The object of this volume is to apply conversation analysis (CA) to digital communication, including both human-human and human-technology interactions. Structurally, it is organized into an introduction and four parts in terms of the types of digitally mediated interaction.
The introduction offers a concise overview of CA, including its distinctive features, the key notions, and the analytical procedures, and discusses their application to digital interaction. The editors argue that while some concepts (e.g. turn and projection) and phenomena (likes in social media) may not be applicable to text-based interaction, the analysis of position and composition of contributions remains valid. Two additional dimensions are also discussed: multimodality, concerning the multimodal organization of interaction and the interactional affordances of semiotic resources (e.g. graphicon, punctuation, and selfies); and participation, whose forms and dimensions as time and space in digital interaction are reviewed.
The initial parts focus on text-based interaction in different digital platforms, exemplified by mobile messaging via WhatsApp (Part 1), and the interactional practices on social media (Part 2). Chapters in these parts explore both the interactional actions and their linguistic expressions, indicating that the sequential position and design features of these actions affect the relevance of the response (e.g. Aino Koivisto's study of invitation for joint activities). Some argue that the characteristics of the actions are related to the digital affordances. Lynn de Rijk & Wyke Stommel's research highlights how recipient-designed features of opening initiation in the post-match chat depend on the affordances of dating apps. Another focus is the stance displayed in digital interaction, which reveals that with other semiotic resources like emojis and hashtags, linguistic variants can contextualize different stances of confirmation and agreement (see Katharina König's chapter), or display affiliation and disaffiliation and take an affective stance towards something prior (see Helena Nurmikari's chapter).
The subsequent parts shift focus on spoken and video-mediated interaction. Part 3 concerns institutional interaction via video conferencing platforms. Elina Salomaa & Esa Lehtinen's study illustrates how the negative emotions elicited from graphicons in workplace interaction are managed through multimedia activities such as explications in comments. Mikko T. Virtanen & Jarkko Niemi's findings demonstrate the expression of thanking and positive assessments as appreciation for technological services related to webcam activities.
Part 4 concerns spoken human-computer interaction, revealing that human-technology interaction can both influence and be influenced by the canonical conversation. Salla Kurhila & Lari Kotilainen's research notes how participants’ responses to the turns initiated by the computer modify the participation framework and add a layer of performativity into their mutual interaction. Heidi Vepsäläinen & Henna Paakki's study explains how the robocallee deceives the telescammer into keeping up the conversation by exploiting the overall structure of the telemarketing call with turns like continuers and go-ahead.
For those who intend to adopt a CA approach for digital communication, this volume enhances comprehension of whether or to what extent the digital interaction practices adapt the basic organization and resources of co-present face-to-face interaction. It offers a wide-ranging perspective on state-of-the-art conversational analytic work on the impact of different types of technologies and media on social interaction.
