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Cultivating objects in interaction

Visual motifs as meaning making practices
  • Spencer Hazel
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Interacting with Objects
This chapter is in the book Interacting with Objects

Abstract

This chapter explores patterns of repeated orientations to physical objects in interactants’ visuo-spatial and haptic surround. A number of examples are presented from advice-giving activities in various institutional settings, where participants-in-interaction initially draw on material objects at hand while pursuing a particular line of explanation, and then return to these objects at later intervals. The analysis suggests that the objects are afforded representational properties through their being anchored to some referent in the talk, and that participants subsequently draw on these associations for describing, disambiguating or clarifying aspects of the relatively complex procedural frameworks discussed in the settings. This suggests that the temporal stability of material objects available to participants makes them an ideal resource to be developed as visual motifs.

Abstract

This chapter explores patterns of repeated orientations to physical objects in interactants’ visuo-spatial and haptic surround. A number of examples are presented from advice-giving activities in various institutional settings, where participants-in-interaction initially draw on material objects at hand while pursuing a particular line of explanation, and then return to these objects at later intervals. The analysis suggests that the objects are afforded representational properties through their being anchored to some referent in the talk, and that participants subsequently draw on these associations for describing, disambiguating or clarifying aspects of the relatively complex procedural frameworks discussed in the settings. This suggests that the temporal stability of material objects available to participants makes them an ideal resource to be developed as visual motifs.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Introduction
  5. On the interactional ecology of objects 3
  6. Part A. Objects as situated resources
  7. Organising and sequencing
  8. The order of ordering 31
  9. Initiating activity shifts through use of appraisal forms as material objects during performance appraisal interviews 57
  10. “I’ll just see what you had before” 79
  11. Participating and involving
  12. Objects as tools for talk 101
  13. Photo sharing as a joint activity between an aphasic speaker and others 125
  14. Organising the soundscape 145
  15. Cultivating objects in interaction 169
  16. Part B. Objects as practical accomplishments
  17. Shaping and creating
  18. Cooking instructions and the shaping of things in the kitchen 199
  19. To follow the materials 227
  20. Having a ball 249
  21. Experiencing and identifying
  22. Establishing joint orientation towards commercial objects in a self-service store 271
  23. Artworks as touchable objects 295
  24. Incidental and essential objects in interaction 319
  25. Envisioning the plan in interaction 339
  26. Instructed objects 357
  27. Epilogue
  28. Trajectories of the object in interaction 381
  29. Person index 389
  30. Subject index 391
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.186.08haz

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Introduction
  5. On the interactional ecology of objects 3
  6. Part A. Objects as situated resources
  7. Organising and sequencing
  8. The order of ordering 31
  9. Initiating activity shifts through use of appraisal forms as material objects during performance appraisal interviews 57
  10. “I’ll just see what you had before” 79
  11. Participating and involving
  12. Objects as tools for talk 101
  13. Photo sharing as a joint activity between an aphasic speaker and others 125
  14. Organising the soundscape 145
  15. Cultivating objects in interaction 169
  16. Part B. Objects as practical accomplishments
  17. Shaping and creating
  18. Cooking instructions and the shaping of things in the kitchen 199
  19. To follow the materials 227
  20. Having a ball 249
  21. Experiencing and identifying
  22. Establishing joint orientation towards commercial objects in a self-service store 271
  23. Artworks as touchable objects 295
  24. Incidental and essential objects in interaction 319
  25. Envisioning the plan in interaction 339
  26. Instructed objects 357
  27. Epilogue
  28. Trajectories of the object in interaction 381
  29. Person index 389
  30. Subject index 391
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