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.