Opening the Black Box
OPENING THE BLACK BOX Identification and location in mobile telephone conversations
During their mobile telephone conversations users sometimes locate themselves, either of their own accord or at their interlocutor's request. Based on audio records of natural conversations, this article studies location practices in mobile phone calls. The author first distinguishes several types of location, depending on the positioning in the exchange. He then presents an analysis of location practices in the opening and closing of conversations, by showing how they deal with two different problems: managing the caller's recognizability and dealing with the interlocutor's availability. Finally, he shows that in order to understand multiple locations produced in contexts of coordination or remote guiding, it is necessary to locate conversations themselves in series of interactions.