Communication and Group Decision Making


Book Description

Communication and Group Decision-Making takes stock of recent group communication research - with an explicit focus on communication processes. This book is recommended for academics professionals and researchers in communication and organization.




Productive Multivocality in the Analysis of Group Interactions


Book Description

The key idea of the book is that scientific and practical advances can be obtained if researchers working in traditions that have been assumed to be mutually incompatible make a real effort to engage in dialogue with each other, comparing and contrasting their understandings of a given phenomenon and how these different understandings can either complement or mutually elaborate on each other. This key idea applies to many fields, particularly in the social and behavioral sciences, as well as education and computer science. The book shows how we have achieved this by presenting our study of collaborative learning during the course of a four-year project. Through a series of five workshops involving dozens of researchers, the 37 editors and authors involved in this project studied and reported on collaborative learning, technology enhanced learning, and cooperative work. The authors share an interest in understanding group interactions, but approach this topic from a variety of traditional disciplinary homes and theoretical and methodological traditions. This allows the book to be of use to researchers in many different fields and with many different goals and agendas.







Computer Mediated Communication


Book Description

This is a uniquely friendly and easy-to-understand treatment of the complex theories and findings that surround CMC. Communication is often complicated, and computerization makes it stranger still, yet the authors have deftly demystified both the miraculous and the mundane of computer-mediated interaction.




Theories of Communication Networks


Book Description

To date, most network research contains one or more of five major problems. First, it tends to be atheoretical, ignoring the various social theories that contain network implications. Second, it explores single levels of analysis rather than the multiple levels out of which most networks are comprised. Third, network analysis has employed very little the insights from contemporary complex systems analysis and computer simulations. Foruth, it typically uses descriptive rather than inferential statistics, thus robbing it of the ability to make claims about the larger universe of networks. Finally, almost all the research is static and cross-sectional rather than dynamic. Theories of Communication Networks presents solutions to all five problems. The authors develop a multitheoretical model that relates different social science theories with different network properties. This model is multilevel, providing a network decomposition that applies the various social theories to all network levels: individuals, dyads, triples, groups, and the entire network. The book then establishes a model from the perspective of complex adaptive systems and demonstrates how to use Blanche, an agent-based network computer simulation environment, to generate and test network theories and hypotheses. It presents recent developments in network statistical analysis, the p* family, which provides a basis for valid multilevel statistical inferences regarding networks. Finally, it shows how to relate communication networks to other networks, thus providing the basis in conjunction with computer simulations to study the emergence of dynamic organizational networks.




Handbook of New Media


Book Description

Praise for the First Edition: `A landmark volume that provides a foundation stone for a new subject - the study of new media. It is stunningly well-edited, offering a very high standard of original contributions in a skilfully orchestrated and organised textbook' - James Curran, Goldsmiths College, University of London `This is the first major review of interactive technologies and their cultural and social context. This is more than a welcome addition to one's library; it is the authoritative overview of international research perspectives on interactive media technologies by leading scholars around the world' - Ellen Wartella, University of Texas, Austin `The Handbook of New Media is a landmark for the study of information and communication technologies within the field of communication. Its international team of editors and authors has brought together insights gained from over two decades of scholarly research. This indispensable reference demonstrates an increased maturity and stature for "new media" research within the field' - William H Dutton, University of Southern California `A truly comprehensive and authoritative volume. This Handbook will be an absolutely essential text for anyone concerned with social aspects of the new media' - Kevin Robins, Goldsmiths College, University of London Thoroughly revised and updated, this Student Edition of the successful Handbook of New Media has been abridged to showcase the best of the hardback edition. It stakes out the boundaries of new media research and scholarship and provides a definitive statement of the current state of the field. New to the Student Edition: - Improved organization of material to make it more accessible for students and easier to incorporate into course design - An introduction by the editors, which clearly lays out the main themes in new media studies as well as providing instructors with a guide to how to get the most out of the Handbook in the classroom - All chapters are updated to combine classic studies and background material with latest developments in the field The first edition of the Handbook immediately established itself as the central reference work in the field. This new revised edition offers students the most comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the area.




Computer-Mediated Communication Systems


Book Description

Computer-Mediated Communication Systems: Status and Evaluation synthesizes current knowledge about computerized conferencing systems, electronic mail, and office information-communication systems. It should be of interest both to students and researchers studying this new form of electronic communication and to organizations that are planning the installation of electronic mail or other computer-mediated communication systems and that need to be aware of the information gleaned from the studies presented here. The book is organized into four main sections, focusing on the following issues: (1) What are the important considerations in designing software or choosing a system from the many available options and capabilities? (2) What factors determine whether such systems are likely to be accepted or rejected? (3) What are the likely impacts of such systems upon the individuals, groups, and organizations which use them? It is not the economic costs and benefits, but the social problems and ""payoffs"" in the form of enhanced performance and organizational efficiency that should be the main considerations in deciding whether or not to use a computer-mediated communication system. (4) Given the conditional nature of many of the possible impacts, no system should be implemented without formal evaluation and feedback from users to guide the implementation. The major kinds of evaluational strategies that have been successfully employed are described in this book.




Sociological Abstracts


Book Description




Shaping Organization Form


Book Description

Shaping Organization Form considers the role of new communication technologies in shaping organizations today and in the future. Four key themes are considered in depth: changes in technology, changes in organizational form, and their mutual influence on one another; evolutionary processes in organizations and the ways in which technology can influence these processes; the development of organizational communities and inter-organizational relationships that are mediated by electronic communication systems; and major controversies surrounding electronically mediated organizations and directions for future research that flow out of these controversies.