I have now recieved the print version of the proceedings from the Multimodal Communication conference in Gothenburg – it is always exciting to see one’s writing in print! Anyway, I was skimming through the papers, and was reminded about the interesting research that Jonna Ahti at the University of Helsinki is involved with. In the paper she presents here, she has investigated how people physically located in the same room communicate with each other both orally and via a chat, defining this as different modes of the same conversation. Would be interesting to know if she has published anything more since this.

In today’s paper there’s an article dealing with one of my favorite blogging topics – the use of cell phones while driving (previous posts can be found here, here, here and here – this is when I realize I need to have a better categorizing system . Results from a questionnaire filled out by 5717 Stockholmers suggests that 3 out of 10 males (19-39 year-olds) sometimes send SMS messages while driving – can you believe it?!

We actually discussed this when we drove up the coast last week to celebrate midsummer (traveling on one of the days with most traffic in Sweden makes it impossible not to talk about traffic accidents). In the car was a good friend of mine, working with communication aids, and she suggested using speech synthesis /and speech recognition/ to read /and compose/ SMS messages while driving. This is a really good idea, I think. Does anyone know if there are any such products on the market? Of course, this would not guarantee that the driver would be mentally present, but at least he (or she, but mainly he according to the survey) could focus his visual perception on the road.

(When reading through my older posts on this subject, I note a positive change in behavior – since becoming a husband the fiancee has started driving much more sensibly. Sure, he still talks on his phone, but the speed is now under control. I’m so glad.)

Update: The husband of the friend working with communication aids told me about a recent study comparing talking over the phone with talking to passengers located in the car. Here, they claimed that the main difference was that conversations with car passengers follow the rythm of the common surrounding environment and events, whereas distant conversations do not. I wonder if this was the study he was referring to?

There is a new, interesting-looking blog on “Telecollaboration: On-line Intercultural Exchange for Foreign Language Teachers” up and running. It was initiated in connection with a regional EUROCALL workshop on telecollaboration. Robert O’Dowd is doing the blogging, and if you want to contribute you can contact him.

On Tuesday June 13 after lunch I will have a work-in-progress seminar at the English Department where we will discuss a draft of my most recent article about conversations and communicative choices in multiplex communication situations. If you’re in the area, please come by! Let me know if you want a copy of the draft via email.

(This article and the unbelievably multiplex transcription and analysis work that preceded it are part of the explanation why I haven’t been blogging lately… I hope to find time and inspiration to blog some more before summer vacation, though!)