Towards a Framework for Video Mediated "Cooper-action". Discourse Practices, Bonding and Distance in Synchronous and Asynchronous Digital Video Spaces

In this chapter, we are interested in the many facets of mediation in video contexts. We will explore mediated discourse and action (Scollon 2001; Wertsch 1993) within a framework that investigates patterns of what we define as Cooper-Action, a label that tries to capture agency and action that are ingrained in multimodal cooperative meaning making. The Cooper-Action framework thus goes beyond the traditional notion of communicative cooperation in linguistics (Grice 1975; Sperber and Wilson 1996; see also Cameron 2001) in that it investigates agency and action within a wider repertoire of resources, where none of these is prioritized, but analyzed in combination. Our analysis of Skype video calls will consider how students collaboratively organized different resources and modes, such as speech, text-chat writing, gaze, proxemics and kinesics patterns and visuals, to facilitate communication, with a focus on bonding and/or distance in livestreamed interactions. Conversely, our examination of fanvids will aim at understanding which strategies were planned and adopted by students to co-construct bonding and/or distance with the relevant communities of practice and online affinity spaces, for example by identifying multimodal contextualization strategies. These may include how the fanvid is produced to fit in the discursive practices expected to be operationalized by the relevant fan communities in terms of editing, remixing, mashing up, etc., as well as seeing how the fanvid is materially and semiotically incorporated in the video-sharing platform (i.e. YouTube) by means of contextualization procedures. By integrating our analysis and reflections on two different video genres and textualities, we wish to contribute to the debate within multimodal approaches to semiosis of communication in the context of video-mediated discursive practices.