Computers as a Communication Device

   The idea of using computers as a communication medium was first introduced by J. C. R. Licklider and Robert Taylor. In 1968, Licklider and Taylor published an article titled "The Computer as a Communication Device." This paper provided conceptual ideas for the development of the Internet. As director of the Defense Department's Office of Information Technology, Taylor funded the ARPANET, which developed into the Internet. Several new key ideas were introduced by Licklider and Taylor.

   First, they realized that telecommunication networks were more than sending and receiving information from one point to another. Communicators are active participants and they play a central role in the communication process.

   Second, communication is a mutually reinforcing process, which involves creativity.

   Third, the digital computer is a flexible, interactive medium that can be used to support cooperative human communication.

   Finally, they introduced the idea of common frameworks, or mental models, to computer-based communication. They describe the role of mental models in a project meeting as follows:

   Many of the primary data the participants bring to the meeting are in undigested and uncor-related form. To each participant, his own collections of data are interesting and important in and of themselves. And they are more than files of facts and recurring reports. Thus, each individual's data are reflected in his [her] mental model. Getting his [her] colleagues to incorporate his [her] data into their models is the essence of the communications task.

   New communication systems need to allow individuals to communicate their individual mental models to others. Mental models are the models that people have of themselves, others, the environment, and objects, with which they interact. An individual's mental models are developed through experience, communication, and instruction. Mental models develop through conscious information processing and are built from personal interpretations of existing knowledge. For example, people create mental images of the people they correspond with through e-mail. We imagine what others look like when we haven't met them face-to-face by creating mental models.