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The similarities and differences between written and spoken forms of language have been a focus of interest of many scholars. There is agreement that instead of being a dichotomy or one single continuum, the differences between spoken and written forms can be measured along several dimensions. The coming into existence of computermediated communication (CMC) has made the line of distinction even less obvious. It is technically a writing (key-pressing) behaviour but may be used to carry out spontaneous communication. This study is intended to investigate the special linguistic features of CMC versus non-CMC texts. The study adopts a corpus linguistic approach to analyse a host of 67 linguistic features in synchronous and asynchronous CMC genres and finds interesting differences in the use of these features when used in different temporalities of CMC contexts. A comparison of these features in CMC genres with those in non-CMC texts also reveals some special characteristics of language developed through the use of CMC. The study suggests that, within the general development of CMC, there are emerging genres reflecting particular contexts. As CMC may soon become a major means of communication, and corpus linguistics is an innovative linguistic approach, awareness of CMC is likely to be of increasing importance for language learning. Some pedagogical suggestions are proposed from the experience and findings that have been gained.

Communication has become one of the most popular applications of information technology. A considerable body of work addresses both theoretical and applied aspects of computer-mediated communication. However, much of this work has not been able to capture the complexity and significance of everyday communication activities and the mutual shaping of technologies and their use. This study uses a qualitative methodology based on interviews with undergraduates to explore how the properties of communication technologies, user motivations and social contexts interact to influence use and experience. The three specific technologies addressed are email, instant messaging and text messaging. Factors identified as relevant during interviews are presented, and their interactions explored. Findings suggest that use and experience of communication technologies are shaped by a variety of factors and their interactions, and that study of information and communication technologies cannot validly be removed from the personal and social contexts in which they are used.

This study concerns the relationship between social and technological change. It asks whether the introduction of a new technology, computer mediated communication, enables scientists to engage in an altogether new and potentially more effective research activity, the online hunt for microbes. It shows that such technology, in the form of the Microbial Strain Data Network (MSDN), boosts significantly the overall speed, flexibility and extent of possible communication between microbe hunters and microbe suppliers. As a result, the global hunt for microbes in existing research and service oriented culture collections can transcend historiC geographic and institutional barriers that diminish its timeliness and comprehensiveness and, as a result, its potential utility. Therefore, the study hypothesises, microbe hunters will use extensively the MSDN's electronic mail and, especially, its online microbial strain databases. However, contrary to expectations, the mere availability of the MSDN is evidently insufficient to assure its widespread use. The MSDN was, in fact, little used during an extensive six month evaluation period in 1990191. Moreover, despite lowering its prices and increasing its strain database offerings, as well as improving its ease of use, the MSDN remains liltle used today. The study concludes that the MSDN's non-use reflects its general incompatibility with the context in which it was applied. The prevailing sociotechnological structure of microbiology diminishes significantly the accessibility, comparability, and reliability of shared strain data. In doing so, it reduces the potential benefits of CMC technology generally, and the MSDN in particular, in facilitating the online hunt for microbes. Success in the online hunt for microbes therefore requires changing the socio-technological context in which the hunt occurs. The discussion recommends possible changes to the socio-technological structure of microbiology to improve the online hunt's viability. It also points to the need for further research about the viability of the online hunt for microbes, as well as about the effective application of computer mediated communication technology to science generally.

The recent advances in digital communication technologies have altered the way in which people socialize on a day-to-day basis. A question that has arisen in relation to this is what being somewhere together actually means at a time when our interactions are no longer confined to shared physical places. The phenomenon of being somewhere together (also: togetherness) has previously been studied within the fields of social presence theory (which focuses on digitally mediated ‘togetherness’ and primarily departs from a psychological perspective) and microsociology (which takes an arguably more interactional approach to the idea of being together but primarily focuses on face-to-face interaction). Therefore, what is missing is a conceptualization of togetherness that can account both for togetherness in contexts other than those mediated face- to-face and for the ways in which togetherness is potentially ‘created’ in social interaction. The purpose of this thesis is to address this shortcoming by examining the underlying problem of being together and the conceptualizations of being together in the two aforementioned discourses. For the theoretical analyses, the example of online chat conversation is used as the primary focus of study. The thesis comprises three main parts. In the first part, the question of why being together has become difficult to conceptualize since the introduction of electronic and digital communication technologies is explored. The second part of the thesis is a review of what being together stands for in social presence theory and microsociology, respectively. In the third part, the two reviewed understandings of being together are examined. Here, it is observed that social presence theory portrays being together as something that occurs in informational environments, while microsociology portrays it instead as something pertaining to framed (or specified) social situations. Thereafter follows a critical examination of being together in informational situations and being together in framed social situations in which the notions are analysed in relation to online chat. It is concluded that the second view of being together (as a framed activity) is more promising for the future study of togetherness in online chat environments, and potentially also for togetherness in digitally mediated environments more generally.

