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Article published In:
Skype and domestic settings: Interpersonal video communication as a site of human sociality
Edited by Richard Harper, Rod Watson and Christian Licoppe
[Pragmatics 27:3] 2017
► pp. 387–418

Talking about things

Image-based topical talk and intimacy in video-mediated family communication

| Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, and Orange Labs Paris
| Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Orange Labs, Paris

This paper focuses on how conversation and a shared participation frame are maintained in video-mediated family conversations which ordinarily do not have a particular agenda. In order to examine this question, how conversations are maintained whilst being sometimes improvised, the paper analyses a particular interactional phenomenon, namely, the image-based topic management accomplished via two methods: showings and noticings. Through a detailed multimodal analysis of family video mediated conversations, it shows how these methods are used for introducing or changing topics and hence sustaining talk. Moreover, by describing the practical actions that involve technological and social dimensions, the paper highlights the link between interaction, personal relationships and technology. The analysis of showings and noticings, enabled by the technical features of the systems used by the participants, reveals how video-communication technology is mobilized by family members as a resource for maintaining intimacy in distant relationships.

Keywords: Skype, video-mediated conversation, technology use, conversation analysis, ethnomethodology, topic management, image-based topic, showings, noticings, participation frameworks, relationship
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background: Topical talk
  • 3.Showings as visual turn taking in storytelling between relatives
    • 3.1Showing an environment
    • 3.2Showing one’s clothing
    • 3.3Summary
  • 4.Noticings as intimacy achieving practices
    • 4.1Noticings about physical appearance
    • 4.2Focusing conversation on children’s activities through noticings
    • 4.3Summary
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 16 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.27.3.04zou
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