Common ground in electronically mediated conversation
By: Andrew Monk
Series: Synthesis lectures on human-centered informatics -- # 1
Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers
Published: 2009
Place of publication: San Rafael, Calif. (1537 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA)
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
ISBN-13: 9781598298581; 9781598298574
Subjects: Telematics; Knowledge; Language and languages; Computer programs
Other titles: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.
Description: Technologies that electronically mediate conversation, such as text-based chat or desktop video conferencing, draw on theories of human-human interaction to make predictions about the effects of design decisions. This lecture reviews the theory that has been most influential in this area: Clark's theory of language use. The key concept in Clark's theory is that of common ground. Language is viewed as a collaborative activity that uses existing common ground to develop further common ground and, hence, to communicate efficiently. The theory (a) defines different kinds of common ground, (b) formalizes the notion of collaborative activity as a "joint action," and (c) describes the processes by which common ground is developed through joint action. Chapter 1 explains why a purely cognitive model of communication is not enough and what is meant by the phrase "collaborative activity." Chapter 2 introduces the idea of common ground and how it is used in language through an example of two people conversing over a video link. Chapter 3 indicates where the interested reader can find out about the antecedents to Clark's theory. Chapter 4 sets out the fundamental concepts in Clark's theory. Chapter 5 uses five published case studies of electronically mediated communication to illustrate the value of the theory. These include studies of a computer-supported meeting room (Cognoter), a video tunnel that supports gaze awareness, video conferencing in medical consultation, and text chat.
Notes: Part of: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.

Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on December 3, 2008).

Series from website.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-43).

Abstract freely available; full-text restricted to subscribers or individual document purchasers.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.
Table of contents: title: Motivation, conversation as a collaborative activity; title: Production [plus] comprehension [does not equal] communication; title: Collaboration in language use; title: Overview, developing common ground, an example; title: Scientific foundations; title: The theory in more detail; title: Fundamentals; title: Face-to-face conversation is "basic"; title: Face-to-face conversation involves more than just words; title: Face-to-face conversation is a joint action; title: Face-to-face conversation uses common ground to minimize the effort required to communicate; title: Face-to-face conversation develops common ground; title: Grounding, levels, layers, and tracks; title: Case studies, applying the theory to electronically mediated communication; title: The costs of grounding (Clark and Brennan); title: Why Cognoter did not work (Tatar, Foster, and Bobrow); title: Gaze awareness: an experimental study of resources for grounding (Monk and Gale); title: Predicting the peripherality of peripheral participants (Monk); title: Peripheral participants in text chat, putting words in people's mouths (Healey and Mills); title: Current status; title: Further reading.