Blackwell Reference Online

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A central puzzle that people face is how to make possible communication that is otherwise difficult, impossible, or unimagined. Communication design is a response to this puzzle. It happens when there is an intervention into some ongoing activity through the invention of techniques, devices, or procedures. Such interventions redesign interactivity and thus shape the possibilities for communication. Design is evident in the choices made about how people in relationships, groups, organizations, and communities will speak to and interact with each other. The purpose of design theory is to open up the intentional design of communication as an object of inquiry in order to advance knowledge about communication. Design theory is most immediately a response to the accelerated capacity for communication-by-design ushered in through advances in communication and information technology. Communication becomes an object of design when, for instance, people build web-based services such as forums for buying and exchanging goods and services, finding relational partners, or engaging in specialized discussions. Design theory also addresses the more generalized concern with the broad range of interests in the structuring, shaping, and disciplining of communication practice. Communication becomes an object of design across a range of settings such as when people determine the participants, topics, ... log in or subscribe to read full text