This thesis focuses upon a series of empirical studies which examine communication and learning in online glocal communities within higher education in Sweden. A recurring theme in the theoretical framework deals with issues of languaging in virtual multimodal environments as well as the making of identity and negotiation of meaning in these settings; analyzing the activity, what people do, in contraposition to the study of how people talk about their activity. The studies arise from netnographic work during two online Italian for Beginners courses offered by a Swedish university. Microanalyses of the interactions occurring through multimodal video-conferencing software are amplified by the study of the courses’ organisation of space and time and have allowed for the identification of communicative strategies and interactional patterns in virtual learning sites when participants communicate in a language variety with which they have a limited experience. The findings from the four studies included in the thesis indicate that students who are part of institutional virtual higher educational settings make use of several resources in order to perform their identity positions inside the group as a way to enrich and nurture the process of communication and learning in this online glocal community. The sociocultural dialogical analyses also shed light on the ways in which participants gathering in discursive technological spaces benefit from the opportunity to go to class without commuting to the physical building of the institution providing the course. This identity position is, thus, both experienced by participants in interaction, and also afforded by the ‘spaceless’ nature of the online environment.

The rapid growth of the internet over the past decade has provided increasing opportunities for individuals to engage in computer-mediated social interaction in virtual environments. Despite this rapid growth there has been limited research into the way people use the Internet, and the effect Internet use has on their lives (Kraut, 1996). The overall aim in the research presented in this thesis was to explore how characteristics of the individual interact with characteristics of computer-mediated communication to enable socio-emotional communication and behaviour in social text-based virtual environments. Three studies are presented. Studies One and Two are qualitative studies of social interaction in two text-based, synchronous ('real time') virtual environments: MOOs (Multi User Dimensions, Object Oriented) and Internet Relay' Chat (IRC). Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) methodology was used to develop formal theories of social interaction within these environments. Stage models of virtual environment use were developed that described changes in social interaction over time. In MOOs, changes in social interaction over time reflected the process of coming to terms with what was initially viewed by users as an alternative reality. In IRC the central feature of social interaction that emerged was the perceived ease of communication. This was attributed to the effortlessness of meeting a wide range of potential communication partners in a social context where the communication itself was simplified to text only communication. The hypotheses developed from the qualitative research in Studies One and Two were tested in Study Three. This was a longitudinal study of new Internet users that examined the bi-directional effects of personality characteristics and computer-mediated communication on behaviour. Personality measures were poor predictors of time spent in ++ / both specific types of virtual environments and on-line in general. Based on the usage patterns across the three studies a decision pathway for the use of virtual environments was developed. A key finding across the studies was the potential for virtual environments to enhance psychological well-being for individuals who experience social discomfort in off-line settings. Limitations of the research were discussed and suggestions made for future research.

This study examined the effects of communication mode, both face-to-face (FTF) and computer-mediated communication (CMC), and polling on cooperation in a commons dilemma. Sixty-seven six-person groups used FISH, a computer program that uses a fishing metaphor to simulate a commons dilemma. Next, groups had a 10-minute discussion period, either FTF or via CMC, in which they devised a strategy for the second FISH session. Groups were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: FTF, no-poll CMC, end-poll CMC, and two-poll CMC. The polls allowed members to determine others' intended behavior, thus enhancing perceived consensus. Finally, groups used the FISH program again. Results indicted that experimental condition influenced consensus, with end-poll CMC groups reaching consensus most often, followed by FTF, two-poll CMC, and no-poll CMC groups. However, groups did not differ across experimental condition on resource pool sustainability or group profit. FTF groups were more satisfied with group performance than no-poll CMC groups and two-poll CMC and FTF groups had similar levels of satisfaction. The strategy the group decided to implement in the second FISH session had a significant effect on group profit but not resource pool sustainability. Thus, the harvest strategy implemented by the group may have been a stronger predictor of performance than experimental condition.

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