Multimodal (inter)action in technology-mediated business meetings

The Gothenburg Meeting Science Symposium

This paper belongs to of the Gothenburg Meeting Science Symposium

Tuire Oittinen, University of Jyväskylä (Department of language and communication studies)

Abstract 
International business meetings today include the frequent use of modern technologies to enable collaboration between distributed workgroups. Participation in technology-mediated (i.e. distant) meetings involves the management of three interactional spaces: i.e. official meeting space, local space and other (virtual) spaces (Wasson, 2006). This raises a practical problem of how to create and sustain shared orientation to the tasks at hand and specific meeting items (e.g. openings, closings, topic-transitions). In face-to-face meetings embodied resources, like the gaze and gesture, along with material objects are frequently used to secure participation and accomplish alignment with others (e.g. (…) Read more

‘All we do is meetings around here’ reaching agreement in problem solving meeting talk

The Gothenburg Meeting Science Symposium

This paper belongs to of the Gothenburg Meeting Science Symposium

Kyoungmi Kim, University of Warwick (Centre for Applied Linguistics)
Jo Angouri, University of Warwick (Applied Linguistics)

Abstract 
Meetings play a central role in any professional setting, commonly seen as the organisation’s epitome and the context where new knowledge emerges, professional identities are negotiated and practices are brought to scrutiny. The type and function of meetings varies but they are easily recognisable by their participants. In this paper we are particularly interested in meetings employees define as having a primarily problem solving function and we distinguish between formal and informal events. Problem-­‐solving is a high stakes organisational activity and as such, it has been studied from a range of non-­‐linguistic perspectives. (…) Read more