Sean Rintel
Microsoft Research, Cambridge, Post-Doc
- Computer Mediated Communication, Human Computer Interaction, Mobile Computing, Internet Studies, Conversation Analysis, Ethnomethodology, and 22 moreInternet & Society, Computer-Mediated Communication, Videoconferencing, New Media, Language and Social Interaction, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Telemedicine, Telepresence, Video-mediated communication, Media transformations, Pragmatics, Science Communication, Languages and Linguistics, Online and Distance Education, Online Learning, Interpersonal Communication, Online Communities, Humanities Computing (Digital Humanities), E-learning, Digital Humanities, Social Computing, and Ubiquitous Computingedit
- I work in the Human Experience and Design (HXD) group at Microsoft Research Cambridge (UK). I was previously a Lectur... moreI work in the Human Experience and Design (HXD) group at Microsoft Research Cambridge (UK). I was previously a Lecturer in Strategic Communication at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
I am a communication technology design researcher. I explore how to design the affordances of technologies to reflect the intricacies of language, social action, and culture. I am also a passionate advocate for digital freedom, access, and privacy.
I specialize in video-mediated communication technologies such as Skype.
I've written about the technologizing of interaction in contexts such as video calling in personal relationships, ambient audio technologies to support independent living, IRC openings and non-responses, social media in the workplace, crisis memes and error mascots. I am currently interested in engineering culture. I am also a passionate advocate for digital access, freedom, and privacy.
I received my Ph.D. in 2010 in the field of Sociology specialising in Communication, from the University at Albany, State University of New York.edit
Traditional models of slideware assume one presenter controls attention through slide navigation and pointing while a passive audience views the action. This paradigm limits group interactions, curtailing opportunities for attendees to... more
Traditional models of slideware assume one presenter controls attention through slide navigation and pointing while a passive audience views the action. This paradigm limits group interactions, curtailing opportunities for attendees to use slides to participate in a collaborative discourse. However, as slideware permeates contexts beyond simple one-tomany presentations, there are growing efforts to shift the dynamics of collocated interactions. Technologies exist to shift the one-to-many information control paradigm to variations that extend functions to multiple attendees. But there is limited detailed research on how to design such multi-person attentional control and facilitate collocated interactions without disrupting existing work practices. We report on a detailed naturalistic case of using presentation in a design meeting, where participants used Office Social, an experimental slideware technology that enabled open access to shared interaction with slides across multiple devices. We explore how the design of Office Social supported informal collaboration. Our video-based analysis reveals how the orderly structures of conversational turn-taking and bodily conduct were used in conjunction with the affordances of the socio-technical ecosystem to organize collective activity. We suggest that supporting collocated interactions should take account of the existing conversational methods for achieving orderly collaboration rather than superimposing prescriptive technological methods of order.
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Slide presentations have long been stuck in a one-to-many paradigm, limiting audience engagement. Based on the concept of smartphone-based remote control of slide navigation, we present Office Social—a PowerPoint plugin and companion... more
Slide presentations have long been stuck in a one-to-many paradigm, limiting audience engagement. Based on the concept of smartphone-based remote control of slide navigation, we present Office Social—a PowerPoint plugin and companion smartphone app that allows audience members qualified access to slides for personal review and, when the presenter enables it, public control over slide navigation. We studied the longitudinal use of Office Social across four meetings of a workgroup. We found that shared access and regulated control facilitated various forms of public and personal audience engagement. We discuss how enabling ad-hoc aggregation of co-proximate devices reduces 'interaction costs' and leads to both opportunities and challenges for presentation situations.
Research Interests: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Collaboration, Public Speaking, Collaboration Technology, HCI, and 10 moreMobile HCI, Audience Participation, Engagement, Presentation, PowerPoint, Interactivity, Presentation of Paper in a Seminar, Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, Presentation Slides, and PPT Presentation
In this position paper we explore ad hoc adaptability across devices in video-calling. We note the current difficulty of even simple combinations, discuss design issues, briefly report on a study of ad hoc screen mirroring, and note... more
In this position paper we explore ad hoc adaptability across devices in video-calling. We note the current difficulty of even simple combinations, discuss design issues, briefly report on a study of ad hoc screen mirroring, and note future directions.
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This paper reports on how asynchronous mobile video messaging presents users with a challenge to doing ‘being ordinary’. 53 participants from three countries were recruited to try Skype Qik at launch for two weeks. Some participants... more
This paper reports on how asynchronous mobile video messaging presents users with a challenge to doing ‘being ordinary’. 53 participants from three countries were recruited to try Skype Qik at launch for two weeks. Some participants embraced Skype Qik as a gift economy, emphasizing a special relationship enacted through crafted self-presentation. However, gift exchange makes up only a small proportion of conversation. Many participants struggled with the self-presentation obligations of video when attempting more everyday conversation. Faced with the ‘tyranny of the everyday’, many participants reverted to other systems where content forms reflected more lightweight exchange. We argue that designing for fluid control of the obligations of turn exchange is key to mobile applications intended to support everyday messaging.
