Screen Shot of embedded Example 4

Embedded video for examples:

The EJC version includes embedded video of three examples. Please email me for access to that version. Alternatively, URLs are provided in the pre-publication document above.

Abstract:

Video calling is now a realistic option for couples in distance relationships. This paper explores whether audio/video distortions block intimate relational talk. From a naturalistic two-month trial of couples trying video calling to maintain their distance relationships, it is found that couples can opportunistically use audio/video distortions as a relational resource rather than simply treating them as a blocking or outside of relational talk. First, technological mediation can be treated as relevant to disambiguating whether the repair involves simple content repetition or a more complex relational issue. Second, distortions can be treated as resources for relational parody and teasing. It is argued that the opportunistic use of distortions as a relational resource extends Hutchby’s (2001b) notion of technologized interaction, in which technology frames but does not determine social action. Rather than proposing yet another model of communication that includes more detail about noise as deviance that must be remedied, or taking an undifferentiated approach to distortion as “trouble,” the technologized interaction approach broadens our conceptions of online relationships as involving the use of technological features to a more holistic sense of technological mediation being part and parcel of maintaining online relationships

Related:

• Rintel, S. (2013). Tech-tied or tongue-tied? Technological versus social trouble in relational video calling. Proceedings of the Forty-Sixth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3343-3352). DOI 10.1109/HICSS.2013.512 [Format: Local PDF of conference PDF version]
• Rintel, E. Sean. 2010. Conversational management of network trouble perturbations in personal videoconferencing. In Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction (OZCHI ’10) (pp. 304-311). doi:10.1145/1952222.1952288 [Format: Local PDF of proceedings version]
• Rintel, S. 2007. Maximizing environmental validity: remote recording of desktop videoconferencing. In Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Human-computer interaction: interaction design and usability (HCI’07) (pp. 911-920). doi:10.1007/978-3-540-73105-4_100 [Format: Local PDF of proceedings version]
• Rintel, S. (2012, June 18). Airtime’s Facebook video service gambles on the kindness of strangers. The Conversation (Online).
• Rintel, S. (2011, July 12). Face to Facebook: Can video chat get over its hang-ups? The Conversation (Online).

Correspondence Cinema by Villemard 1910 (from a postcard set “In the year 2000″ | paleofuture.com)

My Special Issue on Videoconferencing in Practice: 21st Century Challenges was published today in The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronic de Communication (EJC/REC) 23 (1&2).

If your university does not subscribe to EJC/REC please email myself or article authors for article copies (and ask your library to subscribe!).

The issue features a keynote article by veteran media space researcher Professor Steven Harrison (Virginia Tech), a book review of the mixed French/English videoconferencing research book Décrire la conversation en ligne: Le face-à-face distanciel, and six research articles (including one of mine).

Table of Contents:

• Editor’s Introduction “The 21st Century Videoconferencing Dilemma: What Does The “Next Best Thing to Being There” Mean?“ by Sean Rintel
• Parallel Universes of Teleconferencing by Steve Harrison
• My Life with Always-On Video by Carman Neustaedter
• Video Calling in Long-Distance Relationships: The Opportunistic Use of Audio/Video Distortions as a Relational Resource by Sean Rintel
• Like What You See? The Effect of Video-Mediated Gazing on Information Recall and Impression Formation by Chris Fullwood & Neil Morris
• Courtroom Interaction as a Multimedia Event: The Work of Producing Relevant Videoconference Frames in French Pre-Trial Hearings by Christian Licoppe, Maud Verdier, & Laurence Dumoulin
• Videoconferencing: A Technology with Promises and Challenges – Case Study with IVC in an Undergraduate Course by B. A. Olaniran
• Videoconferencing for First Nations Community-Controlled Education, Health and Development by Susan O’Donnell, Lyle Johnson, Tina Kakepetum-Schultz, Kevin Burton, Tim Whiteduck, Raymond Mason, Brian Beaton, Rob McMahon, & Kerri Gibson
• Review of Décrire la conversation en ligne: Le face-à-face distanciel, edited by Christine Develotte, Richard Kern, and Marie-Noëlle Lamy, Lyon: ENS Editions, 2011, 215 pp. by Juliana de Nooy

