At a time when nearly all social activities could be, and likely are, mediated in some ways by some forms of computing technology, what should be the focus of CMC research? How do we theorize and study computer-mediated (or should we say digitally-mediated) communication when the topics of our research—the technology, the concepts and processes of mediation, our sense of what constitutes communication, as well as the theories and methods used to examine these—are all in flux? Early in the spring of 2018, theJournal of Computer-Mediated Communicationinvited scholars to submit ideas for a dedicated issue to consider these questions. The collection of meta-theoretical discussions, literature reviews/analyses, and concept explications included in this special issue will point to a general direction and offer a launching point for theory construction and systematic research in a continuously evolving field.

中文翻译：

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“什么是计算机介导的通信？” —特刊简介

在几乎所有社会活动都可以通过某种形式的计算机技术以某种方式进行调解的时候，CMC研究的重点应该是什么？当我们的研究主题（技术，中介的概念和过程，我们对构成沟通的意识以及理论和方法）时，我们如何理论化和研究计算机介导的交流（或者应该说数字介导的交流）用来检查这些-都是不断变化的吗？早在2018年春季，《计算机媒介通信杂志》邀请学者针对特定问题提交想法以考虑这些问题。本期特刊中所包含的元理论讨论，文献评论/分析和概念阐释将指向一个总体方向，并为不断发展的领域中的理论建构和系统研究提供一个起点。