Multimodal accomplishment of alignment and affiliation in the local space of distant meetings

Abstract

Technology-mediated (i.e. distant) meetings are complex settings that involve distributed participation frameworks and the coordination of actions in multiple interactional spaces. This paper examines how problems with hearing, speaking, or understanding in the overall meeting space enable the negotiation of alignment and affiliation by co-present participants in the same local meeting space. Conversation analysis is used to investigate the local accomplishment of alignment and affiliation achieved through the sequential and temporal organization of verbal, embodied, and material resources of interaction in three types of situations: during technological trouble, silences, and disagreements. The analysis shows that the local participants draw on their physical setting and the material environment to make interactional problems relevant amongst themselves. During these parallel interactions, the co-construction of alignment and affiliation enhances the sense of local community and enables the building of alliances that are not made public in the overall meeting space.