ABSTRACT
In his chapter on Computer-Mediated Communication Systems (CMCS), Rice notes that the body of research on the uses and implications of CMCS is unusually diverse, reflecting wide-ranging goals and disciplinary orientations of those who have conducted studies on this topic. Over the years, Rice’s own publications on CMCS have played an important role for academics in the field of communication by synthesizing literature from sources outside the mainstream of the communication field. In this chapter, he attempts to provide a framework that can be used to both understand the existing diversity and guide future research. This is a laudable goal. But I would like to argue that there is a basic diversity of goals between communication researchers with their theoretical orientation and those researchers who identify with the field of program evaluation. Second, the stakeholder notion, which arose in the field of program evaluation, is impractical because it diffuses focus and interest. Third, on the topic of tools, I want to argue for increased use of qualitative strategies to study a phenomenon as fast-changing and novel as CMCS.
