ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the most interactive and immediate of computer communications. Computer-mediated communication grew out of brief online messages sent from programmers at terminals to operators at terminals simultaneously logged onto the same mainframe computer. The chapter examines the conversations produced through e-messages, e-mail, bulletin boards and computer conferences. E-mail allows people to type extended messages at computer terminals and have those messages electronically transmitted to recipients who can read, reply, delete, print, forward, or file them. Computer conferencing in most systems refers to a facility in which more than two people can communicate with e-messages, e-mail, bulletin boards and documents, usually for a specific purpose. The major difference between a computer conference and e-mail is that in e-mail, the sender specifies who will receive the correspondence; in a conference, everyone with access to the conference can read all contributions to the conference.
