'As you said to me I said to them': Reported speech and the multi-vocal nature of collaborative design practice

This paper focuses on design and reported speech (talk where a speaker quotes another), to outline how a user of a building employs reported speech to represent the comments of other users to an architect. By analyzing talk from a design meeting, the complex role of the 'user/designer representative' is delineated and the uses of reported talk to provide evidence, deflect decision-making, and deliver assessments are described. Also considered is how 'face' (positive personal/social regard) is managed in relation to reported speech. This paper offers a close analysis of design-based interaction and a reflection on the importance of hearing users - both who are present and who are absent but spoken for - in situated contexts of design practice. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.