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Internet Studies, Conversation Analysis, Mobile Technology, Computer-Mediated Communication, and 27 moreEveryday Life Studies, Social Media, Ethnomethodology, Ethnography of Communication, Domestic Space, Romantic Relationships, Sociology of Everyday Life, Mobile Communication, Friendship, Internet Culture, Consumer Technology Adoption, Presentation of Self in Digital Life, Technology Adoption and Diffusion, Turn-Taking, Videoconferencing, Video-mediated communication, Gift economy, Mobile phones in everyday life, Asynchronous Video, Self-Presentation, Skype, Phatic Communion, Phatic communication, Flirting, Selfies, Video Messaging, and Asynchronous Messaging
During the 2011 UK public sector protests, controversy ignited over the ‘Miliband Loop’, an unedited video from a pool interview showing Labour leader Ed Miliband to have provided largely the same answer in response to six questions. The... more
During the 2011 UK public sector protests, controversy ignited over the ‘Miliband Loop’, an unedited video from a pool interview showing Labour leader Ed Miliband to have provided largely the same answer in response to six questions. The interviewer subsequently complained in a TwitLonger that the incident epitomized the clash of public relations and journalism. In this paper we unpack the practical production of the pool interview as a delamination of the interview-as-lived from the interview-as-media-production-mechanism. We then explore professional and public understanding (or lack thereof) of exposure of this delamination issue and its relation to politics. While the controversy did not directly affect Miliband’s position as leader, it is clear that the Internet is a dangerous place for the old rules of mediatization.
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, New Media, Social Sciences, Television Studies, Mass Communication, and 9 moreSocial Media, Mass media, Broadcast Journalism, Television News, Mediatization (Communication Studies), Newspapers and online journalism, Broadcast Talk, Journalism And Mass communication, and Pool Interview
Sonic Atomic Interaction Radio (SonicAIR) is an ambient awareness technology probe designed to explore how connecting the soundscapes of friends or family members might reduce the isolation of seniors living independently. At its core,... more
Sonic Atomic Interaction Radio (SonicAIR) is an ambient awareness technology probe designed to explore how connecting the soundscapes of friends or family members might reduce the isolation of seniors living independently. At its core, SonicAIR instruments kitchen activity sites to produce an always-on real-time aural representation of remote domestic rhythms. This article reports how users in two pilot SonicAIR deployments used the sounds as resources for recognizing comfortable narratives of sociability. Used alongside telecare monitoring, such technologized interaction might enable older people to engage in community-oriented soundscape narratives of shared social responsibility.
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Ethnography, Soundscape Studies, Telecare, and 9 moreEthnomethodology, Domestic Space, Telemedicine, Independent Living, Quality of Life and Elderly People, Audio Technology, Phatic Communion, Ambient Awareness, and Ambient technology
Crisis memes are the ghoulish and satirical posts that spread through social media concurrently with serious journalistic reportage. They are folk productions that respond to challenging events based on thematic and structural templates... more
Crisis memes are the ghoulish and satirical posts that spread through social media concurrently with serious journalistic reportage. They are folk productions that respond to challenging events based on thematic and structural templates of popular online image macros. This article explores how templatability is relevant to the underpinnings, development, structure, and value of crisis memes. The combination of frivolity and ghoulishness that is typical of crisis memes may be criticized for not being reasoned discourse, reinforcing cultural divides, and making use of copyrighted content without permission and in ways that the copyright holder may not wish. However, the value of crisis memes lies not in their content but rather their place as a public voice that sidesteps the constraints of traditional media and as an illustration of freedom of expression that may be threatened by increasingly restrictive copyright regimes.
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The concept of omnirelevance in Membership Categorisation Analysis refers to participants invoking categories that reflexively treat the understanding of particular interactional moments as controlled by the context of the current... more
The concept of omnirelevance in Membership Categorisation Analysis refers to participants invoking categories that reflexively treat the understanding of particular interactional moments as controlled by the context of the current activity. This concept is of fundamental value to the analysis of computer-mediated communication (CMC), as it relates directly to the field’s fundamental interest in exploring how technology effects interaction. When interacting via technology, the affordances of that technology are materially inescapable and thus potentially contextually controlling. However, the control of technology over interaction is not absolute. The affordances of technology are materially inescapable but their relevance as a semiotic resource is a matter for participants. Ian Hutchby (2001a, 2001b, 2003) calls this ‘technologised interaction’.
