A11. Williams,
F. & Rice, R.E. (1983). Communication research and the new media
technologies. In R. Bostrom (Ed.), Communication yearbook, 7,
200-224. Beverly Hills,
CA: Sage Publications.
Our basic thesis in this chapter is that although
we are undergoing
a
veritable revolution in new media technologies-in technical innovation,
aggressive
marketing, and deregulation-our most serious challenge is to understand
their
impacts on human behaviors and institutions. This is the task of the
social
scientist of communication, and many of our contemporary theories and
research
techniques will aid us in meeting the challenge. The technologies are
new,
but our deeper human uses of them are not necessarily so. We will still
communicate
in order to relate personally to other human beings, to operate
organizations,
and to interact with the public structure of our societies. The
applications
of social scientific thinking to this problem area should not only
illuminate
the impacts of technologies on these traditional human purposes, but
should
enable us to maximize their benefits. In this chapter our review moves
from
the personal to the public context of communication uses. In so doing,
we
hope to reinforce the point that the traditional categorized
distinctions
among different types of communication are being reduced by
technological
change.
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