Second Graded Assignment - Computer Mediated Communication - Part One

Report on the Article ‘Disrupted Turn Adjacency and Conversational Coherence in

Orkut Scrapbooks by Anupam Das

This research article began with the introduction of the study; the growth of social networking sites (SNS), conversation types on SNS and multi-participant computer mediated communication (CMC). This was followed with an introduction to Orkut, the history of the website, and its Scrapbook feature. The study is inspired by the observation of problems ofcommunicating through Scrapbook. In the theoretical background, we see that many previous studies on CMCs have been conducted and the results of these studies also urge for further study, specifically on asynchronous and synchronous modes of interaction on SNS.

            In order to begin the study, three research questions and three hypotheses were constructed. All three questions involve the influence of response latency on: 
i. Conversational coherence,
ii. Topic development and,
iii. Structure of turns.
The first hypothesis states that more coherent discussions are generated in pseudo-synchronous interactions. The second asserts that topics on pseudo-synchronous interaction are more narrow compared to asynchronous interactions, which tend to have a wider range and more progress. The third hypothesis says that pseudo-synchronous interactions contain shorter turns.

            In the methodology section of the research, the definition of pseudo-synchronous interaction on Scrapbook was explained and a visual example was given. The sample of the study is then revealed; a total of eight addressers and addressees from the Bengali community were analyzed. It is also stated that the sample was selected based on four criteria, which concerned the amount of friends the addressee had, the gender of their friends and the period in which the interactions began. These criteria were established in order to avoid bias and achieve a representation of the Bengali community. A mode of analysis used in this study was the Dynamic Topic Analysis (DTA) method; it was used for coding, quantifying and representing the data in a visual form. Additionally, this technique was used with VisualDTA, a computer application, to examine the relation between subsequent messages and provide a visualization of the data.The data analyzed consisted of individual ‘scraps’ from the Scrapbook which were subsequent with one another. Two kinds of information were derived from these scraps: i. the type of topic relation and, ii. the semantic distance between them. The DTA coding scheme showed that there was a significant relation between the topic relation type and semantic distance.

            The results and discussions section began with the interpretation of the data; the DTA analysis was presented, then two VisualDTA diagrams showed how the usage patterns affected topic changes, and finally the length of turns were measured to identify the relation between response latency and turn structure. The first analysis showed that the semantic distance in all but one of the asynchronous interactions were more significant compared to the pseudo-synchronous interaction. The time gap between a first scrap, or message, and its response allowed other unrelated scraps to be posted thus disrupting the adjacency pairs and fragmenting the discourse that is happening. This supported the first hypothesis which stated that pseudo-synchronous interactions are more coherent. The second analysis revealed that asynchronous interactions contained more topic breaks. The results showed that while most of the interactions were on-topic, there was a significant sign of parallel shift also. This is due to a wide array of reasons. The first is a result of the confusing design of the scrapbook and also the users own error whereby the messages that are meant to be on their friend’s scrapbook are mistakenly posted on their own wall. This results in conversational chaos and topic breaks. Next, the purpose of the discussion influences topic drift, which in the case of social networking sites, is mainly for small talk i.e. for relaxing, or expressing opinions and comments that are mundane in nature. Other talks, such as educational talks, rarely digress from the topic as there is and end goal set for the discussion. The third analysis revealed that there was no relation between response latency and turn length. Asynchronous interactions proved to have longer turn lengths as the users depended on factors such as message granularity and purpose of interaction in composing their message. Pseudo-synchronous interactions proved to have shorter turn lengths, as there is generally no pressure for immediate or long responses for discussions on social networking sites, which in turn helps maintain adjacency pairs.

The writer concludes the research with recommendations for Scrapbook design such as a separate status update for pseudo-synchronous interactions, a separate window view in Scrapbook for asynchronous interactions, and to remove confusing message box to avoid users’ posting on their own wall. The conclusion of the study revealed that response latency:
i. resulted in a disruption in coherence in interactions,
ii. Influenced topic drift moderately and,
 iii. Did not determine the length of turns,
as other factors contributed to length turns more significantly. Thus only one out of three hypotheses constructed earlier may be fully accepted through this study.

Link to the article:

http://iimk.academia.edu/AnupamDas/Papers/78178/Disrupted_Turn_Adjacency_and_Conversational_Coherence_in_Orkut_Scrapbooks

"Verily, Allah (alone) is all-knowing and all-aware." Wassalam.