Technologies to Participate _ Abstract Panel &Talks
Panel description:
Technologies to participate – the role of material objects in communication impairment.
Organisers: Antonia Krummheuer, Aalborg University, Denmark & Gitte Rasmussen, University of
Southern Denmark
In the recent years ethnomethodological (EM) and conversation analytical (CA) studies successfully
developed into the area of communication impairment. Already 1994 Goode and 1995 Goodwin
enriched the traditional psychological and cognitive perspective on communication impairment as a
cognitive and biological defect within the individual with a perspective on the interactive
management of communication disorders in situated interaction with others (see also Goodwin
2003).
Parallel the use of video recordings enabled EM and CA analytical studies, which had otherwise
focused primarily on talk, to analyse in more detail all resources that mediate meaning, such as
environmental structures, bodies and material objects (Goodwin 2000, Rasmussen et al. 2014).
Within communication impairment material objects often play a central role as verbal
communication is impaired. Goodwin (1995) highlights how in the interaction with an aphasic
several resources are used to co-construct meaning with the other participants. Goode (1994)
describes how his bodily experience of feeding a blind-deaf girl with a spoon enabled him to
understand how to communicate with her. In the area of augmented alternative communication
several conversation analytical studies show how technologies such as booklets or computer
technologies are used to enable persons with communication impairment to communicate (Clarke &
Wilkinson 2007; Sigurd Pilesjö & Rasmussen 2011).
Therefore, this panel discusses the role of material objects (ranging from simple artefacts to
interactive technologies) in the interactive management of communication disorders. The discussion
will be based on video-recordings that highlight the situated and multimodal interplay of the different
recourses.
Aspects that will be discussed are:
 The multimodal and situated interplay of bodies, technologies, knowledge and
communication in communication disorders
 The role of technologies in the interactional management of turn-construction, sequentiality
and temporality
 How do technologies enable participation and understanding within communication
disorders?
 The role technologies play within the situational context and the participation framework of
an interaction
 How technologies can be used to engage in guiding sessions with the practitioners?
The panel consist of two time slots of 90 minutes with 7 presenters. Each presenter has 20 minutes
for presentation and 5 minutes for discussion.
References:
Clarke, M. and Wilkinson, R. (2008). Interaction between children with cerebral palsy and their
peers 1: Organizing and understanding VOCA use. Augmentative and Alternative Communication,
23(4), 336-348.
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Technologies to Participate _ Abstract Panel &Talks
Goode, D. (1994), A World Without Words. The Social Construction of Children Born Deaf and
Blind. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Goodwin, C. (1995). Co-constructing meaning in conversations with an aphasic man. Research on
Language and Social Interaction 28(3), 233-260.
Goodwin, C. (2000). Action and Embodiement within Situated Human Interaction. Journal of
Pragmatics, 32, 1489-1522.
Goodwin, C. (Ed.) (2003), Conversation and Brain Damage. USA: Oxford University Press.
Rasmussen, G., Hazel, S. and Mortensen, K. (2014), A body of resources- CA studies of social
conduct. Journal of Pragmatics, Special Issue, 64.
Sigurd Pilesjö, M. and Rasmussen, G. (2011), Exploring interaction between a non-speaking boy
using aided augmentative and alternative communication and his everyday communication partners:
features of turn organization and turn design. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication
Disorders 4(2), 273-298.
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