I have just finished reading a very good book by Sigrid Norris, called Analyzing Multimodal Interaction: A methodological framework. Here, Norris outlines the premises that underlie multimodal interaction analysis, discusses how to analyze different modes separately and combined, and, in so doing, provides many examples from her own extensive research. I will surely return to this book in future posts since it appears to be very central to my research in many respects. For instance, Norris discusses how levels of attention/awareness determine what becomes the focal point in interaction, and gives practical advice for how to analyze this, something which I think will be very useful in my multitasking study. Some of her views are quite controversial, and I need to carefully consider how I might apply these notions (most of which do make sense to me) in my own linguistic research. For now I would like to illustrate some of Norris

Before leaving last weeks broad theme I would like to comment on a paper dealing with oral CMC: From Text to Talk: Multiplayer Games and Voiceover IP, a paper by Halloran et al. presented at the first Level Up conference in 2003.

This paper is interesting to me from many perspectives. For one the authors present a conceptual framework for analysis, which they refer to as FFIPS: Form, language Functions, Identity, Presence and Social protocols. These constituents are part of a model in which Form, which in this context encompasses type of communication resource as well as its context, is located in the centre. The Form influences the rest of the constituents: language Functions relate to

My fianc

In order to get a slightly more linguistic twist on my CMC reading this week I have revisited a couple of articles written by Susan Herring:

Elza Dunkels, a doctoral student at the Department of Interactive Media and Learning here at Ume

If you want to get a quick and up-to-date overview of CMC theory I suggest that you read Joseph B. Walther and Malcolm R. Parks

I am a list person. I compile lists concerning almost every part of my waking life, since that is the only way I am able to relax in what often resembles complete chaos. In an attempt to work my way through my ever-growing pile of articles to read I have decided to try a somewhat more structured approach also in this area. I will let each week in the next couple of months have a certain theme which I will focus on in my reading. I will try to identify the key texts within each theme and also try to get an overview of some of the previous research. This should result in at least one summarizing blog post per theme. Considering that this will be done simultaneously with other coursework, application writing and gathering of material I

Via the AoIR mailinglist I recently found this neat link compilation for sources on Mobile Phone/SMS/Instant Messaging (Nalini P. Kotamraju has done the hard work here).While searching through the rest of the pages on this site, I also found this page with collected links to other interesting sites. Another helpful bibliography of studies of phone users is this one, compiled by Daniel Chandler.

At today

(Apart from the one on English as a lingua franca, the links in this post all go to reports and articles in Swedish)

Fewer and fewer people choose to study languages, as can be seen from this report from 2001, which indicates the beginning of the trend downwards. There could be many reasons for this, but for one it is no longer compulsory to study a third language at most upper secondary programs, and if a third language has to be studied most people choose Spanish, even if they have previously studied for instance German. Reports like this one, on how English is enough when applying for jobs in international businesses will also influence students