What do we communicate in conversations?

Assignment 4 | 3.7

The assignment was to select 3 different online conversation environments, and analyze them using Saville-Troike's framework for looking at speech within communities. The goal was to try and understand how different flavors of text-based online conversations help or hinder the transfer of social and cultural information about users.

I chose 3 environments that shared a text-only, asynchronous, open nature.

• IDM (mailing list)
• soc.culture.korean (newsgroup)
• Ain't It Cool News - Talk Back sections (web-based message board)

The in-class presentation starts here.

Required readings:

• Saville-Troike, Muriel. The Ethnography of Communication, chapters 2 and 5.
• Cherny, Lynn. Conversation and Community: Chat in a Virtual World, chapter 5.

James Jung-Hoon Seo | 3.6.2000