In this chapter I explore examples of how couples cope with audio and video distortions in video calling. The data show that in the face of distortion the couples treat the relationship and technology as omnirelevant (i.e., controlling) devices deployable in a fluid interdependence that differs with respect to how audio distortions and video distortions potentially affect conversational continuity. When coping with audio distortions, relational and technological omnirelevance are used as an organisational feature to disambiguate the potential source of trouble in repairs. Coping with video distortions is shown to involve an orientation to expressive possibilities of relational and technological omnirelevance.
Omnirelevance, I argue, is a central feature of technologised interaction. While video calling couples are engaged first and foremost to the social activity of doing being couples, their efforts to maintain conversational continuity in the face of distortions orient to doing being a couple in a video call.
In this chapter I explore examples of how couples cope with audio and video distortions in video calling. The data show that in the face of distortion the couples treat the relationship and technology as omnirelevant (i.e., controlling) devices deployable in a fluid interdependence that differs with respect to how audio distortions and video distortions potentially affect conversational continuity. When coping with audio distortions, relational and technological omnirelevance are used as an organisational feature to disambiguate the potential source of trouble in repairs. Coping with video distortions is shown to involve an orientation to expressive possibilities of relational and technological omnirelevance.
Omnirelevance, I argue, is a central feature of technologised interaction. While video calling couples are engaged first and foremost to the social activity of doing being couples, their efforts to maintain conversational continuity in the face of distortions orient to doing being a couple in a video call.
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Interpersonal Communication, Internet Studies, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Conversation Analysis, and 15 moreComputer-Mediated Communication, Relational Communication, Ethnomethodology, Internet & Society, Telepresence, Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), Interpersonal Relationships, Interpersonal Romantic Relationships, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Videoconferencing, Video-mediated communication, Video Calling, Couples Relationships, Omnirelevance, and Teasing
Video calling is now a realistic option for couples in distance relationships. This paper explores whether audio/video distortions block intimate relational talk. From a naturalistic two-month trial of couples trying video calling to... more
Video calling is now a realistic option for couples in distance relationships. This paper explores whether audio/video distortions block intimate relational talk. From a naturalistic two-month trial of couples trying video calling to maintain their distance relationships, it is found that couples can opportunistically use audio/video distortions as a relational resource rather than simply treating them as a blocking or outside of relational talk. First, technological mediation can be treated as relevant to disambiguating whether the repair involves simple content repetition or a more complex relational issue. Second, distortions can be treated as resources for relational parody and teasing. It is argued that the opportunistic use of distortions as a relational resource extends Hutchby’s (2001b) notion of technologized interaction, in which technology frames but does not determine social action. Rather than proposing yet another model of communication that includes more detail about noise as deviance that must be remedied, or taking an undifferentiated approach to distortion as ‘trouble’, the technologized interaction approach broadens our conceptions of online relationships as involving the use of technological features to a more holistic sense of technological mediation being part and parcel of maintaining online relationships.
Research Interests: Sociology, Human Computer Interaction, Communication, Usability, Internet Studies, and 16 moreInternet Studies, Conversation Analysis, Internet research methods, Science, Technology and Society, Visual Communication, Ethnomethodology, Technology and Society, Internet & Society, Romantic Relationships, Telepresence, Interpersonal Romantic Relationships, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Videoconference, Videoconferencing, Video Calling, and Video Chat
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Usability, Internet Studies, Internet research methods, Science, Technology and Society, and 10 moreVisual Communication, Technology and Society, Internet & Society, Telepresence, The Internet, Video Conferencing, Video Conference, Video-mediated communication, Videochat, and Video Calling
This paper examines a single case of story telling between a couple in a long-distance relationship conducted via video calling. Drawing on Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA) we examine the way the teller incrementally reveals... more
This paper examines a single case of story telling between a couple in a long-distance relationship conducted via video calling. Drawing on Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA) we examine the way the teller incrementally reveals information about a character in order to build a story of coincidences. In doing this, however, the recipient begins to treat the evolving character as relevant to a different device, that of their relationship. Our discussion develops on the analysis of omnirelevance devices (Sacks, 1995) by examining how categories can be shifted between devices. In so doing, we highlight the way categories introduced for one task may be put to other uses; that is, how categories may become ‘promiscuous’.
