Overview
This document presents Case Study Six from Dr. Terrell Neuage's PhD thesis, submitted to the University of South Australia and archived at the National Library of Australia. The study analyzes a Web3D chat log from February 9, 2000, focusing on conversational dynamics in online chat rooms discussing Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) and X3D technologies.
The complete thesis is available at the University of South Australia.
Chat Log Details
Date: February 9, 2000
Duration: 18:34:02 PST to 20:05:30 PST (1 hour, 31 minutes)
Participants
| Participant | Number of Entries |
|---|---|
| Leonard | 28 |
| web3dADM | 145 |
| brian | 60 |
| justin | 61 |
| pauline | 22 |
| gordon (Web3DCEO) | 117 |
| armani | 8 |
| louis | - |
Chat Log Classification
The chat log entries are classified using the following categories:
- A/ Greetings or salutations
- B/ Statement (open, to no one in particular)
- C/ Statement (to a named or previous speaker)
- D/ Answer (to a named or previous speaker)
- E/ Answer (open, to anyone in the chatroom)
- F/ Question (open, to anyone)
- G/ Question (to a specific or previous speaker)
- ?/ Undetermined or not classifiable
- --- Continuation of a previous entry
- ** Uses abbreviations (e.g., lol) or emoticons
- #/ New thread
Sample Chat Log
Below is a sample of the analyzed chat log, with turn numbers, types, and speaker interactions:
- B/ Leonard: Sort night for me tonight... Gotta take my oldest to scouts
- D/ web3dADM: sort night? ahhhh
- A/ brian: hi all
- B/ justin: my first visit here; what's normal?
- B/ web3dADM: I just got back (as always) from shlepping my son
The full chat log contains 511 entries, detailing discussions on VRML, X3D, and related technologies, with frequent use of emoticons and abbreviations typical of early 2000s online communication.