Purchase of Transcription Software, Server Upgrade, and Computer Workstations for Advanced Video Analysis of Discourse

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With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Joel Kuipers will purchase a computer based system to facilitate the analysis of discourse. The system integrates audio and visual data and therefore allows researchers to examine not only spoken language per se but also the crucial role that gestures and facial expressions play in human communication. The instrumentation includes 8 Power Mac 8500 AV computer workstations, vPrism software which permits full-screen, real time digital video to be linked with transcriptions and annotations of that data on the same computer screen and permits key word searches on transcribed words. An Apple Macintosh Power 8500 AV will also be purchased to run the vPrism software. This system will be employed by multiple departments, including Anthropology and Linguistics to pursue a number of projects. These include study of topic changes in Indonesian meetings, the comparative analysis of discursive changes over time, interaction of Zairian pygmies with villages and foreigners and the analysis of referential communication in aphasia. The enhanced retrieval and analysis capabilities will permit new standards of ethnographic and linguistic documentation and reveal the richly interactional and communicative aspects of human behavior. The instrumentation will be extensively used for instructional purposes and have a significant impact on both undergraduate and graduate education.