Research Interests: Interpersonal Communication, Internet Studies, Conversation Analysis, Ethnomethodology, Technology and Society, and 12 moreRomantic Relationships, Telepresence, The Internet, Interpersonal Romantic Relationships, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Video Conference, Videoconferencing, Video-mediated communication, Video Calling, Long-distance relationship, Couples Relationships, and Omnirelevance
Maintaining a relationship via video calling requires intertwining relational and technological talk. Using detailed qualitative analysis of transcripts from naturalistic recordings of couples in a video calling field trial, this paper... more
Maintaining a relationship via video calling requires intertwining relational and technological talk. Using detailed qualitative analysis of transcripts from naturalistic recordings of couples in a video calling field trial, this paper explores how couple members use the possibility of technological distortion as a resource for negotiating around the problem of inattentive or inappropriate responses. Inattention may be cast as technological trouble, and, conversely, the technology can be blamed for an apparently relationally inappropriate response. It is argued that research on technologically mediated relationship creation and maintenance should not treat technology as simply a container of relationships or a variably rich transmission system for relational material. Rather, mediation should be explored as a fundamental participant concern in online relationship research.
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Interpersonal Communication, Language and Social Interaction, Usability, Internet Studies, and 19 morePragmatics, Conversation Analysis, Qualitative methodology, Personal Relationships, Conversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Internet research methods, Ethnomethodology, Romantic Relationships, Telepresence, Telepresence, Interpersonal Romantic Relationships, Videoconference, Videoconferencing, Video-mediation communication, Interaction Management, Video Calling, Video Chat, Video Chat, and Video Chat
Domestic personal videoconferencing (PV) is vulnerable to network trouble perturbations. This paper shows that long-distance couples treat perturbations as a matter of social management as much as technological resolution. Three... more
Domestic personal videoconferencing (PV) is vulnerable to network trouble perturbations. This paper shows that long-distance couples treat perturbations as a matter of social management as much as technological resolution. Three management strategies are illustrated: technology-oriented remedies, content-oriented remedies, and non-remedial accounts for trouble. All three involve collaborative work to account for the effect of technology on conversational continuity and the relationship.
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Interpersonal Communication, Language and Social Interaction, Usability, Internet Studies, and 20 morePragmatics, Conversation Analysis, Personal Relationships, Conversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Internet research methods, Computer-Mediated Communication, Computer Mediated Communication, Ethnomethodology, Romantic Relationships, Telepresence, Conversation Analysis, Talk-in-interaction, Interpersonal Relationships, Interpersonal Romantic Relationships, Videoconference, Videoconferencing, Video-mediation communication, Interaction Management, QoS perception, Video Calling, and Video Chat
This paper discusses the development of the technical methodology for remote recording to maximize environmental validity for a project on how novices develop familiarity with desktop videoconferencing (DVC). It is also a discussion of... more
This paper discusses the development of the technical methodology for remote recording to maximize environmental validity for a project on how novices develop familiarity with desktop videoconferencing (DVC). It is also a discussion of how the technical setup, as well as the resulting data, was useful for finding usability issues for the company that provided the DVC software.
Research Interests: Human Computer Interaction, Interpersonal Communication, Language and Social Interaction, Usability, Internet Studies, and 8 moreConversation Analysis, Qualitative methodology, Conversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Internet research methods, Ethnomethodology, Remote recording, Videoconferencing, and Video-mediation communication
In this position paper we explore ad hoc adaptability across devices in video-calling. We note the current difficulty of even simple combinations, discuss design issues, briefly report on a study of ad hoc screen mirroring, and note... more
In this position paper we explore ad hoc adaptability across devices in video-calling. We note the current difficulty of even simple combinations, discuss design issues, briefly report on a study of ad hoc screen mirroring, and note future directions.
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In this position paper we outline the opportunities and challenges of pure asynchronous video messaging as an everyday utility. We recruited 53 users to try Skype Qik ‘in the wild’ for two weeks from its launch in October 2014. We found... more
In this position paper we outline the opportunities and challenges of pure asynchronous video messaging as an everyday utility. We recruited 53 users to try Skype Qik ‘in the wild’ for two weeks from its launch in October 2014. We found users orienting to an organizational principle that we term ‘Me For You’, a self-conscious yet creative orientation that allowed users to transform features of their everyday affairs into show-about-ables that can be subject to and warrant the interrogative gaze of a Qik recipient. We found that such acts implied a reciprocity that was valuable in some special contexts, while at other times proving dissonant with assumptions about mundane communicative practices between particular parties. To warrant another’s gaze requires artfulness, but in some relationships one might not want to demand that artfulness in return. We argue that richness is not a matter of mode but of perceived control, within which the morality of gaze represents an ongoing challenge for designing everyday telepresence.
