drawing

Drawing, multimodality and interaction analytics

Image from the 2018 Drawing Interactions workshop at the University of Liverpool, London

On the 28th November 2019 I’m running this workshop in London for the National Centre for Research Methods with Pat Healey, Matthew Tobias Harris, Claude Heath, and Sophie Skach, which focuses on drawing as a method in interaction analysis. It’s open to any researcher and/or draftsperson – regardless of experience with conversation analysis or drawing. The aim is to introduce artists and social scientists to each other’s methods for visual analysis, inductive observation and inscription of research objects. Places are limited, so please sign up at the link below:

https://www.swdtp.ac.uk/event/ncrm-training-drawing-multimodality-and-interaction-analytics/

Workshop abstract

Analysing embodied interaction enables researchers to study the qualitative details of communication and to do reliable coding of interaction for quantification. Some researchers use video stills and word processing software to add arrows and highlights. Others use simple sketches or tracings to present their research findings in their final published results. However, until now, no dedicated courses have been offered that teach drawing as a method for the transcription and analysis of social interaction.

This one-day course will introduce researchers to the theory and method of conversation analysis, and to new graphical tools, transcription methods, and software systems that are available for multimodal analysis of audio-visual data. It will involve short presentations, group discussions and practical work including video data gathering, transcription and analysis. No special equipment is required, although we encourage participants to bring some means of recording video (e.g. a phone or other digital camera).

This course is aimed at researchers across disciplines with an interest in face-to-face social interaction and communication (human or animal, face-to-face or video-mediated). No prior experience of drawing or conversation and discourse analysis is necessary, since we will cover the basics required to learn independently.

Learning outcomes

This course will introduce you to methods, techniques and tools for analysing embodied social interaction.

The course covers:

  • Conversation analytic methods for collecting, transcribing and analysing video data.
  • Drawing techniques for use in field notes and in exploratory data analysis sessions.
  • How to create and use multimodal transcripts for data analysis and presentation of results.
  • Software tools for creating and sharing computer-readable graphical transcriptions.
  • Future directions for multimodal interaction analytics e.g. automation and open science.

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Drawing Interactions

Read our (2019) OA paper based on this project: Drawing as transcription: how do graphical techniques inform interaction analysis?

The Drawing Interactions project aims to develop new graphical techniques and tools for the transcription, analysis and presentation of research into social interaction.

The Drawing Interactions Prototype App (& source code)

In conversation analytic research, Jeffersonian transcripts of talk are usually used with traced outlines or video stills, and these techniques primarily focus on presenting polished research findings for finished publications. But what about the exploratory phases of research such as initial transcription or collaborative inspection at data sessions? The drawing interactions project uses traditional artistic still life and figure drawing techniques and detailed studies of analysts’ work practices as key starting points to inform the development of graphical tools and techniques for the transcription, analysis and presentation of social interaction.

The project team includes myself, Pat Healey, Toby Harris, Claude Heath, and Sophie Skach. We have created a software prototype and a workshop/training format to support the use of drawing for interaction research and the social sciences more generally. 

The idea grew out of The Fine Art of Conversation CogSci workshop which explored artistic methods for depicting interaction in classical painting and sculpture. Here is a demo video of the current prototype and a detailed project report outlining developments so far.

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Publications

Project links

Thanks to

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