Conversation and Community
Chat in a Virtual World
Lynn Cherny(Author)
The Center for the Study of Language and Information Publications (Publisher)
Published on 1. June 1999
Book
Hardback
376 pages
978-1-57586-155-5 (ISBN)
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Description
Conversation and Community is an examination of the speech community in an Internet 'virtual community'. Based on ethnographic research on a community of users of a MUD, or 'multi-user dimension', the book describes a close-knit community united in features of their language use, shared history, and relationships to other online communities. The author invokes the notion of register, or the variety of speech adapted to the communication situation, in her discussion of how users overcome the limitations of the typed, text medium and exploit its affordances for comfortable communication. Routines, conventional vocabulary and abbreviations, syntactic and semantic phenomena, and special turn-taking and repair strategies distinguish the MUD community's register. Because the MUD is programmable, commands may be added which reflect, alter, or reinforce the linguistic practices and culture of the community; competent speakers must also know the commands that produce the correct linguistic forms.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Cambridge University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
620 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-57586-155-5 (9781575861555)
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
1. Introduction to MUDs and MOOs; 2. Introduction to ElseMOO community; 3. Register features; 4. Turn-taking and other channel effects; 5. Use of emotes; 6. Community and crisis; 7. Conclusion; Appendices: ethics and methods; Glossary; Online help documents.