Abstract

Recent developments in technology - video conferencing, email and the World Wide Web - have made this a crucial moment for those people studying language behaviour. Pemberton and Shurville place readers at the heart of investigations into what happens to language when people communicate via computers. These studies consider the ways in which we combine written, spoken and non-verbal modes to express ourselves through new media. They discuss informal activities such as email and the chat-room, educational uses of CMC for collaborative learning and language practice, and the integration of CMC into formal work practice - for instance in an ambulance dispatch centre. The scope of the book ranges from Conversation Analysis to Genre Theory and from Social Psychology to Politeness Theory. There is much to contemplate for both designers of new communication as well as those commissioning and buying these technologies for our homes, schools and workplaces. The collection of work here has been edited to recognise the range of disciplines looking to this field and is of direct interest to any linguist, psychologist or other social scientist working in the study of human communication.