“Like Here You Can See”

Abstract

This article studies data from civilian crisis management training to investigate how participants use smartphones to construct participation in team interaction during a task. Previous research discusses the effects of smartphone use in co-present interaction, and its use may have advantages and disadvantages to the production of meaningful, effective interaction. Using ethnomethodological conversation analysis, this study examines participants’ private smartphone use as well as their shared smartphone showings. The analysis demonstrates the complexity and fluidity of smartphone use in a multiparty co-present setting, illustrating the collaborative nature of the showing, and showcasing how the smartphone use furthers the participants’ shared understanding as well as decision-making. The analysis focuses on the the beginning, middle, and end stages of the smartphone use. Findings show that both the smartphone user and their co-participants utilize a rich array of multimodal resources to construct interaction during the private activity and the shared showing. The data demonstrates how participants aptly utilize their smartphones for the benefit of the interaction and present task.