Conversational writing Conversational writing Skills: conversational writing technique Concepts: the growing role of conversational writing, JCR Licklider, the formal nature of conversational writing, synchronous versus asynchronous applications Much of our writing on the Internet takes the form of conversations. We’ll informally analyze an effective email conversation, asking what makes it good. Hopefully being aware of what makes a conversation effective will improve our conversational writing. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. We’ll also distinguish between synchronous and asynchronous applications and mention the role of JCR Licklider, a leader in early research on both the personal computer and the Internet. We tend to take Internet conversations for granted, and to be rushed and sloppy. I hope this presentation will improve the quality of your Internet conversations. Where does this topic fit? Where does this topic fit? • Internet concepts – Applications – Technology – Implications • Internet skills – Application development – Content creation (text) – User skills The presentation deals with the creation of text content. We do a lot of conversational writing online. Conversation writing at a work environment. Here are some examples of Internet conversation. Conversation examples • An email conversation with an individual • An email conversation with a group of people on a list server • A conversation with a group of people on a threaded discussion forum • A comment on a blog post • An online chat Conversational writing at work Writing ability is the most important thing Jason Fried looks for in hiring employees. Professional conversation is moving away from talk to • email • chat • instant messaging • wiki and blog comments • Twitter @messages • Fried’s program Basecamp • etc. You’ve surely had an email conversation, and probably several or even all of the others, but may not have thought about the process. We’ll ask what makes an effective conversation in this presentation, but first, let’s hear an example of the ways conversation is used at work. At 37 Signals, Jason Fried’s software company, email, instant messaging and threaded discussion are used in place of talk. Miscommunication wastes time and causes mistakes. Pause and listen to this short clip from a talk Fried gave. He speaks of the importance of hiring people who can write well and the ways in which writing is replacing talk in business communication. JCR Licklider envisioned and arranged government funding for the development of personal computers and the Internet. He foresaw conversational writing. J. C. R. Licklider Fried was not the first to understand the importance of online conversation. JCR Licklider deserves much of the credit for the invention and development of both the personal computer and the Internet. Licklider and Taylor, The Computer as a Communication Device, 1968. He foresaw the importance of computer networks and personal computers, and was instrumental in funding the early research that led to both. This illustration is from a 1968 paper in which he and co-author Bob Taylor described the online conversations we would have one day. The paper is worth reading today even though it was written long before the Internet began.. Licklider was a visionary to whom we owe a great debt. Example of an effective email conversation An effective email conversation Let’s look at an example of an effective email conversation. Would you like to have lunch today? > Would you like to have lunch today? Yes, what time and where? > Yes, what time and where? How about noon at Felippe’s? Pause and read it over -- what do you think made it effective? Noon is great --- where is Felippe’s? Felippe’s is near Union station --- here is a link: http:// … Great -- I will meet you there at noon. OK Why it was effective It’s effective because • The conversation was focused and stayed on topic. • They quoted each other in replies to stay focused and to let the other person know they were being heard. • No statements or queries were ignored. • The conversation came to a shared agreement. • Both parties felt the conversation was ended, and there were no loose ends. One reason the conversation succeeded is that the participants quoted each other’s previous messages as a reminder of the context. Quoting is necessary because the person you are talking to may be involved in many conversations. It also lets them know you’re reading carefully and paying attention to what they are saying. No statements or queries were ignored – there were no loose ends when the conversation ended. The participants came to a shared agreement. Winograd and Flores analyzed conversations formally. Formal analysis of conversations • Request for action: a request or offer which is subsequently confirmed or dropped • Request for clarification: obtaining more information about something said earlier or in a prior conversation • Creating possibilities: creating ideas and selecting one or more for future discussion Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores developed a system for analyzing conversations in the 1980s when the Internet and email were just beginning to catch on. They came up with four kinds of statements -- requests for action or for clarification and statements for creating possibilities and for orientation. • Orientation: exchanging information about themselves or a situation They believed that no statement should be ignored. For example, if one person requests an action, the other must respond, and, if the offer is accepted, they must agree on a completion date. Winograd and Flores developed a software package that forced users to make formal commitments. It didn’t catch on, but they focused our attention on the nature of conversations. Formal analysis of our lunch date conversation Formal analysis Would you like to have lunch today? (commitment request) > Would you like to have lunch today? Yes, what time and where? (confirmation and clarification request) > Yes, what time and where? How about noon at Felippe’s? (offer a possibility or confirmation) Noon is great --- where is Felippe’s? (confirmation and clarification request) > Noon is great --- where is Felippe’s? Near Union station --- here is a link: http:// … Great -- I will meet you there at noon. OK Classifying conversations – are they synchronous or asynchronous? Are the participants in the same place or different places? (clarification) This how Winograd and Flores would have seen our lunch-date conversation. I don’t expect you to analyze every conversation in these terms, but thinking about them will hopefully improve your writing and communication. (confirmation) (confirmation) Conversation classification Same time Same place Shared screen in classroom Different place Online chat session Different time Our lunch-date conversation used email, but there are other forms of Internet conversation. We can classify them as to whether all participants must be present at the same time and whether they can be at different places during the conversation. Email, blog comments, threaded discussion If the participants must all be online at the same time, we say the application is synchronous. If they can contribute at different times, it is asynchronous, not synchronized. For example, email conversations are asynchronous. Perhaps you read your email only once a day, and reply to any pending messages at that time. Similarly, you can still comment on a blog post long after it was published. Conversational writing tips Conversational writing tips • Think about the purpose of the conversation. • Quote previous statements when appropriate. We’ve seen the importance of Internet conversation, analyzed a successful example, and learned to differentiate between synchronous and asynchronous applications. • Reply to all questions or requests for information – no loose ends. • Respond (positively or negatively) to all requests for a commitment, and honor commitments or deadlines you agree to. • Read carefully before replying. • If time allows, set your reply aside before re-reading and sending it. Better yet, have someone else read it. Self-study questions Questions 1. We are covering three types of writing that are common on the Internet. Conversational writing is one – what are the other two? 2. Which Internet conversation applications are synchronous? 3. Which Internet conversation applications have you used? Did you use them in school, at work or in your personal life? 4. Have you had an Internet conversation with a stranger? 5. Are you reluctant to post a comment on a blog or ask a question on an email list? If so, what do you think stops you? 6. Google J. C. R. Licklider and describe his role in funding the research leading to the personal computer and Internet. Links Links Talk by Jason Fried: http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail471.html Licklider and Taylor, The Computer as a Communication Device, reprinted from Science and Technology, April 1968: http://memex.org/licklider.pdf Winograd, Terry, A Language/Action Perspective on the Design of Cooperative Work, Human-Computer Interaction 3:1 (1987-88), 3-30. http://hci.stanford.edu/winograd/papers/language-action.html J. C. R. Licklider, Man-Computer Symbiosis January 1992 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing , Volume 14 Issue 1 Publisher: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=612400.612433&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID= 58142406&CFTOKEN=50207631 These conversational writing tips summarize what we’ve seen.