Internet Society's Web site of resources to learn about how the Internet has come to be what it is
  • Tools: Net tools; a summary of software tools used on the Internet for information, interaction, and communication
• Searching: Resources to find information on the Internet
  • Keyword: Keyword-oriented search engines online
  • Subjects: Subject-oriented directories of online information
  • Lookup: Quick reference information resources
  • People: People locating resources; a list of resources to find people in online directories and search engines
  • Spaces: Net Space reference chart; gives you links to help you explore information spaces on the Internet--shows searching resources for different protocols and notes on now obsolete protocols
  • Archive: Internet Archive; builds an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format

Applications

There are many examples of computer-mediated communication used for many purposes on the Internet

• Education: Education is one of the big applications of computer-mediated communication
  • Edu Resources: Top Education resources; lists resources demonstrating the use of online communication for education
  • Edu Institutions: Education information; list of resources to locate information on educational institutions, including online, computer training, and primary and secondary schools
• Government: World governments have recognized the value of providing information to citizens via computer-mediated communication
  • Top Gov: a list of resources for finding out about government information
  • USA Gov: United States government information online
• Commerce: Commerce has embraced computer-mediated communication as a way to reach customers and conduct business and sales
  • Marketing:
• Communication: Communication is the killer app of online communication, enabling people to communicate via synchronous and asynchronous means
  • Collaboration: Section from World Wide Web Organization's web on collaboration; covers collaboration, knowledge representation, annotation of objects by objects, notification, and any other issues which arise in the creation of shared information systems and collaborative development
  • Conferencing: Conferencing on the Web; a comprehensive guide to software for discussion on the Internet, including econferencing, forums and message boards, instant messaging, video and audio conferencing, groupware, social software for virtual communities, virtual teams, collaborative workgroups, intranets, e-learning, knowledge management; maintained by David R. Woolley
  • Conferencing Test: focus on web conferencing solutions for smaller and medium-sized companies and the self-employed; a test of numerous web conferencing software systems in an independent software review; features, ease-of-use and security as a well as an important decision-making aid for selecting your ideal web conferencing solution
  • Collaboration: Group & web collaboration information and software; business collaboration and other related collaborative web content management software system(s); information about co-operative and collaborative group document management, content, creation, editing and publishing utilising Internet technologies
  • Mass: List of mass media outlets; use to locate newspaper, television, radio, magazine, Web sites, and streaming media outlets
  • Tools: List of Internet tools; includes coverage of communication; list of software that is used for interpersonal, group, mass, and interactive communication on the Internet, ranging from email, messenger, conferencing, groupware, blogs, IRC, MUDs, etc.
• Language: The world of online communication has developed its own vocabulary and ways to distribute literature
  • NetLingo: Dictionary of Internet terms; words and definitions that describe the online world of business, technology, and communication
  • Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg; producer of free electronic books (eBooks or eTexts)
  • Human: iLoveLanguages.com; guide to human language-related Web sites

Study

The study of computer-mediated communication involves scholars, practitioners, and users exchanging information, ideas, and views

Periodicals

A variety of publications cover aspects of computer-mediated communication

• JCMC: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication; academic journal covering computer-mediated communication
• IT & Society: Information Technology and Society; web-based scholarly journal devoted to the scientific analysis of the social impact of information technology on society, with special emphasis on quantitative survey analysis
• JOnline Behav: Journal of OnLine Behavior; academic journal devoted to the empirical study of human behavior online
• IJHCS: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies; academic journal
• M/C: M/C Journal; academic journal covering media and culture
• JIME: Journal of Interactive Media in Education; academic journal covering theoretical and practical aspects of interactive media in education
• CMC Mag: Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine; magazine reporting on communication in online environments; includes archive of articles plus current news headlines related to information technology
• Net Periodicals: Internet Tools list; periodicals related to the technical and user aspects of computer networking on the Internet

Books

cover aspects of computer-mediated communication

• CMC: Computer-Mediated Communication; featured books from Amazon
• Media Studies: Communication and Media Studies; featured books from Amazon
• Groupware: Internet, Groupware, & Telecommunications; featured books from Amazon
• Communication: Human communication online; featured books from Amazon

Forums

Meeting places for the exchange of ideas

• Conferences: Gatherings of academics, industry, and users who are interested in computer-mediated communication on the Internet and other contexts
  • Educause: Conferences about information technology in higher education
  • ACM: Association for Computing Machinery Events; ACM is an educational and scientific computing society
  • Tech Calendar: Information technology and business conferences
  • WWW: International World Wide Web Conference Committee; organizes the academic conferences on Web technology
  • CPSR: Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility conferences; CPSR is a public-interest alliance of computer scientists and others concerned about the impact of computer technology on society

Groups

Organizations and institutions studying computer-mediated communication

• AIMS: Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies; a cross-disciplinary experience for students of all majors to merge digital theory and development with their respective areas of interest; at Miami University of Ohio
• AoIR: Association of Internet Researchers; international association for students and scholars in any discipline in the field of of Internet studies
• Berkman Ctr: Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School; aims to explore and understand cyberspace, its development, dynamics, norms, standards, and need or lack thereof for laws and sanctions
• C2i2: Center for Critical Internet Inquiry at the Univeristy of California--Los Angeles; an interdisciplinary research center examining technology, racial and economic justice, and technology; works to strengthen democracy through culture-making and public policy work; home to the Minderoo Initiative on Technology and Power
• CIOS: Communication Institute for Online Scholarship; service for scholars involved in human communication research
• Communication: Communication organizations; involved in the study of human communication
• CMC RG: Computer Mediated Communication Research Group; studies the science of how computer networks can make people cooperate; Stockholm University and KTH Technical University, Sweden
• CNI: Coalition for Networked Information; supports the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity
• CRA: Computing Research Association; an association of academic departments of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields; laboratories and centers in industry, government, and academia engaging in basic computing research; and affiliated professional societies
• Kling Ctr: Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics; School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; dedicated to support research into information technology and social change; Social Informatics (SI) refers to the body of research and study that examines social aspects of computerization
• MIT Comm Forum: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Communications Forum; an ongoing conversation about emerging communications technologies
• NMC: New Media Consortium; brings forward-thinking learning organizations and high-tech companies to collaborate
• Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute ; multidisciplinary, based at Oxford, studies the impact of the Internet on society; debates about how the Internet could and should develop
• Pew: The Pew Internet & American Life Project; researches the impact of the Internet on people, communities, the workplace and civic life
• Stanford Ctr: Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society; studies the interaction of new technologies and the law and to examine how the synergy between the two can either promote or harm public goods like free speech, privacy, public commons, diversity, and scientific inquiry; part of the Law, Science and Technology Program at Stanford
• TCFIR: The Center for Internet Research; a transdisciplinary research organization investigating Internet technology and human experience; information technology, computer science, humanities, ethics, psychology, commerce, politics, public policy, anthropology, semiotics, sociology, andragogy, and pedagogy