Communication and Technology

This handbooks series aims to integrate knowledge of communication structures and processes. It is global in orientation, dedicated to cultural and epistemological diversity as well as different scholarly approaches. The series features volumes on 'messages, codes and channels', 'mode of address: communication situations and context', 'methodology in communication science' and 'application areas'. The latter features volumes devoted to a large range of specialist areas of communication science. The series as a whole aims at meeting the needs of undergraduates, postgraduates, academics and researchers across the area of communication studies.

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The primary goal of the Communication and Technology volume (5th within the series "Handbooks of Communication Science") is to provide the reader with a comprehensive compilation of key scholarly literature, identifying theoretical issues, emerging concepts, current research, specialized methods, and directions for future investigations. The internet and web have become the backbone of many new communication technologies, often transforming older communication media, through digitization, to make them compatible with the net. Accordingly, this volume focuses on internet/web technologies. The essays cover various infrastructure technologies, ranging from different kinds of hard-wired elements to a range of wireless technologies such as WiFi, mobile telephony, and satellite technologies. Audio/visual communication is discussed with reference to large-format motion pictures, medium-sized television and video formats, and the small-screen mobile smartphone. There is also coverage of audio-only media, such as radio, music, and voice telephony; text media, in such venues as online newspapers, blogs, discussion forums and mobile texting; and multi-media technologies, such as games and virtual reality.