By Rosario Neyra & Marit Aldrup
(In collaboration with Marina Cantarutti and Rachael Drewery)
Time really flies by when we engage with what we love. So it’s hard to believe that the penultimate day of the 6th International Conference on Conversation Analysis has already come. Once again we’ve been able to follow Day 3 activities from afar with the help of our reporters and eager hashtag users on site. Here’s our roundup of yet another exciting conference day at ICCA 2023.
Plenary
Galina Bolden kicked off the day with a stimulating plenary titled “Correcting others in other-initiated other-repair sequences”. In her talk, Bolden explored the nuanced complexities of correction in conversation, emphasising the intersection of repair and correction, the preferential order of self-correction over other-correction, the two-segment structure of corrections (trouble source rejection + correction), and the orientation to intersubjectivity and normativity as possible participant concerns. Revisiting a well-known phenomenon in social interaction research, the plenary provided “great food for thought”, as delegate Rue Burch aptly puts it.
Figure 1. Galina Bolden giving the plenary speech [Photos by Rue Burch and Jonathan Potter]
Sessions
After this inspiring opening of the third conference day, ICCA 2023 delegates had 6 panels and 3 general sessions to choose from. As far as we can gather from the plethora of tweets, the panels on “Relational dimensions of conversations when death is a relevant matter” (Ekberg & Pino) and “Openings of encounters between strangers in public space” (De Stefani & Mondada) were particularly well-frequented, but we were also provided with some impressions from the panels on “Monitoring and modifying problem behavior in informal interaction” (Küttner, Kornfeld, Mack & Rogowska) and “Touch and affect in health care” (Logren & Ruusuvuori). Unfortunately there wasn’t much coverage on social media of the panels on “Exploring dimensions of action formation” (Kuroshima) and “Responses to news” (Li, Marmorstein & Szczepek Reed), continued from Day 1, though they surely sounded very interesting to us as well. Below we provide a brief synopsis of those panels that were attended by our on-the-ground reporters.
Neatly linking back to the morning plenary, Küttner and colleagues’ panel on “Monitoring and modifying problem behavior in informal interaction” gave a forum for a number of interesting studies on normativity and the interactional management of socially sanctionable behaviour.
Figure 2. Uwe Küttner presenting on (dis)approval-relevant events in the panel on “Monitoring and modifying problem behavior” [Photo by Marina Cantarutti]
De Stefani and Mondada’s panel on “Openings of encounters between strangers in public space” brought us various fascinating papers ranging from hesitant openings (Savic & De Stefani) to dogs approaching strangers (Schneerson). Sam Schirm pointed to Hänggi’s paper on negotiating language choice in public encounters as a highlight of the panel.
Figure 3. Philipp Hänggi presenting on the interactional negotiation of language choice in the panel on “Opening of encounters” [Photo by Danielle Pillet-Shore]
The short but intriguing morning panel “Touch and affect in health care” chimed in nicely with Xiaoting Li’s plenary talk on “The social organization of touch” from Day 2, pointing to the multifacetedness of professional touch (Guo et al.; Mustakallio & Ruusuvuori) and the role of patients’ emotive expressions in medical settings (Logren & Barnes; Sakai). An aspect that clearly stuck out was Guo et al.’s observation that there is a fine line between comforting and controlling touch in medical encounters with distressed patients.
Figure 4. Title slide of Guo et al.’s presentation on touch in paediatric dental encounters in the panel on “Touch and affect in health care” [Photo by Rachel Drewrey]
Continuing from Day 2, Ekberg and Pino’s panel on “Relational dimensions of conversations when death is a relevant matter” provided further insights into various facets of end-of-life discussions with a special focus on palliative care consultations. In the final discussion, Ekberg emphasised the importance of maintaining the network established through the event, pointing to the fact that the panel’s ending is also a promising beginning of further exploration and collaboration in this critical field.
Figure 5. Stuart Ekberg closing the panel on “Relational dimensions of conversations when death is a relevant matter” [Original photo by Rachel Drewrey]
Other activities
Apart from close to 40 talks, Day 3 also had some more interactive sessions to offer. Around lunch time, there was a panel discussion on publishing in CA with Arnulf Deppermann, Leelo Keevallik, Simona Pekarek Doehler, Danielle Pillet-Shore, and Chase Raymond. Betül Çimenli highlights how useful this session was in a tweet, saying, “The moment when you wish a session never ends!” It sounds absolutely fascinating, and we definitely wish we’d been there to soak up all the useful advice!
Figure 6. Chase Raymond, Arnulf Deppermann, Simona Pekarek Doehler, Leelo Keevallik, Danielle Pillet-Shore, and Sam Schirm (from left to right) during the panel discussion on publishing in CA [Photo by Ilana Mushin]
Later on, there was an opportunity to discuss the posters that had been on display throughout the day and to network a bit before the ISCA General Assembly kicked into gear. Several ILEMCA scholars were honoured for their outstanding work: The lifetime achievement awards went to Auli Hakulinen, Doug Maynard and Gene Lerner, whom Heidi Feldman thanks for being “such great mentors”. Elliot Hoey won the best article award for his paper “Waiting to Inhale: On Sniffing in Conversation”. Other awards included Kristina Eiviler for best student paper, Kristella Montiegel for best dissertation, and Lorenza Mondada for book of the year.
Figure 7. Award winner Elliot Hoey with committee chairman Arnulf Deppermann (left) and award winner Lorenza Mondada (right) [Photos by Marina Cantarutti and Heidi Feldman]
And finally, there was the announcement that everyone had been waiting for: ICCA 2026 will be hosted by the University of Alberta, Canada, June 23-29. For us here at the newsroom, 2026 can’t come fast enough… hopefully we’ll be able to see many of you in person then!
Zoom meet-up as an afterword
As the day wound down, the global Zoom meet-up began with Marina strolling about as delegates were filing out. We were happy to greet Lorenza Mondada, Elwys de Stefani, Bogdana Huma, Merran Toerien, and Rebecca Clift.
Once we sat down for a natter, Charles Antaki asked the most important question: How’s the coffee? Marina acknowledged that it’s not too bad for a conference… but that she was still choosing to get her caffeine kick elsewhere.
Figure 8. Snapshot from the global Zoom meet-up [Screenshot by Marina Cantarutti]
After some talk about personal conference highlights, another query by Charles sparked a discussion about current and fading threads in CA. Marina noted action ascription as the conference’s “hot theme”, with research on VR and simulation on the rise. Death, discord and conflict were topics that were also highlighted as popular by both Sam Schirm and Marina. Topics that are still going strong include repair (Bolden) and preference (Pillet-Shore).
Next, Ayeshah Syed raised an important question about (new ways of) data presentation. As cases and recording methods grow more complex, ensuring clarity and adequate recipient design becomes paramount. Virginia Calabria quoted some (potentially controversial?) advice she was once given by Jakub Steensig, namely to prioritise simplicity over completeness in presentations. After all, there’s only so much one can cover in 20 minutes!
Wrapping up, Marina and Sam praised Brisbane’s setting, leaving us envious yet grateful for their shared insights!