Citation

Haddington P, Rauniomaa M. Hum. Commun. Res. 2011; 37(2): 223-254.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, International Communication Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01400.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article investigates mobile phone calls initiated or received by drivers and passengers in cars and focuses on the participants' actions before the telephone conversation proper. Drawing on video-recorded data of real driving situations, and building on conversation analysis and multimodal interaction analysis, this article discusses how participants temporally and sequentially coordinate situations that require multitasking, that is, use a phone while on the move. This article shows how participants draw on the current social-interactional, material context to handle the call as relevant at that point and how they, through their vocal and bodily conduct, manage the prebeginning as a collaborative effort. The findings have relevance for research both on driving and on human–human and human–technology interaction.