The disembodied act: copresence and indexical symmetry in computer-mediated communication

Alan Zemel, Wes Shumar, Murat Perit Cakir Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19104 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Abstract: CSCL has recently begun to consider how shared undersranding is achieved in computer-mediated interactional environments. In this paper, we contribute to this line of investigation by exploring how interactants produce and maintain indexical symmetry and reciprocity of perspectives in online chat by establishing reciprocal fields of copresence. We use ethnomethodologically informed analysis to describe the interactional methods by which actors establish indexical symmetry and reciprocal fields of copresence. We show how this serves as the basis for shared understanding as an interactional achievement in VMT chat. Since only the artifacts on display, rather than the embodied presence of the actors themselves, are all that is available for inspection and use by actors, we demonstrate that it is in the production and use of these artifacts that shared understandings and mutuality of perspective are achieved.