Pirkko Liisa Raudaskoski

Repair Work in Human-Computer Interaction: A Conversation Analytic Perspective

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses repair in different areas of the artificial intelligence (AI) approach to human–computer interaction (HCI) and the approach taken in conversation analysis (CA). The repair is seen as unwanted as the smooth progress of the interaction has been disturbed and communication has broken down. This is the view that is taken by most AI and HCI researchers for repair work. CA is an interpretative approach to studying conversational phenomena with no predefined model for conversation. In CA, repair is essential for successful human communication and is considered as one of the resources for managing meaning in conversation. Within this perspective, repair becomes a condition, not a hindrance, for a successful conversation. Thus, CA researchers concentrate on the patterns of the conversation sequences which handle misunderstanding while HCI researchers are more concerned about the cause of miscommunication, looking at natural conversations to discover types of trouble sources. If conversation involves achieving understanding then repair work is an essential part of the apparatus, enabling the participants to check their interpretations or correct the other persons interpretations. The importance of evaluation to the design of human–computer interfaces is acknowledged by HCI researchers. It is necessary to study not only how people communicate between themselves, but also the specific nature of human–computer communication and the pressures of communication. Systems have to be designed in cycles where evaluation and re-implementation are as important to the final artifact as the original design.Publisher Summary This chapter discusses repair in different areas of the artificial intelligence (AI) approach to human–computer interaction (HCI) and the approach taken in conversation analysis (CA). The repair is seen as unwanted as the smooth progress of the interaction has been disturbed and communication has broken down. This is the view that is taken by most AI and HCI researchers for repair work. CA is an interpretative approach to studying conversational phenomena with no predefined model for conversation. In CA, repair is essential for successful human communication and is considered as one of the resources for managing meaning in conversation. Within this perspective, repair becomes a condition, not a hindrance, for a successful conversation. Thus, CA researchers concentrate on the patterns of the conversation sequences which handle misunderstanding while HCI researchers are more concerned about the cause of miscommunication, looking at natural conversations to discover types of trouble sources. If conversation involves achieving understanding then repair work is an essential part of the apparatus, enabling the participants to check their interpretations or correct the other persons interpretations. The importance of evaluation to the design of human–computer interfaces is acknowledged by HCI researchers. It is necessary to study not only how people communicate between themselves, but also the specific nature of human–computer communication and the pressures of communication. Systems have to be designed in cycles where evaluation and re-implementation are as important to the final artifact as the original design.

When lives meet live: categorization work in a reality TV show and "experience work" in two home audiences

Abstract This paper explores the cultural and political implications of some “seen but unnoticed” aspects of a TV program and its viewing. Both practices are approached as social interaction in a changing visual space. A close multimodal analysis is undertaken of an extract from a live Danish reality TV show Robinson Ekspeditionen 2000 and its two receptions. The extract was selected on the basis of what at first looked like a coinciding interpretative practice in two widely different audiences, first, an elderly couple in their living room, and second, four young men watching the same episode together. In the extract, the host interviews “judges” in the last episode of that years series. The analysis shows how the hosts talk, geared toward eliciting audience reactions, produces certain contrastive categorizations and positions. In both audiences, the hosts categorization of a participant was met with an amused repetition of what was just seen and heard. The paper demonstrates why the two similar repeats actually show differing orientations to the formulation on the basis of different (life) experiences. The analysis of the extracts is used to discuss, with a combination of process-oriented theorization, the episodes in relation to the political atmosphere in Denmark anno 2000.

Participating with limited communication means: Conversation analytical perspectives on the interactional management of participation structures

In the following, participation with limited communication means is discussed from an ethnomethodological and conversation analytical (CA) perspective. This perspective establishes a frame for the different contributions to the special issue at hand. The special issue provides a summary of reflections started and research results discussed in an exploratory workshop series on ‘Communicative impairment in interaction. A Nordic perspective on the social organization of disordered talk’, funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) in 2014 (Grant number: 229915/ F10). The articles are gathered on the basis of two goals. First, we have a methodological interest in CA studies on communication disorders and aim to highlight their impact for clinical practice. We find that an emphasis on CA may contribute to shifting the prevailing research focus on communication disorders from a cognitive impairment perspective to the interactional management of joint activities, which also includes the physical and organisational environments in which persons with limited communication means participate. Second, this special issue derived from an attempt to get an overview of existing CA research on communication impairment in the Nordic countries of Europe, where there is currently a strong and diverse research agenda developing within the field of CA and communication impairment. It should be noted, however, that the collection of articles in this special issue is not exhaustive, and there are many more Nordic researchers working on communication impairment from a CA perspective. However, the contributions to this special issue are representative for the kind of work that is currently going on, and is on the rise.

Beyond Words: Progressive design for/with people with severe brain injury

ISSN: (Print) 1448-7136 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rfdp20 Beyond Words: Progressive Design for/with People with Severe Brain Injury Pirkko Raudaskoski To cite this article: Pirkko Raudaskoski (2012) Beyond Words: Progressive Design for/with People with Severe Brain Injury, Design Philosophy Papers, 10:1, 53-61 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/089279312X13968781797599

Player collaboration in the explorative sound environment ToneInk

In the present paper, ToneInk, a prototype of a music-based play scenario that investigates player collaboration, is introduced. ToneInk is an explorative sound environment that differs from the majority of music-based games in that players can collaborate and be creative in the way they express themselves through melody and rhythm. The paper provides player interaction and navigation results and demonstrates how various affordances in the ToneInk design iterations make it hard or possible for players to engage with the system and with each other. From observations it was clear that players lost mutual awareness, and in general were more passive when they needed to monitor a screen interface that supported the sound environment. Player collaboration was strongest when players negotiated rhythm, while the negotiation of melody was temporally offset and consisted of long individual explorations.

Trying-out a walking help: Participation through situated learning in the adjustment and assessment of welfare technology

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the discussion of how people with limited communication means become active participants in the assessment of welfare technologies. The article combines ethnomethodology with insights from Science and Technology Studies and emphasises the situated and multimodal practices that constitute the trial as a joint activity in which the impaired person becomes a competent participant and independent walker. The analysis is based on video recordings from a case study in which a person with brain injury is trying out a new type of walking help. The trial is understood as a situated learning process in which the participants prepare, enact and assess the performance of the technology-supported walking. The article distinguishes two iterative phases in which the impaired person is constituted as an independent walker: the adjustment and assessment of a body–device relation and, further, the performance and assessment of the activity the user can perform.

How two players negotiate rhythm in a shared rhythm game

In a design and working prototype of a shared music interface eleven teams of two people were to collaborate about filling in holes with tones and beats in an evolving ground rhythm. The hypothesis was that users would tune into each other and have sections of characteristic rhythmical relationships that related to the ground rhythm. Results from interaction data show that teams did find a mutual rhythm, and that they were able to keep this rhythm for a while and/or over several small periods. Results also showed that two players engaged in very specific rhythmical relationships that differed from each other. Video analysis of user interaction shines light upon how users engaged in a rhythmical relationship, and interviews give information about the user experience in terms of the game play and user collaboration. Based on the findings in this paper we propose design guidelines for collaborative rhythmical game play.