ABSTRACT
Computerized data-processing has become more and more ubiquitous in various types of social interactions, and is being studied in new fields such as humancomputer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported co-operative work (CSCW). In this chapter, I will introduce an applied conversation analysis for the scrutiny of computer-mediated communications (CMC) and computer-assisted work activities.1 Earlier, ethnomethodologically-inspired studies have addressed the discrepancy between user assumptions and design assumptions built into machines (Suchman 1987). These studies not only reveal problems in interface design and provide practical suggestions for system design, but on a more fundamental level amount to a comparison of human and computational logic, thereby illuminating distinctive human features in contrast to artificial, computational systems. Another profound question concerns the tension between standardization and recipient design. When an information system is designed for a standardized response with a wide variety of recipients, a potential conflict emerges between situated recipient needs and the
requirements of the standardized system. On a more general level, CA studies can appraise the modifications and also possible complications brought by computer assistance to the practical realization of tasks in institutional environments. For instance, computer-mediated classroom interaction can be compared with traditional classrooms. Complex hi-tech environments pose specific questions. In particular, settings saturated with technology, responsible for large numbers of people, with high work intensity and a potential for fatal errors, benefit from the analysis of collaboration-as-an-achievement and the scrutiny of routine troubles. As a whole, CA looks at the social dimension2 of how technology is used, a dimension too easily missed if technology is seen only as an exterior fact without considering the intimate connection between technology and meaning-making processes as part of work activities and other practices. Let us begin by examining key dimensions of this emerging, multifaceted field. Then we will address the elementary properties of human-computer interaction, and progress towards more complicated applications of the approach.
