The emergence of the identity of a fictional expert advice-giver in an American Internet advice column

Abstract

This paper is a contribution to research on the expression of expert advicegiving (e.g., Heritage and Sefi 1992;Silverman et al. 1992). We present a linguistic analysis of the ways in which the identity of the fictional expert advisor Lucy emerges in an Internet advice column run by professional health educators as part of a university health service. In discourseanalytical close readings of 280 question-answer records, we identify and discuss seven recurring strategies (the advisor's name, self-reference and use of address terms; expert information-giving; giving options and making readers think; the choice of vocabulary; o¤ering opinions; the use of empathy; the display of humor), which together contribute to Lucy's voice as an expert advice-giver if the readers repeatedly access the question-answer exchanges. This emerging identity is in line with the site's mission to provide information designed to facilitate independent and responsible decision processes and corresponds to an ideal of nondirectiveness, as also identified in the literature on other advisory settings (He 1994;Sarangi and Clarke 2002;Vehviläinen 2003). The constructed identity of Lucy thus makes 'Lucy Answers' an attractive site to (re)turn to for advice and complements the other services provided by the health educators.

Polite behavior within relational work: The discursive approach to politeness

“…In Locher (2006), I studied 280 of these letters in detail by looking at how they are composed, how exactly advice is given in the response letters and how relational work comes into play. Mitigation was expected to play an important role since advice-giving is generally understood to be face-threatening in an Anglo-Western context.…”

Seeking out very like-minded others: exploring trust and advice issues in an online health support group

“…In general the style of the community is to be non directive in its approach to advice giving. In that way this group belongs to an expert health advice discourse that exists in written form (Locher & Hoffmann, 2006) and in some offline medical situations, for example e.g. antenatal screening and testing (Williams, Alderson & Farsides, 2002).…”

The Functions of Narrative Passages in Three Written Online Health Contexts

“…For example, online, professional health campaigns on antismoking wish to persuade their readers to quit and therefore have an interest in appearing knowledgeable yet not patronizing. This dilemma of finding the appropriate voice for a particular target group has also been described in Locher's (2006Locher's ( , 2010Locher and Hoffmann 2006) work on a professional health advice column targeting US college students. The fictional advisor Lucy uses a number of strategies -among them humor and the display of expert knowledge -to appear professional and approachable at the same time.…”