25 02 2003 @1845 'A Rersarcher' dropped into the Notschool chat room and asked "Dus nyone have a Lacie drive?" I responded saying I did and 'A Researcher' invited me into a private chat where the problem was identified; "A resarcher" had been given an external hard drive but the Mac wouldnt recognise it, I realised it was prob formated for Windows and at this point my internet connection terminated and I was unable to save the chat. I reconnected and below is a transcript of the resulting synchronous chat. Colour has been used to identify seperate conversation threads where they overlap. Pauses in conversation of more than 5 secs are shown in green e.g. (20 sec gap)

shortcut lexicon

:) and : - )= Smile - happy face

O:) = Oops!!- shocked face

:D = Yeehaaa -happy face

:P = Be envious - tongue hanging out

lol = loads of laughter

ty = Thank you

tc = take care

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Participants: A Researcher
Ian Tindal

Ian Tindal has joined the chat.
1.Ian Tindal: sorry I am on isdn and my isp cut me off after two hours
2.you might need to use disk utility to initialise the lacie - Mac HD > applications> utilities> disk 3.utility
4.A Researcher: LOL!
5.A Researcher: u get that to
6.A Researcher: its a real bitch aint it
7.A Researcher: i ment B**** O:)
8.Ian Tindal: X should recognise it - I have not installed the lacie software on this laptop and it 9.works fine - I use the lacie as my main memory and the laptop as my back up so lacie is on all the 10.time and works fine
11.A Researcher: ok great
12.Ian Tindal: yup it always cuts when something important comes up or just before the end of a 13.long download
14.Ian Tindal: A Researcher: i ment B**** O:)...nah you meant bitch ..no prob
15.A Researcher: cool
16.(10 sec gap)
17.A Researcher: its working
18.Ian Tindal: when using disk utility make sure ...really sure you re initialising the right disk : -)
19.Ian Tindal: nice one
20.A Researcher: its in ms-dos
21.A Researcher: how do i change it?
22.Ian Tindal: oh fun
23.Ian Tindal: use disk utility to erase it and reinitialise as mac format
24.A Researcher: ok
25.(15 sec gap)
26.Ian Tindal: on the erase tab you will see a drop down menu with disk format options
27.A Researcher: yea
28.Ian Tindal: doh volume format oh well
29.Ian Tindal: mac extended is best if it is there
30.A Researcher: i whiped it (wiped it )
31.Ian Tindal: cool
32.A Researcher: still the same
33.Ian Tindal: aggghh
34.Ian Tindal: not cool
35.A Researcher: hang on
36.Ian Tindal: it should take more than a few minutes to wipe totally
37.A Researcher: hfs+
38.A Researcher: is that wot its ment to be
39.A Researcher: ?
40.A Researcher: it says not mounted as well
41.Ian Tindal: dunno where does it sat hfs+ (sat = say)
42.A Researcher: thats the format its in
43.Ian Tindal: it has not erased it then
44.Ian Tindal: you should select the disk in the left side of the disk utility window then from the 45.erase tab select mac extended format, then hit the erase button
46.A Researcher: ok i will do it again
47.(20 sec gap)
48.A Researcher: ah ha
49.Ian Tindal: if it does not work you could try using the partition tab
50.Ian Tindal: oh ah ha sounds good
51.(15 sec gap)
52.A Researcher: U RULE
53.A Researcher: :D
54.A Researcher: it LIVES!
55.Ian Tindal: k go tell the world that then : -)
56.A Researcher: lol
57.Ian Tindal: yeeeha more memory
58.Ian Tindal: what size is the lacie
59.(10 sec gap)
60.A Researcher: 27.95.gb
61.A Researcher: :P
62.Ian Tindal: same as mine it is just about a really great size to be
63.Ian Tindal: no one should be without one - specially when they play mean thrashy guitar a lot
64.A Researcher: lol
65.A Researcher: i rock
66.A Researcher: on guitar
67.Ian Tindal: and if it has the blue rubbery stuff around it you can drop it down stairs with no ill 68.effects lol but dont try it
69.A Researcher: they told me lol
70.Ian Tindal: u do I always get new resarchers to go check out your recordings when we loook at 71.the music site on induction days
72.A Researcher: ty
73.Ian Tindal: and turn the vol up first - annoys the mentors a bit tho lol
74.A Researcher: lol
75.A Researcher: i tested it and it works
76.A Researcher: osx2 sone :)
77.Ian Tindal: hey I got to go do some stuff, great to chat
78.A Researcher: yea thanks :)
79.A Researcher: bye
80.Ian Tindal: tc

Observations

Threads of conversation overlap; at times two interlaced conversations are happening at once, this is very common and can be either a sub text or seperate text to the main thread. for example lines 4 - 7 relate to line 1 and were contributed while I was typing lines 8 - 10 which are a continuation of lines 2-3.

In this fairly typical case; spelling is a mix of fairly plain english and optimised text, it also includes many typos most due to speed of typing. I have often sensed a sense of urgency when there is a problem to be solved or witticisms being exchanged, "correct spelling" is often not the burning issue; information exchance is what matters, there is a sense that typing quickly is a more efficient use of time than typing slowly with correct syntax, spelling, punctuation etc. Pausing for reflection for even a few moments does often result in annotation that is prompting more speed; examples taken from other chats include:

1. "...and?"
2. "U still there?"
3. "FFS" ( ffs = for fucks sake..upper case used to emphasise impatience in this case)
4. "wtfru" (where the fuck are you)

Too much time spent reflecting on answers can result in researchers giving up and leaving the chat. If it takes 30 secs to think what to write and how to write it, then an additional 30 secs to write and post it the other participant is likely to be getting bored and / or wondering what is happening during 60 secs of seeing no further annotation.

The first line of the chat below exemplifies what in asynchronous communications would be regarded as weak or poor comunications skills it has; poor syntax, poor spelling and no punctuation yet the subsequent lines show that the information was understood. I was trapped by my perception of the importance of keeping up a flow of words arising from prior experiences where impatience became a barrier if I paused for reflection. The initial sentence is first posted as an unfinished sentence and then the end added; this is a common technique often used to reduce waiting time and let the other participant know that text is on its way. This chat was a follow up to the La Cie chat and took place 25 02 2003 @1703

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Participants: A Researcher
Ian Tindal

Ian Tindal has joined the chat.

Ian Tindal: if you drag the settings file onto your external drive when you reinstall FC swap it for the new one or drag the contents in and when yougo to the login thing your settings
Ian Tindal: should be ther again
A Researcher: good point
A Researcher: :)
Ian Tindal: did that make sense ? you need to keep the old settings folder
A Researcher: yea
A Researcher: and copy it in to the new one
Ian Tindal: yup
A Researcher: great