Perversely Conversational: Interaction in Convergent Media, Computer-Mediated Communication
Date:
5/28/2008
to 5/28/2008
Time:
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Communications Building 120
What Professor Susan Herring terms convergent media computer-mediated communication (CMCMC) is textual interaction enabled as a secondary function of convergent media such as YouTube, Flickr, social network sites, multiparticipant online games, interactive newssites, and
interactive television. The ability to post text comments in such media is typically an add-on feature and is often “interaction unfriendly,” in that threading is rare, sorting and tracking tools are typically lacking, messages may persist in fragmented, incomplete logs (or not at all), and the environments tend to be crowded and “noisy,” with users’ attention divided between the site’s primary activity (game-playing, video viewing, etc.) and chatting. Nonetheless, CMCMC is becoming an increasingly popular activity. In this talk, Professor Herring will present a comparative overview of CMCMC types, focusing on interactional coherence—how people are using these media to “converse” more or less coherently with one another, despite the technological obstacles and social norms that must be overcome in order to do so. Given the ready availability of easier-to-use forms of interpersonal textual CMC such as email, instant messaging, and text messaging on mobile phones, CMCMC conversations seem perverse. She will draw on theory from communication and sociology, as well as findings from multitasking and technology usability
research, to propose explanations for this phenomenon.
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