Multimodal Practices to Sustain Multiactivity When Live Streaming

Live streaming with mobile phones is a common practice where streamers and viewers use various resources for interaction. Based on the method of multimodal conversation analysis, we examine recordings of a clay sculptor's live streams on a Chinese social app. We address how the streamer's dual involvements—doing the sculpture work and responding to viewers' messages—are achieved moment-by-moment. We will demonstrate how the streamer uses multiple resources, such as language, body torque, facial expressions, eye gaze, phone adjustment, and the "disrupted turn adjacency" feature of viewers' messages, to achieve multiactivity by holding two intersecting courses of action, and how he may use live streaming to achieve self-exposure, chat, and virtual intimacy during his routine work.