Visual Repairables: analyzing the work of repair in human-computer interaction

This paper reports some (video-recorded) instances of ‘visual culture’ in action, namely the use of a new software tool designed for the visualization of scenes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth in a classroom context. By considering whether or how far conversation analysis (CA) can be extended from natural conversation to cases of collaborative work in front of a computer, the paper addresses the methodological question of how to study instances of visual communication. We take as an exemplar the phenomenon of remedial action and discuss how the canonical study of repair in ordinary conversation (Schegloff, Sacks, and Jefferson, 1977) can be used to highlight aspects of ‘visual repair’ (the identification and remedying of items on the screen). Our attempts to apply the original CA model of repair of ordinary conversation highlight the differences of this setting, which constitutes an example of collaborative work.