Meaning-Making Across Remote Sites: How Delays in Transmission Affect Interaction

Abstract

Distributed organizations increasingly rely on new video-supported communication technologies that may be subject to transmission delays. These delays systematically misalign the feedback one side receives from the other. Through microanalysis of video data from a video-supported meeting in a geographically distributed company, we examine the impact of delay in such communication systems. We specify some ways in which they may subliminally affect communication between remote parties. We illustrate typical kinds of breakdown and conclude with observations about the impact of delays on distributed interaction and the ways in which these impacts can be mediated.