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The vast distances Australians must negotiate to connect their small, highly urbanized population both nationally and internationally have long created the incentive for invention, innovation and the early adoption of communication... more
The vast distances Australians must negotiate to connect their small, highly urbanized population both nationally and internationally have long created the incentive for invention, innovation and the early adoption of communication technologies. Important also in any reflection in relation to Australia’s socio-technological evolution is this country’s location as a modern, developed, predominately western nation perched in the south- east of the Asian landmass. The Australian continent’s seven million square kilometers are geographically, and increasingly economically, politically and culturally, part of Asia. Forty percent of Australians were born overseas and almost one third of overseas-born Australians were born in Asia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). At the end of 2012, Australia’s population was approaching 23 million with about half that number—12.2 million—Internet subscribers. Broadband subscribers accounted for 98% of subscriptions; the split between private and public (business or government) use was 76% and 24% respectively. After exploring some of the central characteristics and tensions of the social media landscape in Australia, the authors illustrate issues and trends in social media usage in Australia and conclude with a discussion of salient policy issues, including challenges around the evolution of digital infrastructure, media law and copyright.
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Access to social network sites (SNS) in the workplace has been much debated. While some consider SNS a distraction, others consider them a tool for professional socialisation and that recreational access positively impacts satisfaction.... more
Access to social network sites (SNS) in the workplace has been much debated. While some consider SNS a distraction, others consider them a tool for professional socialisation and that recreational access positively impacts satisfaction. This exploratory study reports results from an online survey of employees from one faculty of an Australian university, exploring how they used Facebook at work and how they would react to a hypothetical Facebook ban. Three-quarters of respondents used Facebook at work, primarily for personal socialisation during breaks. Many self-imposed a strict personal/professional separation, but opposed a hypothetical SNS ban, perceiving it as an infringement on their workplace autonomy. It is argued that university employees – academic and professional – can be trusted to self-regulate access.
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The piece considers error messages as a critical strategic moment in brand awareness and loyalty. Fail pets are of particular interest in terms of branding because they can result in brand recognition through earned media. However, that... more
The piece considers error messages as a critical strategic moment in brand awareness and loyalty. Fail pets are of particular interest in terms of branding because they can result in brand recognition through earned media. However, that same recognition carries the danger of highlighting service failure. This article discusses the rise of and changes to the depictions of fail pets, from the initial, highly recognizable fail pets, to markedly more cautious error message imagery in later products.
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In online television forums hosted by Television Network Websites (TNWs), viewers are invited to interact with both those involved with the television network and/or other viewers/users. This paper is a preliminary investigation of the... more
In online television forums hosted by Television Network Websites (TNWs), viewers are invited to interact with both those involved with the television network and/or other viewers/users. This paper is a preliminary investigation of the enormous range of new interactive spaces and practices. Current online television forums in US, UK and Australian TNWs are analyzed in terms of their interactivity and access. The forums are found to allow individuals increased and more immediate access to television products and personalities, the ability to determine their own news values, and the possibility of joining with others as transitory online communities rather than remaining an audience of individuals. While those who gain access and participate must agree to both rules and moderation, some users manage to subvert officially designated purposes or rules. Nevertheless, the provision of online television forums ultimately extends the traditional media sphere.
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The design of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) affords for, and itself produces, non-response situations that are not possible in FTF or telephone interaction. These system-occasioned non-responses produce almost isomorphic stimuli to... more
The design of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) affords for, and itself produces, non-response situations that are not possible in FTF or telephone interaction. These system-occasioned non-responses produce almost isomorphic stimuli to participant non-responses. Situations thus arise in which non-responses are interpersonally accountable despite agentive ambiguity. This study explores four intersections of participant-action and system-occasioned non-responses. An extension to Pomerantz's (1984b) 'pursuing a response' problems/solutions is proposed. The impact of IRC's design on its popularity is discussed in contrast to more recent chat systems. Suggestions are made for active and passive presence and non-response accounting features in future chat systems.
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Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was the Internet's first widely popular quasi-synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) system. While research has consistently demonstrated the interpersonal nature of IRC, and is now turning to more... more
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was the Internet's first widely popular quasi-synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) system. While research has consistently demonstrated the interpersonal nature of IRC, and is now turning to more structurally-oriented topics, it is argued that IRC research now needs to systematically address links between interaction structures, technological mediation and the instantiation and development of interpersonal relationships within a framework that privileges IRC interaction and social explanations. This exploration of the openings of IRC interactions is positioned as a step in that direction. The openings investigated in the study are those that occur directly following user's entries into public IRC channels, termed the newly-joined users' Channel Entry Phase (CEP). It is found that turn coordination in the CEP is often ambiguous, has the potential to disrupt relationship development, and leads to considerable emphasis on interactive strategies for the clear ordering of opening phases.
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This article examines a set of interactions (logs) taken from the form of computer-mediated communicntion known as Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The authors were particularly concerned with the interaction management strategies adopted by... more
This article examines a set of interactions (logs) taken from the form of computer-mediated communicntion known as Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The authors were particularly concerned with the interaction management strategies adopted by the participants in the logs during the opening and closing phases of the interactions to develop interpersonal relationships and communicate socioemotional content, as illustrated by their attempts to initiate and/or close interactions with others using the medium. The article compares these strategies and their structure with those proposed for face-to-face (FTF) interactions and proposes an explanatory framework for the interaction management of opening and closing phases on IRC. It is suggested that interaction management in these phases of IRC logs is similar to that in casual group FTF interaction in terms of the generalfinctions of the strategies used, but that the content, structure, and ordering of the strategies are subject to adaptation.
