Skype Connections and the Gaze of Friendship and Family MSR and Skype are pleased to invite extended abstracts for a mini academic conference/workshop on all aspects of interaction in video-mediated communications in private and domestic life. See here for further details.<http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/events/scgff/> It will be held on June 3rd and 4th 2014 at MSR Cambridge, England. Chairs: Richard Harper, Microsoft Research Cambridge; Christian Licoppe, Telecom ParisTech, Paris; Rod Watson, Institut Marcel Mauss, Paris. This is the first call for participation (January 20th 2014). Extended abstracts (of up to 600 words excluding title and affiliation) should report theoretical and empirical research into the interactional order of video calling in domestic and personal life. Ethnomethodological and conversation analytic perspectives are particularly welcomed on such things as: * the relationship between the sequential patterns of communication and the medium of Skype-type video connections in the social and family sphere; * the methods and patterns of recipient design and repair within such communications; * the properties and shape of topic management (e.g., news announcements and personal disclosures); * the character and role of embodiment and embodied interaction in such communications; * the salience of the visual and 'visual availability'; * the relation between individual instances of Skype-type communications and the larger activity assemblies of which they are a part - whether it be a routine 'catch-up' call within friendship or a special occasion like a dinner or birthday celebration for a distributed family. These are of course not exclusive and other topics are welcome. There will be a preference for wholly original work, though research previously presented of an extremely high quality may be considered. The conference will be framed by keynote addresses by leaders in the field of interaction analysis, CA and ethnomethodology. Announcement of these will be made shortly. A selection of papers from the conference will be prepared for a Special Issue of Pragmatics, the Journal of the International Pragmatics Association<http://www.worldcat.org/title/pragmatics-quarterly-publication-of-the-international-pragmatics-association/oclc/24202578>. Selection will be made by the conference chairs and reviewing panel. Some support for researchers seeking to attend the event is available. Attendance at the conference is free and will include attendance at a gala dinner in a Cambridge College. For informal enquiries about the topics and format of the event, please contact Richard Harper<http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/r.harper/> (r.harper@microsoft.com<mailto:r.harper@microsoft.com>). To attend (as speaker or auditor), email scgff@microsoft.com<mailto:scgff@microsoft.com>