Barnes, S. B. (2003). Computer-Mediated Communication: Human-to-Human Communication across the Internet. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. In her 347-page textbook, Susan Barnes introduces readers to the terms, theories, and issues associated with the use of the Internet for personal and social contexts. There is a great deal of information here about how CMC is used to building interpersonal relationships, develop group communication, and support public communication. The material is well written with numerous sources, boxed examples, case studies, web links, discussion and problem questions, a glossary at the back of every chapter, and hundreds of bibliographic entries. This book is an excellent resource.

Chenault, B. G. (1998, May). Developing Personal and Emotional Relationships Via Computer-Mediated Communication. CMC Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2005, from http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1998/may/chenault.html. In this well-written, 20-page manuscript, Chenault begins with an introduction to CMC and emotion and looks at definitions and assumptions. She then discusses invisible friends and lovers and asks "Can CMC support real personal relationships?" Her next section, "Reduced Cues: CMC Cannot Foster True Relationships." In "The Dark Side," Chenault examines threats, violations of privacy, sexual harassment, and virtual rape. Chenault looks at other views, then "CMC Relationships Expanded: On-Line Goes Off-Line." and ends her paper with a formal conclusion. This is a fact-filled, interesting, and valuable research paper.

Ess, C. (1996). Philosophical Perspectives on Computer-Mediated Communication. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Ess develops eleven interdisciplinary and international perspectives on Information Age issues that range from privacy, critical thinking, literacy, democratization, gender, religion, and the nature of the revolution promised in cyberspace. Ess examines the political, ethical, and religious consequences of the perspectives he considers.

Ess, C., & F. Sudweeks. (2001). Culture, Technology, Communication: Towards an Intercultural Global Village (Suny Series in Computer-Mediated Communication). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Ess and Sudweeks offer both theoretical approaches and case studies of the interactions of culture, communication, and technology from diverse cultural domains that include Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States. Their global perspective helps to counteract the Anglo-American presumptions that have dominated discussion and literature on CMC. The essays contained here support interdisciplinary foundations and practical models needed to design and use CMC technologies that challenge the culture-bound values and communicative preferences inherent in CMC—that is, an approach that helps users avoid having to choose between a culturally homogenous "McWorld" and fragmented local cultures. A fabulously rich book full of fascinating insights.

Freed, K. (2003, April 7). Deep literacy: A proposal to produce public understanding of our interactivity. Media & Education - Media Visions Journal. Retrieved March 4, 2005, from http:llmedia-visions.comled-deepliteracy.html. Freed offers a thorough, thought-provoking, practical article about developing deep literacy—developing a deep appreciation for the nature and power of our global interactivity. His strategies for deep media literacy include developing a shared media vision, talking about our media choices, and talking about interactivity itself. Benefits include the public relations advantages of helping the world to value interactive media as a force for civility in our "global village"—ensuring that open markets and free democracies prevail in the centuries ahead.

Holt, R. (2004). Dialogue on the Internet: Language, Civic Identity, and Computer-Mediated Communication (Civic Discourse for the Third Millennium). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Holt draws on his experience in discourse analysis and Web design to offer readers a picture of the Internet as a potentially powerful tool of civic discourse in the third millennium. Using e-mail and Web pages as his foundation, he introduces concepts of monologism and dialogism. Holt advocates a method of discursive analysis called dual reading which involves analyzing Internet utterance first monologically and then dialogically. He demonstrates his method using topics as diverse as media, espionage, sexual identity, presidential politics, hate speech, and hate crimes.

Richards, S. (2002). Futurenet: The Past, Present and Future of the Internet as Told By Its Creators and Visionaries. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Using quotations, interviews, and personal accounts from the visionaries who created and shaped the Internet, Richards not only visits the events which birthed the Internet, but in five chapters, each one covering a different period of the Internet's life, she breaks up the text into digestible portions that allow you to dip in whenever you have a few spare moments. This is an autobiography of the Internet, not a technical book, and as such has great appeal because, clearly, it was written for enjoyment not as an academic study. Incidentally, after asking for predictions from about a dozen influential people in the industry as to the Internet's future, the overall consensus is that it is difficult to predict.

Rooksby, E. (2002). E-mail and Ethics: Style and Ethical Relations in Computer-Mediated Communications (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy). London: Routledge. Rooksby explores the ways in which interpersonal relations are affected by being conducted via computer-mediated communication. CMC has prompted a renewed investigation into the nature and value of forms of human association. Rooksby addresses these concerns in her rigorous investigation of the benefits, limitations, and implications of computer-mediated communication. With her depth of research and clarity of style, Rooksby covers "Style and Ethics," "Empathy in Computer-Mediated Communication," "Affect and Action in CMC," "Technical Constraints on CMC," "Computer-Mediated Friendship," and "Politics and CMC." This book will be of essential interest to philosophers, scholars of communication, cultural and media studies, and all those interested in the importance and implications of computer-mediated communication.

Thurlow, C., L. Lengel, & A. Tomic. (2004). Computer Mediated Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. This undergraduate textbook examines the social and cultural transformations being brought about by computers and the Internet. The authors explore how identities, relationships, and communities are being changed and influenced by the Internet. Thurlow, Lengel, and Tomic provide exercises to get readers started researching on the Internet, creating webpages, chatting online, and evaluating research for a project. The authors use a social perspective that is motivational and insightful, and the book is supplemented with a rich Web site loaded with numerous links referenced in the book.