Abstract

The graduate program "Task Oriented Communication" at the University of Bielefeld is organizing a workshop on "Multimodal Communication." The workshop will take place on January 9 and 10, 2003, at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) of the University of Bielefeld.

Processes of communication are increasingly described from the aspect of multimodality. A central aspect for natural language communication and a major factor in successful human-computer communication is the integration of different media and modes. So far, for the most part, theoretical concepts concerning the integration of different media have been developed and discussed (concept of gestalt, concept of coordination), whereas empirical studies on the multimodality of natural-language communication are still in the early stages. This is closely connected to the development of empirically adequate models and instruments for this description, such as computer-based transcription software and evaluation. The transferability of such results on human-computer communication, especially with an effective modeling in the area of robotics, is being tested.

The workshop wants to pose two questions against this background:

	How can the interaction of different modalities, such as language, gesture, facial expression, eye movement, and body posture be described analytically? Studies of face-to-face communication should be presented and discussed here as well as the development of and the analysis with specific transcription software.
	What can - based on this - simulation and modeling of multimodal communication in human-computer systems look like? Special focus is put here on the optimization of human-computer dialog interfaces. An important applicational connection is the development of artificial mobile robots which are equipped with multiple communication modalities (gestures and facial expressions next to speech input).

The goal of the workshop is to explore and discuss the connection of these different empirical and theoretical approaches, all of which refer to each other and should, therefore, be discussed together.

This transdisciplinary approach, which not only expresses the orientation of the graduate program (Ph.D. students from the areas of linguistics and computer sciences working together closely) should also be reflected in the selection of the invited guests. We hope, therefore, that the speakers will represent a broad spectrum of disciplines, research approaches, and methods.