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I approached this book as a teacher of novices, taking seriously David Crystal’s proposition that Internet Linguistics: A Student Guide is an introduction to a nascent field for someone with no subject-matter knowledge beyond raw... more
I approached this book as a teacher of novices, taking seriously David Crystal’s proposition that Internet Linguistics: A Student Guide is an introduction to a nascent field for someone with no subject-matter knowledge beyond raw experience and no language research expertise beyond simple thematic analysis. From that perspective, Crystal succeeds in building aneasily grasped overview of the way in which the linguistic discipline might approach the Internet as a principled research enterprise.
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Stories of Facebook allowing beheading videos but removing breastfeeding images, and then reversing the decision to allow graphic violence after public uproar, has led many to question how Facebook should treat controversial content.... more
Stories of Facebook allowing beheading videos but removing breastfeeding images, and then reversing the decision to allow graphic violence after public uproar, has led many to question how Facebook should treat controversial content. Behind the argument over what Facebook “should” or “should not” do, however, is the more complex question of what it actually does.
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Alongside serious reportage of bad news, you’ve probably come across at least one crisis meme that treats that bad news with a dose of ghoulish humour. Just hours after the Daily Mail printed the image of a London looter the version above... more
Alongside serious reportage of bad news, you’ve probably come across at least one crisis meme that treats that bad news with a dose of ghoulish humour. Just hours after the Daily Mail printed the image of a London looter the version above appeared. It’s funny, timely, and was rapidly shared online. Similar images can be found for other recent bad news, such as the Norwegian mass killings or the US debt crisis. Why does internet social commentary take these precise forms? And why does that matter?
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""The latest salvo in the internet attention wars has come in the form of figures from StatCounter. A relatively small content driving service called StumbleUpon drove more than 50% of all social media referral traffic in the US, news the... more
""The latest salvo in the internet attention wars has come in the form of figures from StatCounter. A relatively small content driving service called StumbleUpon drove more than 50% of all social media referral traffic in the US, news the company’s founder and CEO Garrett Camp was quick to tweet. In other words, Camp claims his company now generates more more referrals than Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Digg combined.
Facebook, second place in the US statistics, drove almost 39% of American social media referral traffic (but is still the number one social media site globally). To put this in perspective, Facebook claims around 750 million accounts. StumbleUpon claims around 10 million. Goliath, meet David. The StumbleUpon figures represent a new front in the debate over content freedom versus focus. But they do not offer an easy solution.""
Facebook, second place in the US statistics, drove almost 39% of American social media referral traffic (but is still the number one social media site globally). To put this in perspective, Facebook claims around 750 million accounts. StumbleUpon claims around 10 million. Goliath, meet David. The StumbleUpon figures represent a new front in the debate over content freedom versus focus. But they do not offer an easy solution.""
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Features are not friends. That’s the simple message to Google+ from 40 University of Queensland students after using the system since its invite-only launch in July.
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On October 25, Unthink invited public beta users to put aside their YASNS (Yet Another Social Network Site) fatigue. [...] But Google+ is experiencing roller-coaster metrics and Facebook’s metrics are levelling out or even falling. So... more
On October 25, Unthink invited public beta users to put aside their YASNS (Yet Another Social Network Site) fatigue. [...] But Google+ is experiencing roller-coaster metrics and Facebook’s metrics are levelling out or even falling. So what does the Orwellian-sounding Unthink have to offer that’s different?
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A UK employment tribunal recently ruled that posting derogatory comments on Facebook merited a gross misconduct dismissal for one Apple Store employee. [... the ruling] establishes some worrying issues for users, social network sites, and... more
A UK employment tribunal recently ruled that posting derogatory comments on Facebook merited a gross misconduct dismissal for one Apple Store employee. [... the ruling] establishes some worrying issues for users, social network sites, and the public relations practice of reputation management.
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Social media sites are at war for your opinion. Why? Targeted advertising. The weapons in this war are the “share, "Like”, and “+1” buttons beside searches, video, news articles and blog posts. They seem innocuous, but might these buttons... more
Social media sites are at war for your opinion. Why? Targeted advertising. The weapons in this war are the “share, "Like”, and “+1” buttons beside searches, video, news articles and blog posts. They seem innocuous, but might these buttons affect the way you can express your opinion?
