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In:Multiactivity in Social Interaction: Beyond multitasking
Edited by Pentti Haddington, Tiina Keisanen, Lorenza Mondada and Maurice Nevile
[Not in series 187] 2014
► pp. 167–190

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Attending to a summons and putting other activities ‘on hold’

Multiactivity as a recognisable interactional accomplishment

 | Telecom ParisTech
 | Telecom ParisTech
Published online: 4 September 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/z.187.06lic
Trying to grasp multi-activity within a praxeological perspective, we focus on a set of situations in which participants experiencing some summoning event, such as a phone ring, recognisably ‘put on hold’ some other involvement, and demonstrably orient towards the current relevance of two or more streams of activity. We will endeavour to show (a) the kind of collaborative work through which such a perceptible occurrence is turned into a recognisable event with sequential implications; (b) how a course of action is witnessably put on hold for the recipient of the summons to attend it; (c) how such an accomplishment rests on a variety of interactional devices, through the use of which two streams of action are shaped as recognisable, comparable and competing distinct projects.
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