While computer-mediated communication use and research are proliferating rapidly, findings offer contrasting images regarding the interpersonal character of this technology. Research trends over the history of these media are reviewed with observations across trends suggested so as to provide integrative principles with which to apply media to different circumstances. First, the notion that the media reduce personal influences—their impersonal effects—is reviewed. Newer theories and research are noted explaining normative “interpersonal” uses of the media. From this vantage point, recognizing that impersonal communication is sometimes advantageous, strategies for the intentional depersonalization of media use are inferred, with implications for Group Decision Support Systems effects. Additionally, recognizing that media sometimes facilitate communication that surpasses normal interpersonal levels, a new perspective on “hyperpersonal” communication is introduced. Subprocesses are discussed pertaining to re...

Computer-Mediated Communication Impersonal, Interpersonal, and Hyperpersonal Interaction

Some Unintended Consequences of Information Technology in Health Care: The Nature of Patient Care Information System-related Errors

To date, many important threads of information privacy research have developed, but these threads have not been woven together into a cohesive fabric. This paper provides an interdisciplinary review of privacy-related research in order to enable a more cohesive treatment. With a sample of 320 privacy articles and 128 books and book sections, we classify previous literature in two ways: (1) using an ethics-based nomenclature of normative, purely descriptive, and empirically descriptive, and (2) based on their level of analysis: individual, group, organizational, and societal.

Based upon our analyses via these two classification approaches, we identify three major areas in which previous research contributions reside: the conceptualization of information privacy, the relationship between information privacy and other constructs, and the contextual nature of these relationships.

As we consider these major areas, we draw three overarching conclusions. First, there are many theoretical developments in the body of normative and purely descriptive studies that have not been addressed in empirical research on privacy. Rigorous studies that either trace processes associated with, or test implied assertions from, these value-laden arguments could add great value. Second, some of the levels of analysis have received less attention in certain contexts than have others in the research to date. Future empirical studies-both positivist and interpretive--could profitably be targeted to these under-researched levels of analysis. Third, positivist empirical studies will add the greatest value if they focus on antecedents to privacy concerns and on actual outcomes. In that light, we recommend that researchers be alert to an overarching macro model that we term APCO (Antecedents → Privacy Concerns → Outcomes).

/pdf/information-privacy-research-an-interdisciplinary-review-3ozmykcimw.pdf

Information privacy research: an interdisciplinary review

Knowledge and the Flow of Information.

Cyberculture authority Howard Rheingold was the first to write about online communities in this style that is part-travelogue and part-anthropological guide. This groundbreaking classic explores the entire virtual community, beginning with a selective but probing look at the author's original online home, The Well. Rheingold relates plenty of anecdotes that demonstrate the upsides of online life, such as how he was able to get information on removing a tick from his child before his doctor could respond to his phone call. But the bulk of the material relates to how individuals interact online much as they do in a face-to-face community. Rheingold speaks to how both friendships and enmities are formed online and how people come together to support each other through misfortune. He gives the example of how computer-moderated communication enabled members of one Well community to send vital medical aid to a friend hospitalized halfway around the world. Rheingold goes on to show how communities can form by various electronic communication methods, using the conferencing system of The Well as one example. He also examines how people interact through mailing lists, live chat, and the fantasy cyberenvironments of online role-playing games. In the process, he questions what kind of relationships can really be formed in a medium where people can change their apparent identity at will. This book questions whether a distinction between "virtual" communities and "real-life" communities is entirely valid. The Virtual Community argues that real relationships happen and real communities develop when people communicate upon virtual common ground. Rheingold also shares his far-reaching knowledge of how technology effects our social constructs. If you are involved in an online community, here is your cultural heritage.

/pdf/the-virtual-community-4vaivlsxx3.pdf

The Virtual Community

Heads Up! Mental Models for Travelling through the Computer World Dreams of Technological Utopianism Economic, Cultural, and Organization Dimensions of Computerization Computerization and the Transformation of Work Social Relationships in Electronic Forums Privacy and Social Control System Safety and Social Vulnerability Ethical Perspectives and Professional Responsibilities for Information and Computer Science Professionals Subject Index

Computerization and controversy: value conflicts and social choices

The way that computerization changes white collar work is the subject of significant controversies in the research and professional communities. This paper examines some of the key controversies about the way that computerization influences patterns of coordination control in workplaces, including monitoring. It examines debates about upskilling and deskilling, and the role of organizational infrastructure in making computerized systems more usable. It also examines the ways that computerization might foster new forms of work organization.

Controversies about computerization and the character of white collar worklife

Philosophical Essays on Dreaming

Security and reliability

The Paragon House Glossary Series is designed to address the urgent needs of students and professors in subject areas that are evolving so rapidly that it has become difficult to keep up with new discoveries, methodologies, and critiques. This compendium of 433 entries, ranging from 25 to 250 words in length, offers a thorough guide to the specialized terms used in one of the most exciting and fastest growing areas of intellectual inquiry.

Charles E. M. Dunlop

Papers

Computerization and controversy: value conflicts and social choices

Controversies about computerization and the character of white collar worklife

Philosophical Essays on Dreaming

Security and reliability

Glossary of cognitive science