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Last week, Facebook introduced one-to-one video calling. With a claimed userbase of 750 million accounts, the potential for ubiquitous video calling seems obvious. But, will it work? Of all post-industrial revolution communication... more
Last week, Facebook introduced one-to-one video calling. With a claimed userbase of 750 million accounts, the potential for ubiquitous video calling seems obvious. But, will it work? Of all post-industrial revolution communication technologies, video calling has had the rockiest path to usability and popularity. Could Facebook have the edge that has eluded prior services?
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The origin of this special issue was a panel organised at the International Institute of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis (IIEMCA) on Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA), held at Kolding in Denmark in 2015. The panel, in... more
The origin of this special issue was a panel organised at the International Institute of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis (IIEMCA) on Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA), held at Kolding in Denmark in 2015. The panel, in memory of Stephen Hester who died in 2014, brought together a number of researchers to discuss the current state of the field and present new directions in research in MCA. Building on the pioneering work of Harvey Sacks and the later work of Hester and others the special issue highlights the contemporary development of MCA as a rigorous empirical approach to the study of situated identity within the flow of social interaction. The papers, placed at the intersection between pragmatics and sociology in examining multiple sequentially organised layers of category work, examine the organisation of social knowledge and knowledge entitlement, of moral ordering and the deployment of social norms, but also new and emergent areas of interest around spatial and embodied social action within the frame of technology and technologies of interaction.
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This special issue brings together research from the 2012 Conference of the Australasian Institute of Ethnomethodology (EM) and Conversation Analysis (CA) (AIEMCA). The theme of the conference was the analysis of knowledge and... more
This special issue brings together research from the 2012 Conference of the Australasian Institute of Ethnomethodology (EM) and Conversation Analysis (CA) (AIEMCA). The theme of the conference was the analysis of knowledge and asymmetrical organisation in interactions—in other words, the business of who knows what, and who has the rights and responsibilities to know things (see Sidnell, 2012).
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This paper examines the acoustic characteristics of ethnic identity, in particular, it looks at the long-term acoustic properties of Anglo-, Vietnamese-and Hong Kong Chinese-Australians. The paper is a preliminary report of a larger... more
This paper examines the acoustic characteristics of ethnic identity, in particular, it looks at the long-term acoustic properties of Anglo-, Vietnamese-and Hong Kong Chinese-Australians. The paper is a preliminary report of a larger project, and focuses on long-term spectral features of four speakers from each ethnic group. Threemode principal component analysis is conducted on long-term average spectra to find group differences among the speakers.
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When physicians take readings of health indices such as temperature or blood pressure, the practices that physicians and patients employ in discussing the readings both reflect and propose a set of expectations regarding the level of... more
When physicians take readings of health indices such as temperature or blood pressure, the practices that physicians and patients employ in discussing the readings both reflect and propose a set of expectations regarding the level of technical medical information the patients should acquire and understand. In this article we demonstrate how physicians’ reporting practices reflect and propose the roles of paternalism or independent expertise and how patients’ responding practices either ratify or contest the roles cast by the physicians’ practices. In contrast to the usual assumption that roles are relatively stable for individuals over the course of encounters, we treat role enactments as matters that are negotiated turn by turn in interaction. Physicians’ practices for reporting test results implicate various sets of expectations about the knowledge, interest, and responsibility state of each participant; patients employ responding practices that ratify or contest the expectations implicated by the physicians’ prior report. In each subsequent turn within the information exchange sequence, a speaker indicates (explicitly or implicitly) whether the level and kind of information being exchanged is appropriate/inappropriate and sufficient/insufficient for the participants.
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Edwards’ paper, ‘Categories are for talking’ (1991), is a critical dissection of the static role of categories as conceived in traditional Cognitive Psychology and the then-recent work of Lakoff’s Women, Fire and Dangerous Things (1987)... more
Edwards’ paper, ‘Categories are for talking’ (1991), is a critical dissection of the static role of categories as conceived in traditional Cognitive Psychology and the then-recent work of Lakoff’s Women, Fire and Dangerous Things (1987) through the use of Harvey Sacks’ (1974; 1992) work on membership categorisation. Edwards uses Sacks to take aim at the prominent theoretical and methodological trends at the time, seeking to liberate members’ category work from ironically external conceptions of a shrouded realm located inside the head. However, while the focus for Edwards was on psychology, his detailed under- standing of Sacks’ work served to open a conceptual space for those working in discursive psychology to engage with members categorisation work as fundamental to the epistemological and methodological repertoires of Discursive Psychology (DP) in ways that ally with the emergence of Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA: Eglin and Hester, 1992; Watson,1994; Hester and Francis, 1994).
