A Personal Experience to CMC

by t·i·d·b·i·t·s 9:45 PM 2 comments Blogging Task 1 CMC New Media

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Hola, peeps!

Our very first blog today is going to be a discussion about CMC. 
 The question, first and foremost is:

'Do you know what the acronym CMC stands for?'

Any guesses as to what it means?

Call me, maybe? Hold on, that's CMM 
Or maybe the googled 'Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control?'. 

But, still that is not tech-related.

On a second note, it's funny how the tech-related CMC is not the immediate answer on the list of CMC googled acronyms. For though it might not have the fame of LOL or YOLO but CMC is a 'thing' that almost everyone is or has been engaged in. 

'Computer-mediated Communication', that is the answer, term, and act that has dated for almost half a century as its origin is traced back to the 1970s with Hafner and Lyon referencing the first email sent in 1972 between two networked computers (as cited in Herring, 2010). Synonymous to CMC would be the more familiar WhatsApp, Wechat or Facebook, which are in actual fact examples of CMC. But, that is not all CMC is, for according to Gerry Santoro (cited in Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, 2004), CMC in its extreme even includes the diverse applications of statistical analysis programs, remote-sensing systems, and financial modeling programs. 

In spite of that, our emphasis on CMC is closer to the definition provided by December (1997), which is

“A process of human communication via computers, involving people situated in particular contexts, engaging in processes to shape media for a variety of purposes”.

or as Yu (2011) puts it, a system which is both human and computer, something that is alive instead of being some rigid facility. Though in our opinion – simplified – CMC is basically human-to-human communication through a screen. 

In fact, you simply being here and reading this blog (bienvenue or welcome by the way) is a good example that CMC has changed many of our communication habits, 

Source of image: quickmeme.com

we 'text' instead of speaking, 

we 'email' instead of writing letters  

and we 'LOL' instead of really laughing out loud.

But there is 'less' to CMC than what meets the eye, as many scholars viewed CMC to be only at best - a metaphorical mode of 'conversation' but not a literal description of it; since it is not anything like face-to-face communication (Herring, 2010). Early researchers of CMC (Kiesler, 1986; Kiesler, Siegel & McGuire, 1984) states that CMC lacks in the department of social presence and media richness as there are limited cues of physical presence and nonverbal gestures compared to the traditional mode of communication which is face-to-face, spoken and heard straight on. Despite so, Herring (2010) states that CMC's users often refer to CMC activities as conversations, using verbs such as 'talked, said and heard' instead of 'typed, wrote or read'. And the truth is, our social interaction has enabled us to connect with people in the way we never could in our past history and CMC has indeed redefined our communication and enriched our experiences.

A Personal Experience(s)

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Engaging in asynchronous communication daily has been a habit of mine since entering UNIMAS, as I obtain lecture slides, PDF reading materials, useful links and announcements through Morpheus. I think that this way of information delivering system is much more convenient compared to manually jotting down notes. Besides that, Morpheus illustrated an example of consistent interaction between lecturers and students, as it pose as another channel of media apart from depending solely on the limited lecture time of two to three hours.

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I, for once don't think it's embarrassing to admit that you're homesick but still being busy and all, I have never really realized or spelled-it-out. But, it's only until when I have received a Skype call from my grandmama in Seremban as she tested her newly set-up Wifi, that I realized how much I have missed her. And it's not something a phone call can compare... watching and listening to her. It conveyed just as much information and presence, just as if we are face-to-face though separated geographically. A synchronous call, though not face-to-face, is really the next BEST thing.   

At last, CMC does not only asserts influence on our modes of communication with each other but its influence and impact extend into our daily lives... 

Tune in next time to read our new post 'CMC - a Cultural Hack'. 

References

December, J. (1997). Notes on defining of computer-mediated communication. Computer

Mediated Communication Magazine [On-line], 4(1). Retrieved from http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1997/jan/december.html

Herring, S. C. (2010). Computer-mediated conversation: Introduction and

overview. Language@Internet, 7(2).  Retrieved from: 
              http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2011/Herring

Kiesler, S. (1986). The hidden messages in computer networks. Harvard Business Review,

64(3), 46-60.

Kiesler, S., Siegel, J., & McGuire, T. W. (1984). Social psychological aspects of computer- 

            mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39(10), 1123-1134.

Thurlow, C., Lengel, L., & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer-mediated communication: Social

interaction and the Internet.UK: London, SAGE.

Yu, B. (2011). Computer-mediated communication systems. TripleC, 9(2), 531-534.