TOWARDS A COMMUNICATION DIALECTIC - EMBEDDED TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF PLACE

Communication literature traditionally divides interaction into two fo rms: mass media and interpersonal communication. These ideal types are unquestionably useful heuristic tools. Yet their conceptual utility i s often undermined when researchers place them at opposite ends of a l inear, historical transformation in which mass media technology is bel ieved to supplant interpersonal communication and the locations in whi ch it occurs. This article abandons the polar, historical relationship in favor of a communication dialectic that recognizes the synthesis o f ideal types into composite forms of interaction. Embedded technology demonstrates the dialectic by exploring how electronic media fixed wi thin a physical location can combine with the interpersonal communicat ion taking place there to enhance group interaction. The resulting hyb rid defies the assumption that mass media simply displace interpersona l interaction, pointing instead to a dialectic relationship in which i deal types continually challenge and transform one another.