Analysing technological affordances of online interactions using conversation analysis

Abstract

The use of conversation analysis (CA) as a method for analysing the interactional practices of online communication has been growing in recent years (Giles, Stommel, Paulus, Lester & Reed, 2015). A key challenge for analysing online communication is the varied platforms through which interaction can occur. This paper demonstrates how using CA and the concept of affordances (Hutchby, 2001) can provide a lens through which to analyse not only the interaction, but also the technological context of that interaction. A corpus of instant messaging chats, captured from Facebook chat using screen-capture software, is used as a case study to demonstrate how the concept of affordances can be used alongside CA analysis to address the role of technology in the interaction. Two key interactional practices -turn adjacency and openings -are analysed to show the insights that CA can offer for providing an in-depth analysis of online interaction. By using affordances as a lens through which CA analysis can be refracted, scholars using 'digital CA' can better develop an understanding of patterns of interaction across different interactional platforms.

Examining abuse in online media

“…There are concerns over the feasibility of using techniques that focus on sequential organization for analysis of online communication (Greiffenhagen & Watson, as cited in Meredith, ) since these posts will not incorporate many of the elements found in speech, such as intonation, hesitations, or speed of delivery. The resulting conversations are thus likely to diverge considerably from naturally occurring face‐to‐face interactions.…”

Conversation analysis, cyberpsychology and online interaction

“…It is, therefore, important to consider how to manage these potential limitations. Underpinning much of the CA research on online interaction is Ian Hutchby's work on affordances (2001; see also Meredith, 2017; Arminen, Licoppe, & Spagnolli, 2016). The concept of affordances puts forward the possibility that features of technology, such as the separation of message construction and sending or the limitation of the length of a message, can be perceived as having a number of potential actions associated with them.…”

“…The concept of affordances moves away from the prospect of a technological deterministic approach, and rather allows for an analysis of online interaction which also demonstrates how the interaction orients to particular technological features. On a practical level using the concept of affordances means that analysts examine the interaction itself first and then explore if and how that interaction orients to the relevant technological features of the medium (Arminen et al, 2016; Meredith, 2017). Using the Twitter example, as analysts we would only discuss the limitations on the length of a tweet when users implicitly or explicitly orient to it, such as through using acronyms.…”

“…The following extract, which is taken from a Facebook chat (see Meredith, 2017 for a more detailed discussion of this dataset), further shows how the sequential analysis of online interaction can provide additional understanding of online interaction. Isla and Joe are trying to arrange what time to meet at the gym.…”

Repair: The Interface Between Interaction and Cognition

“… This article is primarily focused on a survey of repair, which has mostly dealt with talk‐in‐interaction, so there is no space for an extended discussion of various forms of mediated communication and the affordances they offer for repair. However, see Arminen, Licoppe, and Spagnolli () for a recent review of mediated interaction in CA, and Meredith () for a recent discussion of how to adapt CA's transcription system for the dynamics of online text‐based interaction. …”