Guest blog: Rebecca Clift on teaching CA in China

The global reach of Conversation Analysis is ever-expanding, as illustrated by the interest generated in CA workshops wherever in the world they take place. Here Rebecca Clift gives us a brief but evocative account of her trip to China with colleagues from the UK and the USA.

Rebecca Clift, Essex University

There was a happy gathering for the third National Workshop in Conversation Analysis at Shanxi University, China, from 15^th-19^thJuly 2019. The huge group photo (see the foot of the page) more or less gets everyone in! Continue reading →

Guest blog: Displaying understanding of visible and imagined objects

Among the articles in ROLSI 52 (1) was a fascinating account of what people do when looking at (or being asked to think about) museum objects. I’m delighted that the authors, Chie Fukuda and Matt Burdelski, agreed write a piece to illustrate their study in shorter form.

Chie Fukuda

Matt Burdelski

Multimodal/multisensorial analyses of situated interaction have increasingly focused on the role of objects (along with talk and other semiotic resources) in producing social action. But what actually happens in the interaction between guide and visitor?

Our collaborative effort in examining guided tours as situated activities within museums and culture centers has led us to examine how objects are brought into being and deployed in interaction, and how recipients display their understanding of them. Continue reading →

Guest blog: How to make CA fun for 182 kids (and 171 adults)

How do you make Conversation Analysis intelligible to children? And make it enough fun that they actually want to see how it works, and try it out? That is the challenge happily taken on by the enterprising team of postgraduate students Reihaneh Afshari Saleh, Zhiying Jian, Marina Cantarutti and Yumei Gan. I’m delighted that they agreed to write it up; their report makes for lively reading.

Zhiying Jian, Marina Cantarutti, Yumei Gan and Afshari Saleh

One of the most fulfilling things when doing our sometimes lonely PhD research is being told that what we do matters. Public engagement gives you a chance to experience that. We know that making our research accessible to the public can be daunting, and when your audience is potentially 200 kids aged 5-11, even more so! The PhD students in Language and Communication at the University of York, Reihaneh Afshari Saleh, Zhiying Jian, and Marina Cantarutti, and our PhD student visitor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Yumei Gan, decided to rise to the challenge and make Conversation Analysis (even more) fun! Continue reading →

Guest blog: Ruth Parry on how to use analogies to introduce CA to new audiences

CA research is increasingly finding application to real-world problems, but getting its virtues across to a lay audience – and potential collaborators – is not always easy. I’m delighted that Ruth Parry, who has extensive experience, has agreed to let us into some of the tips and tricks of the trade – especially the power of using analogies to get the message across.

Ruth Parry, Loughborough University

When your scientific approach is one few people have heard of, is pretty technical, and has a conventional title that doesn’t help much (or could even mislead), tried and tested ways to introduce and explain it are a boon. In this blog I describe some ways to explain conversation analysis to others – whether we’re presenting our research, delivering CA-based training, or building collaborative projects with teams from diverse backgrounds. Continue reading →

Guest Blog: the 11th EMCA Doctoral Network – Manchester, May 2019

The Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis (EM/CA) Doctoral Network is now an established part of the UK postgraduate scene, and highly prized by the students who attend its biannual meetings. I’m delighted that Yumei Gan, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (and a visiting research student at University of York) sent in this lively report of the most recent event.

Yumei Gan; Video Analysis, Science, and Technology (VAST) Research Group; The Chinese University of Hong Kong

I first heard about the EMCA Doctoral Network through Facebook, on the recommendation of my supervisor Christian Greiffenhagen. For a long time, I only treated this ‘network’ as a virtual ‘network’, I never really thought that there would be the possibility of physically meeting other doctoral students doing EMCA research. In May 2018, when Jon Hindmarsh visited Hong Kong, he mentioned that he was preparing the 10th EMCA Doctoral Network in London. That was the first time when I knew this ‘network’ is not virtual, but can be and is actually ‘face-to-face’. Continue reading →

Guest blog: Supporting communication in dementia research

A growing area of application of Conversation Analysis is in helping people deal with the difficulties of dementia. In this very welcome guest blog, Joe Webb and Jemima Dooley tell us how adapting qualitative approaches could help people communicate their stories, and describe an exciting new collaboration with people who actually live with the condition.

Joe Webb, Bristol

Jemima Dooley, Bristol

A growing body of conversation analysis (CA) research focuses on dementia and communication (see Dooley et al., 2015, and Kindell et al., 2017 for overviews). However, people living with dementia are also keen to tell their own stories and be active researchers (McKeown et al., 2010). Continue reading →

Guest blog: Sylvaine Tuncer on the “Working with video data” meeting, Stockholm

The accelerating turn to multi-modal analysis is visible in the increasing number of high-level meetings and symposia devoted to the latest in video techniques and analysis. I’m delighted that Sylvaine Tuncer, whose work is at the frontiers of sociology, CA, ethnomethodology and ethnography, has sent in this report of a recent exciting meeting in Stockholm.

After more than a year working and living in Stockholm, I confirm that Sweden deserves its international reputation of a lively conversation-analytic research community, comprising several strong research centres and active networks. Continue reading →

Guest blog: the EM/CA Bootcamp, 2018

Each year colleagues in Denmark organise an intensive get-together for postgraduates and other early-career researchers who want to delve into the mysteries of ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis. I’m glad to say that Sophia Fiedler & Søren Sandager Sørensen have sent in this insider’s report….

When you travel to Denmark, your luggage so full of text by Garfinkel, Schegloff and Jefferson that you’ve struggled to get your clothes into your suitcase; when the only geographical clue you have about your exact location in Denmark is the fact that you are not far from the sea; when – additionally – there are only linguists (and a few sociologists) in the house where you will stay for 5 days… Continue reading →

Guest Blog: Marina Cantarutti on presenting CA to the public

Explaining what we do to the general public can be a daunting exercise, but the rewards can be well worth it. Marina Cantarutti, doing her doctoral research at the University of York, took on the task, and presented her work at a science fair of the kind that hosted Saul Albert and colleagues’ excellent CA Rollercoaster. She lived to tell the (happy) tale…

Screenshot 2018-11-19 at 15.55.41 — Marina Cantarutti, University of York

For some areas of linguistics, it may be a bit difficult to make your work accessible to the public without feeling you are betraying yourself, or your knowledge. The fear of trivialising is always at the back of one’s mind. Moreover, when you’re out there on your own, you are the sole representative of the discipline … daunting! Continue reading →

Guest blog: Elliott Hoey and Chase Raymond on classic data

When Conversation Analysts gather, they sometimes analyse excerpts from recordings made by the early pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s – hissy audiotapes or scratchy black-and-white videotape. Some bits are so well known now that they’ve become shibboleths for the knowing community, which can feel off-putting to newcomers. Elliott Hoey and Chase Raymond have been looking into the matter for a forthcoming publication, and I’m very pleased that they’re willing to share their thoughts here.

Elliott Hoey, Basel, Switzerland

Chase Wesley Raymond, Boulder, Colorado

One distinctive research practice in CA is its longstanding reliance on a body of ‘classic’ data. Reading papers, especially from the early days, can sometimes feel like watching a soap opera starring Emma, Virginia, Shane, Geri, and Bud (the show is syndicated in ROLSI, among other places). Continue reading →

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