EXAMPLE V. This is another example of an Instant Messenger dialogue. And as I was one of the participants I am able to give a different interpretation than I would for Example IV. With any conversational analysis the interpretation is key to the understanding of the textual interaction. There are limitations to how people speak with others they are already familiar with. One of the areas of on-line conversation I will investigate is the differences between conversations of known participants and unknown. Most chatrooms conversations are between participants unknown to one another. Because of nick-names in chatrooms it is often difficult to know the gender, nationality or social positioning of the "speakers". In IM, the "speakers" are generally known to one another as they establish IM contact for a specific purpose. Instant messenger is thus similar to face-to-face talk in that participants already are familiar with each other, even if through only a few correspondences. One person, with whom I no longer dialogue, I got to know quite well over a short time period on IRC. This person has a history of psychiatric illness, confirmed not only by her, but also several others on my buddy list. (IM has category lists such as Buddy, family, Class-mates) Most of our chats were just bantering and at times quite silly. Our IMs were more entertainment than anything and provided me with a break from the stresses of every day life. However, there were times when this person drifted into suicidal talk, wanting 'to return to her home in the cosmos', her cue that she "wanted to die." Mood and directional changes affect the dialogue even without having tonal or gesture signals. This can be read back within the flow of talk by creating a string of text of lines 1, 7, and 9, or as coded above: 1>7>9. It is line 9, when the person says "on this plane", that the message becomes clear. Even though it is using the same text: "on this plane", by line 9 it has taken on new meaning, following line 7 "I am am (sic) not going to be around too much longer". It is now clear the person is thinking of dying. The following has the other party's name deleted. Until this scenario begins the respondent was telling jokes and seemed quite happy. As this stage I have only arranged the text into single exchanges, omitting the full transactional coding (as above.) Instead I have added interpretive commentary, to indicate the response processing I will undergoing as I anticipated in the exchange. At a later period I intent to use the more objective "coding" on this transcript as well, to test the efficiency of my own "intuitive" conversational responses. @@@@@@: Terrell......we will probably never meet on this plane @@@@@@: realize that T Neuage: really we will never meet [at this point I thought she meant because she lived in California and a I lived in Australia - and due to the distance this would never go beyond a cyberfriendship.] T Neuage: why not @@@@@@: I dont know T Neuage: but you believe that? @@@@@@: I am am not going to be around too much longer [here I first realize she is talking about leaving the world] T Neuage: that is not true @@@@@@: on this plane T Neuage: why do you say that @@@@@@: it is so T Neuage: that is silly stuff T Neuage: it is not so T Neuage: for what reason would you leave @@@@@@: it ois time soon T Neuage: i am not into control but you can't go T Neuage: it is not time soon @@@@@@: but I will always be with you [a metaphsical translation being that she believes she will die and her spirit will be with me] T Neuage: who told you that that you will leave T Neuage: it is not true @@@@@@: I am not sure.....but I am am being taken soon [here begins the 'I will be taken' beliefs. She claims to be an 'experiencer' - an abductee.] T Neuage: you need to be around different poeple T Neuage: by whom [this refers back to 21] @@@@@@: it is not people [this confirms she is not talking about earthlings] T Neuage: if they take you can they come and get me too @@@@@@: I have had a good life [proclaiming her death sentence here] T Neuage: and you will have a better one Here on this planet @@@@@@: I have to go home soon T Neuage: where is your home @@@@@@ : inside my heart @@@@@@: because.....this is not my life T Neuage: It is not fair for you to have information that yhou won't share with me T Neuage: I thought we were mates T Neuage: mates share T Neuage: tell me @@@@@@: I gave up my life.....so what is left is not up to me T Neuage: what T Neuage: come on you can't believe that @@@@@@: I should be dead.....should be....and am not [proclaiming her death sentence again] T Neuage: no you should not be dead @@@@@@: yes T Neuage: you can not trade or sell your soul T Neuage: that is myth @@@@@@: no T Neuage: reality is what you are in right now @@@@@@: my daughter was my dear friend and she died 26 years ago from an overdose of heroin T Neuage: what about your daughter now @@@@@@: I really better not tell you anymore T Neuage: up to you T Neuage: we can change the subject @@@@@@: she is still my friend.....we are not like mother and daughter....not at all T Neuage: what about the daughter you said died T Neuage: mixed me up @@@@@@: never mind T Neuage: ok T Neuage: how is your bird [time to # - change the topic] The next day this respondent was back on-line, seemingly with little memory of the day before conversation. Apart from the psychological implications of such conversations, systematic analysis shows that such conversation may seem aimless in structure, but it is in fact a structured conversation. "Casual" format is carrying serious social, and maybe psychological, consequences. Yet I have never met this person. Nor am I sure of how our interaction operates within this construction of a social self. SOCIOLOGICAL On-line communities and their interaction are being explored in the sociological departments of many universities. The University of Southern California is one example of a dedicated study of cyber-communities. They are investigating what kinds of social spaces and groups people are creating. How is the Internet changing basic concepts of identity, self-governance and community? The University of Southern California heads its site with: The Center for the Study of On-line Community seeks to present and foster studies that focus on how computers and networks alter people's capacity to form groups, organizations, institutions, and how those social formations are able to serve the collective interests of their members. If you are willing to use the word loosely, all of these social formations can be thought of as some form of community.
The above site typifies the degree to which sociological research differs from my own "talk-text" focus. My focus is on the "speech-act", and the effects of "written conversation". Chatrooms are instant, changing communities which often have no consistent centre, no obvious ideology (unless it is a particular ideological chatroom), and no direction (unless one is assigned and adhered to). There is little difference between when people crowding on to an elevator, train or bus with no one knowing anyone, all begin to converse. There is usually one who is louder than the rest, one who is funnier, someone is usually offended or not interested. Chatrooms provide a social community study which will need to establish guidelines for analyses. My research project aims to provide one aspect of that set of guidelines.
Cognitive and Psychological Sciences on the Internet also exist. However, I have visited many university psychology departments on the Internet and have not found one that addresses conversation in chatrooms and or discussion groups. There are a few sites that show interest in E-Mail Virtual Communities such as Storm King's (see notes) which discuss the Psychology of Virtual Communities, but otherwise I have not found any published material on how people "speak" and interact within the interactive environments of chatrooms, discussion groups, or Instant Messenger.
In this sense my work will create a field of textual interactivity for electronic sites, which will take in discourse theories and will include earlier forms of linguistic studies, with established and rigorous methodologies. The project begins with a means for the collection of data.
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