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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. 247–282

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Multimodal participation in simultaneous joint projects

Interpersonal and intrapersonal coordination in paramedic emergency drills

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Published online: 4 September 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/z.187.09dep
This paper analyses paramedic emergency interaction as multi-modal multi-activity. Based on a corpus of video-recordings of emergency drills performed by professional paramedics during advanced training, the focus is on paramedics’ participation in multiple joint projects which become simultaneously relevant. Simultaneity and fast succession of multi-activity does not only characterise work on the team level, but also the work profile of the individual paramedic. Participants have to coordinate their own participation in more than one joint project intra-personally. In the data studied, three patterns of allocating multi-modal resources stood out as routine ways of coordinating participation in two simultaneous projects intra-personally: 1. Talk and hearing vs. manual action monitored by gaze, 2. Talk and hearing vs. gazing (and pointing), 3. Manual action vs. gaze (and talk and hearing).
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