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JLA 16.1 Web-Enhanced Article
Being in Two Spaces at Once: Virtual Meetings and Their Representation

Christina Wasson

This article examines the meetings of virtual teams in a corporate workplace. I explore how these meetings are different from the face-to-face meetings that have historically been analyzed by linguistic anthropologists. In particular, I investigate the ramifications of team membersability to participate in two interactional spaces at the same time. Goffman s writings are used to develop an analytical framework that accommodates the new possibilities and constraints afforded to participants in virtual meetings. The development of a transcription system to visually represent these encounters is also described as an integral part of the analysis process. This research contributes to an emerging focus in linguistic anthropology on technology-mediated communication.
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Video Examples

[flashvideo filename=http://www.archive.org/download/BeingInTwoSpacesAtOnce-Jla1612006/Fig.4-TheEffectOfMuting_512kb.mp4 /] Figure 4: The Effect of Muting

[flashvideo filename=http://www.archive.org/download/BeingInTwoSpacesAtOnce-Jla1612006/Fig.5-FaceToFace_512kb.mp4 /] Figure 5: Face to Face

[flashvideo filename=http://www.archive.org/download/BeingInTwoSpacesAtOnce-Jla1612006/Fig.6-Multitasking-CheckingEmail_512kb.mp4 /] Figure 6: Multitasking – Checking Email

[flashvideo filename=http://www.archive.org/download/BeingInTwoSpacesAtOnce-Jla1612006/Fig.7-Multitasking-CheckingEmailOverTime_512kb.mp4 /] Figure 7: Multitasking – Checking Email Over Time

[flashvideo filename=http://www.archive.org/download/BeingInTwoSpacesAtOnce-Jla1612006/Fig.8-Multitasking-ReadingDocuments_512kb.mp4 /] Figure 8: Multitasking – Reading Documents

[flashvideo filename=http://www.archive.org/download/BeingInTwoSpacesAtOnce-Jla1612006/Fig.11-ExampleOfJoeMultitasking_512kb.mp4 /] Figure 11: Example of Joe Multitasking

[flashvideo filename=http://www.archive.org/download/BeingInTwoSpacesAtOnce-Jla1612006/Fig.12-CoworkersComplimentJoe_512kb.mp4 /] Figure 12: Coworkers Compliment Joe

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.