AbstractsComputer Science

This is a thesis about the emerging of an interpersonal relationship between professionals in shipping business in Southeast Asia. The participants are strangers in the same trade and located in different parts of the region but gradually get to know each other and cooperate in business through the use of a computer chatting software. In this study, the opening of conversations of computer mediated communication is investigated with a focus on signs of a developing relationship. The thesis consists of five parts, starting with the introduction, following which is the outline of previous theoretical framework on the topic. The third section is about the data and methodology. It explains the setting of the current data; displays how the empirical material is collected, how the data has been translated and used as analytic resource, and what method that is going to apply in the analysis. The fourth section is the main part of the thesis. Where it discusses extracts of openings of conversations in the current data, analyzes how the participants set up a connection, and shows various ways that they initiate their conversations through CMC in a business setting. In the fifth section of discussion and conclusion, the study in the previous sections is summarized. With detailed analysis of various openings of conversations in the current data, this thesis is aiming to discover the clues that indicate the emerging of a relationship between the participants.