Assignment #1, a bit late

The division of joint action into entry, body, and exit appears a bit arbitrary, but it is certainly not without merit. Any analysis of such a construct is more or less fair game, as it is one that exists only in the mind of an analyst, and if it serves to capture or illustrate a particular aspect of joint actions in an illuminating fashion, then it is justified.

IRC (Internet relay chat) is a protocol for chat that provides for one-on-one and group discussion in rooms, which are commonly called "channels." It is a mediated setting that allows for some unique discussion behaviors, as popular rooms on large networks will have in excess of one thousand users logged on simultaneously. Many will be sitting idle, but if even a small fraction of them is engaged in discussion, there is a great deal of cross-talk. In many of the
channels on Freenode, a network centered around discussion on open source and free software projects, there exist a number of large channels whose primary purpose is to help users of a particular project to troubleshoot problems they encounter. Conversations weave through each other with participants dropping in and out. There are markers that signify beginnings and ends to helping an individual with a particular problem, but passive listeners are free to jump into an ongoing conversation at any time and are just as free to drop out again. Typical transcripts include exchanges such as:

-!- A (user@hostname) has joined #gentoo
<A> i cannot emerge gcc 5.3 -- it shows up in portage but can't
    find the tarball anywhere when i try to emerge it
<B> what you should do is check it out from CVS
<C> A:  when was the last time you did an 'emerge sync'?
<A> hello can anyone help me with this?
<B> A: please read the topic
<B> D: the ebuilds tend to lag behind because the maintainer's lazy;
    i'm trying to take it over so that we aren't stuck with old
    versions
<D> okay
<A> C: last weekend
<C> A: okay, check the URL in the topic. there's a bug in the ebuild,
    that version number is wrong.
<A> thanks, i'll look at it
-!- A (user@hostname) has quit [Default quit message]

Along with issues that are typical to other Internet real-time chat systems, such as replies to comments becoming interleaved with each other, there is the issue of determining who exactly is involved in a conversation. In the above example, A joins a channel with a specific question in mind and asks it. This is considered polite behavior, as the channel is there to field such questions and it is considered a waste to ask if one can ask a question or to give any sort of
introduction. There are already several conversations going on, and the first line subsequent to A's request for help has nothing to do with him. A, in asking his question, is waiting for a response from anyone in the channel. In a crowded channel in which text scrolls steadily, a single line may go unnoticed, so it is common practice to preface comments targeted at a particular individual with their name. Once dialog has been engaged, if there are several comments coming from both participants in rapid succession this name may be dropped, as with B's first comment in the sample transcript, as it is understood between both participants that any comment coming from the other individual will probably be targeted at them.

In discussions such as these, the beginning of any discussion of a technical question is asking the question itself. Dialog may then be pursued between two or more participants as the actual body of the exchange. The primary marker indicating that one is answering another's question is by addressing them directly through use of their name. An actor may be engaged in multiple threads of conversation at a given time, either helping or receiving help from several other actors at once.

The end of an exchange may be signified by words of thanks (or of invective) and is often followed by departure from the channel.