Embodied Communication: Vivid Interaction with History and Literature

PI认为，人机交互的研究正处于巩固具身认知范式的尖端，该范式强调身体现实在意义创造中的作用，而意义构成了我们思想和经验的本质。当我们说话时，我们的头、眼睛、身体、手臂、手和脸都在为交流服务。有大量证据表明，对我们来说，沟通不可能脱离其具体的根源而单独存在。注意的认知和知觉资源（包括视觉和概念）、工作记忆、长期记忆、时间排序、语言过程、触觉、内部生理经验和本体感觉，必须一起考虑，才能理解一个行为对行为者和接受者的意义范围。PI最近提交了一份题为“CRI：体现思维的接口”的提案，通过该提案，他能够获得资金，用于购买探索上述想法所需的设备，但不是用于他设想的与伙伴机构合作的令人兴奋的应用。该SGER提供的补充资金将使PI能够探索体现交互技术对文科领域交流的影响，特别是通过参与者和旅行资金来支持合作项目：(a)与诺福克州立大学历史系Cassandra Newby-Alexander教授和其他正在调查诺福克、朴次茅斯、里士满和彼得堡四个大型城市奴隶中心地下铁网的人；(b)与霍林斯大学英语系的平克尼·本尼迪克特教授合作开展一项试点项目，由两名或两名以上的创意写作专业学生对詹姆斯·乔伊斯的经典短篇小说《阿拉比》进行具体化改编，该小说丰富了具体的环境线索，以梦幻般的叙事风格写成，适合非线性叙事。每个项目将涉及来自合作组织的两名教师和两名学生，以及来自弗吉尼亚理工大学的学生和教师。更广泛的影响：诺福克州立大学是一所HBCU，霍林斯大学是一所女子大学。该项目将为这些合作机构的学生和教师提供一个机会，让他们参与到更广泛的联邦政府资助的研究企业中，同时将使弗吉尼亚理工大学的学生接触到具有不同背景和观点的学生，这将提高他们参与现实HCI问题的能力。为此，PI将开发一种基于跨机构教师团队的合作研究推广模式。他将定义跨多个机构的研究项目，并为外展合作机构的学生提供一个框架，让他们在夏季期间在弗吉尼亚理工大学校园与教授一起工作。合作院校的学生将在回国后继续他们的研究，从而将他们的经验传递给本国的教师和学生，同时保持与他们在夏天结识的教师和学生的联系。电子通讯和教师团队的定期交叉访问将保持研究的活力。弗吉尼亚理工大学的年度研讨会将使合作院校的学生和教师接触到更广泛的研究，并激发更大的协同作用。

The PI believes research in human-computer interaction is on the cusp of solidifying a paradigm of embodied cognition that emphasizes the role of bodily reality in the creation of meaning, which constitutes the essence of our thought and experience. When we speak, our heads, eyes, bodies, arms, hands, and face are brought into the service of communication. There is substantial evidence that communication does not exist for us separately from its embodied roots. The cognitive and perceptual resources of attention (both visual and conceptual), working memory, long-term memory, temporal sequencing, language processes, touch, internal physiological experience, and proprioception must be considered together to understand the range of meanings a behavior has to the actor and receiver in a situation. The PI recently submitted a proposal entitled "CRI: Interfaces for the Embodied Mind" by means of which he was able to secure funds for the acquisition of equipment necessary to exploring ideas such as those outlined above, but not for the exciting applications he envisages in collaboration with partner institutions. The supplemental funding provided by this SGER will enable the PI to explore the implications of embodied interaction technology to communication in the domain of the liberal arts, specifically through participant and travel funding to support collaborative projects: (a) with Prof. Cassandra Newby-Alexander and others in Norfolk State University's Department of History who are investigating the Underground Railroad network in the four large urban slave centers of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, and Petersburg; and (b) with Prof. Pinckney Benedict of Hollins University's English Department on a pilot project in which two or more creative writing students develop an embodied adaptation of James Joyce's classic short story "Araby" which is rich in concrete environmental cues and written in a dreamlike narrative style that lends itself gracefully to nonlinear storytelling. Each project will involve two faculty and two student members from the partner organization, along with students and faculty from Virginia Tech.Broader Impacts: Norfolk State University is an HBCU, and Hollins is a women's university. This project will afford an opportunity to these partner institutions for their students and faculty to participate in the broader federally-funded research enterprise, and will at the same time expose students at Virginia Tech to students with diverse backgrounds and perspectives that will improve their ability to engage realistic HCI problems. To these ends the PI will develop a collaborative research outreach model based on cross-institutional faculty teams. He will define research projects that span multiple institutions and provide a scaffold for outreach partner institution students to work with their professors during the summers on the Virginia Tech campus. Partner institution students will continue their research upon returning to their home institution, thereby transferring their experiences to home faculty and students while keeping their connection with the faculty and students they befriended over the summer. Electronic communications and periodic cross-visits by the faculty team will keep the research vital. An annual workshop at Virginia Tech will expose partner institution students and faculty to the broader research and stimulate greater synergy.