Video Mediation in Institutional Encounters: 4 studies from an applied ethnomethodological and conversation analytic project
Public Defence of PhD thesis by Simon Bierring Lange.
This dissertation presents four academic articles that were produced as part of a PhD project with the title “Better video-mediated encounters through multimodal interaction analysis?”. The project employed an ethnomethodological and multimodal conversation (EMCA) analytic approach and consisted of two main phases. The first phase investigated video-mediated interaction between professionals and clients by analysing the situated practices of participants and how their conduct is afforded and constrained by the ecologies they interact in. The second phase aimed to apply findings and use data from the first phase for the benefit of practitioners that use video mediating technology as part of their daily work. Articles 1 -3 in the dissertation are products of the first phase of the project, and the data used for the articles is drawn from a dataset of video-recorded video-mediated encounters collected in collaboration with researchers at the Centre for Interaction and Communication Design.
Article 1 focuses on instructions on locating an object in video-mediated interaction. Through a single case analysis, the article shows how such instructions can be decomposed to make them more understandable, and that a central resource for doing this is using a designedly mimicable embodied demonstration.
Article 2 focuses on instructions in the form of directives in the initiation of an institutionally relevant activity. Based on a collection of instances, the article tracks the observable differences in the recipient design of the directive sequences in face to face and video-mediated passport-ordering encounters. The article shows that the video-mediated directive sequences are prolonged and more linguistically complex compared to the co-present ones, partly due to the use of transitional directives in the video-mediated encounters.
Article 3 zooms in on a common phenomenon in video-mediated interaction: when a participant moves a camera in the course of an interaction. Based on the analysis of a single case, the article shows how the movement of a camera in the specific sequential context of emergent trouble in understanding can be a crucial resource for restoring intersubjectivity. On this background, the article argues that this specific video reconfiguration practice can be termed a repair of the visual frame.
Article 4 is a product of the second, applied phase of the project, and the data used for it is video recordings from three communication training workshops that were carried out as part of the project. The article focuses on workshop facilitation in educational settings. Drawing on a collection of instances, the article investigates a facilitator’s resources for managing turn transitions in a plenary setting. The analysis shows how the facilitator can actively mobilise response or suspend transition relevance by using various embodied resources (facial expressions, position in space, gaze direction).
Based on these articles, the dissertation contributes to both studies of social interaction in video-mediated settings and the application of EMCA research in professional practice.
I denne afhandling præsenterer jeg fire artikler, der blev produceret som del af ph.d.-projektet: “Bedre video-møder igennem multimodal interaktionsanalyse?”. Projektet var baseret på en etnometodologisk og multimodal samtaleanalytisk (EMCA) tilgang og bestod af to faser. Den første fase undersøgte videomedieret interaktion mellem professionelle og lægfolk ved at analysere deres situerede praksisser og hvordan deres handlinger gøres mulige og begrænses af de videomedierede økologier, de interagerer i. Den anden fases formål var at anvende resultater og data fra den første fase til fordel for praktikere, der bruger videomøder i deres daglige arbejde. Artikel 1 -3 i afhandlingen er blevet til på baggrund af projektets første fase, og de data, der bruges til artiklerne, er hentet fra en database af videooptagede videomedierede møder indsamlet i fællesskab med forskere fra Centre for Interaction Research and Communication Design.
Artikel 1 fokuserer på instruktioner til lokalisering af materielle objekter i videomedieret interaktion. Gennem en singlecase-analyse viser artiklen, hvordan instruktioner kan dekomponeres i mindre dele for at gøre dem mere forståelige, og at en central ressource i dette er at bruge en “bevidst efterlignelig kropslig demonstration”(designedly mimicable embodied demonstration).
Artikel 2 fokuserer på direktiver i initieringen af en institutionelt relevant aktivitet i pasbestillingsamtaler. Baseret på en kollektion af sekvenser, der foregår henholdsvis ansigt til ansigt og som videomøde, sammenligner artiklen de observerbare forskelle på modtagerdesign i initieringen af sådanne sekvenser. Artiklen viser at de videomedierede sekvenser i sammenligning bliver forlænget og er mere sprogligt komplekse, delvist på grund af brugen af “overgangsdirektiver”(transitional directives).
Artikel 3 stiller skarpt på et almindeligt fænomen i videomedieret interaktion: når en deltager flytter et kamera i løbet af en samtale. Baseret på en singlecase-analyse viser artiklen, hvordan flytningen af et kamera i en lokal kontekst af forståelsesproblemer kan være en afgørende ressource for at genoprette forståelsen. På denne baggrund argumenterer artiklen for, at denne specifikke rekonfigureringspraksis kan ses som en ”reparatur af den visuelle ramme” (repair of the visual frame).
Artikel 4 er blevet til på baggrund af den anden, anvendte fase af ph.d.-projektet og datagrundlaget er videooptagelser fra 3 kompetenceudviklingsworkshops, der blev afholdt som en del af projektet. Artiklen fokuserer på facilitering af workshops i uddannelsessammenhænge. Med udgangspunkt i en kollektion af eksempler undersøger artiklen facilitatorens ressourcer for at styre turovergange i plenum. Analysen viser hvordan facilitatoren aktivt kan mobilisere respons eller udskyde overgangsrelevans ved at bruge forskellige kropslige ressourcer (bl.a. ansigtsudtryk, kropslig position i rummet og blikretning).
Baseret på disse fire artikler bidrager afhandlingen til både studier af social interaktion i videomedierede møder og anvendelsen af EMCA-forskning i professionel praksis.
Assessment Committee
- Associate professor Gitte Gravengaard (Chair), University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Associate professor Birte Asmuss (online participation), University of Aarhus, Denmark
- Professor Christian Licoppe (online participation) Telecom Paristech, France
Moderator of the defence
- Associate professor Brian Lystgaard Due
Copies of the thesis are available for consultation at the following three places
- At the Information Desk of the Library of the Faculty of Humanities
- In Reading Room East of the Royal Library (the Black Diamond)
- At the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, Karen Blixens Plads 8, 2300 Copenhagen S