Related:

• Rintel, S. (forthcoming – 2013). Video Calling in Long-Distance Relationships: The Opportunistic use of Audio/Video Distortions as a Relational Resource. The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronic de Communication (EJC/REC) Special issue on Videoconferencing in Practice: 21st Century Challenges. 23 (1&2) [Format: Local PDF of pre-publication version]
• Rintel, S. (2013). Tech-tied or tongue-tied? Technological versus social trouble in relational video calling. Proceedings of the Forty-Sixth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3343-3352). DOI 10.1109/HICSS.2013.512 [Format: Local PDF of conference PDF version]
• Rintel, E. Sean. 2010. Conversational management of network trouble perturbations in personal videoconferencing. In Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction (OZCHI ’10) (pp. 304-311). doi:10.1145/1952222.1952288 [Format: Local PDF of proceedings version]
• Rintel, S. 2007. Maximizing environmental validity: remote recording of desktop videoconferencing. In Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Human-computer interaction: interaction design and usability (HCI’07) (pp. 911-920). doi:10.1007/978-3-540-73105-4_100 [Format: Local PDF of proceedings version]
• Rintel, S. (2012, June 18). Airtime’s Facebook video service gambles on the kindness of strangers. The Conversation (Online).
• Rintel, S. (2011, July 12). Face to Facebook: Can video chat get over its hang-ups? The Conversation (Online).

The Conversation published my article on slacktivism versus snarktivism, in which I illustrate some of the ways people resist so-called slacktivist or clicktivist campaigns that rely on ‘simply’ sharing or liking images.

Source: Uploaded to Know Your Meme by amanda b.

Debate over the value of online activism has risen again in the wake of the highly visible Human Rights Campaign marriage equality campaign, which urged Facebook users to replace their profile photographs with a red equal sign.

The very evolutionary forces that allow memes to propagate in support of a campaign–even a so-called slacktivist campaign–also afford resistance. Following Rod Cottingham’s cartoon title, I call this resistance “snarktivism”.

There are always dissenting opinions, and this is just a new way of presenting those opinions. The meme forms known as image macros are central to snarktivism as they provide templates for critique.

Read the full article:

Rintel, S. (2013, April 10). ‘Slacktivism’ vs ‘snarktivism’: how do you take your online activism? The Conversation (Online).

Related:

• Listen to my 2SER Sydney radio interview: Rintel, S. (2013, April 25). Internet activism: Does it make a difference? (Online).
• See my recent television interview: Rintel, S. (2013, January 25). Slacktivism segment. ABC News 24 News Exchange. (Online)
• Hear myself and fellow panel members Associate Professor Axel Bruns and Dr Nic Suzor at the State Library of Queensland event: Protecting an uncensored Internet: the global response to SOPA legislation.
• Rintel, S. (2011, August 15). Obama? Norway killings? London riots? You can has a meme for that… The Conversation (Online).
• Rintel, S. (2013). Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression. Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 2(2): 253-271. DOI: 10.1386/ajpc.2.2.253_1

Donate:

Want meaningful activism? Please donate to Electronic Frontiers Australia to help us continue to be your voice for digital freedom, access, and privacy.

Angus, D., Rintel, S. & Wiles, J. (2013). Making sense of big text: a visual-first approach for analysing text data using Leximancer and Discursis, International Journal of Social Research Methodology (Special Issue: Computational Social Science: Research Strategies, Design and Methods) 16 (3), 261-267, doi: 10.1080/13645579.2013.774186

Abstract:

This article reports on Leximancer and Discursis, two visual text analytic software tools developed at The University of Queensland. Both analyse spatial and temporal relationships in text data, but in complementary ways: Leximancer focuses on thematic analysis, while Discursis focuses on sequential analysis. Our report explains how they work, how to work with them and how visual concepts are relevant to all stages of their use in analytic decision-making.