In this discussion we focus on how the paper shows three areas of intersection in the emergence of DP and MCA. First, we outline how the initial use of Sacks’ category work in the paper was directed towards psychological topics at a time when his ideas were largely confined to the sociological fields of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Second, we trace Edwards’ work to embed Sacks’ categorial work as an analytic method for DP while running parallel to the emergence and development of MCA. Finally, we situate the contemporary influence of Edwards’ paper and use of Sacks’ work in the creation of a rich confluence and openness to ideas that have become a hallmark of the contemporary DP approach – an approach that not only incorporates a deep understanding of Sacks’ categorisation work but, in turn, contributes significantly to the further development of MCA.
In this discussion we focus on how the paper shows three areas of intersection in the emergence of DP and MCA. First, we outline how the initial use of Sacks’ category work in the paper was directed towards psychological topics at a time when his ideas were largely confined to the sociological fields of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Second, we trace Edwards’ work to embed Sacks’ categorial work as an analytic method for DP while running parallel to the emergence and development of MCA. Finally, we situate the contemporary influence of Edwards’ paper and use of Sacks’ work in the creation of a rich confluence and openness to ideas that have become a hallmark of the contemporary DP approach – an approach that not only incorporates a deep understanding of Sacks’ categorisation work but, in turn, contributes significantly to the further development of MCA.
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This article reports on Leximancer and Discursis, two visual text analytic software tools developed at The University of Queensland. Both analyse spatial and temporal relationships in text data, but in complementary ways: Leximancer... more
This article reports on Leximancer and Discursis, two visual text analytic software tools developed at The University of Queensland. Both analyse spatial and temporal relationships in text data, but in complementary ways: Leximancer focuses on thematic analysis, while Discursis focuses on sequential analysis. Our report explains how they work, how to work with them and how visual concepts are relevant to all stages of their use in analytic decision-making.
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Data analysis sessions are a common feature of discourse analytic communities, often involving participants with varying levels of expertise to those with significant expertise. Learning how to do data analysis and working with... more
Data analysis sessions are a common feature of discourse analytic communities, often involving participants with varying levels of expertise to those with significant expertise. Learning how to do data analysis and working with transcripts, however, are often new experiences for doctoral candidates within the social sciences. While many guides to doctoral education focus on procedures associated with data analysis (Heath et al., 2010; McHoul and Rapley, 2001; Silverman, 2011; Wetherall et al., 2001), the in situ practices of doing data analysis are relatively undocumented. This chapter has been collaboratively written by members of a special interest research group, the Transcript Analysis Group (TAG), who meet regularly to examine transcripts representing audio- and video-recorded interactional data. Here, we investigate our own actual interactional practices and participation in this group where each member is both analyst and participant. We particularly focus on the pedagogic practices enacted in the group through investigating how members engage in the scholarly practice of data analysis.
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ABSTRACT In this paper, we identify and analyse the problems associated with communicative overheads of a fashion design and manufacturing workflow. We conduct a multi-stage qualitative study to investigate where the rich multiple... more
ABSTRACT In this paper, we identify and analyse the problems associated with communicative overheads of a fashion design and manufacturing workflow. We conduct a multi-stage qualitative study to investigate where the rich multiple channels of communication afford and constrain the workflow during remote collaboration. From this study, we define what communication channels we have in our system. We then use the video data that we had collected through user testing, together with the feedback from the video-assisted stimulated recall interviews, to identify three kinds of communicative overheads in our system: novelty of technology, ongoing constraints and operational problems. We analyse each communicative overhead with examples from our video data, and conclude that there are various overheads, some that participants may overcome through learning and familiarity with the system, some that may not be easily overcome, and some that may not even be unique to a remote collaborative environment, as they also occur in a face-to-face collaborative environment. We believe that offering richer communication channels does not necessarily equate to greater efficiency in the collaborative process, and that designers and developers of collaborative systems need to investigate the effect of communicative overheads before introducing new channels to their system, as these overheads may decrease the efficiency of any collaborative experiences.
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To cite this article: Rintel, Sean. Internet linguistics: A student guide [Book Review] [online]. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2012: 218-220. Availability: <http://search.informit... more
To cite this article: Rintel, Sean. Internet linguistics: A student guide [Book Review] [online]. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2012: 218-220. Availability: <http://search.informit .com.au/documentSummary;dn=642771218727877;res=IELHSS> ISSN: 0155-0640. [cited 18 Aug 12].
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Offshore outsourcing is on the increase as businesses seek more cost effective manufacturing options for their products. Supporting outsourcing is as much about communication of tasks as it is about the tasks themselves. We argue that... more
Offshore outsourcing is on the increase as businesses seek more cost effective manufacturing options for their products. Supporting outsourcing is as much about communication of tasks as it is about the tasks themselves. We argue that there is need for more fundamental research into the relationship between communication and design for remote collaboration. In this paper we explore early design and testing issues for a “mashup” of existing technologies to support remote collaboration for the fashion industry. ...