MORE ABOUT INTERACTIVE GESTURE
The aim of this research is to design a practical new visual graphic tool for hearing-impaired people and their hearing communication partners.
As a visual designer and a hearing-impaired person, I have closely combined practice and theory. This research aims to investigate gestural graphic interaction systems by helping hearing-impaired people better communicate with their hearing partners face to face.
The choice of the practice-based research was based on the themes of graphics and participation in testing.
- RESEARCH QUESTION
The main research question is whether interactive gestures can help hearing-impaired people communicate effectively with their hearing partners.
This project aims to engage hearing-impaired people and their hearing communication partners in the participatory activity process through an interactive gesture research approach. I hope the goal of my research is to identify elements of visual graphics for interactive gestures and how to incorporate the communication needs of hearing-impaired people and their hearing communication partners.
- CONTEXT
Due to the area of research on hearing-impaired people, little attention has been paid. I encountered the same problem when communicating with hearing communication partners (parents, classmates and friends): In face-to-face communication, hearing-impaired people could not understand what the hearing communication partners said, but the hearing communication partners did not know how to use simple gestures to express the meaning of words. Most hearing-impaired people generally communicate in sign language. Different countries have their own sign language, which is difficult to be unified, but very complex, with many changes in movements, and difficult for most normal people to understand. Interactive gestures can be a good substitute for sign language communication, and it can be regarded as a practical and functional communication method. Interactive gestures are not only used for the communication between the hearing-impaired and their communication partners but also can be widely used for all people with language disabilities and their communication partners. By taking advantage of their visual learning advantages, they can more intuitively understand what we say and better communicate with them actively.
- METHODOLOGY
In a visual anthropological context, "document what people actually do, not what they think they do, what they say they do." Visual analysis of social practices can be done in a variety of ways: collecting quantitative images/videos/art, practicing (long-term) observation, and being a form of heuristic conversation. Some of these methods led to my understanding of participatory action research methods. As a visual designer, in this collaborative or participatory approach to research, I have to get involved in the problem being investigated and try to find the most suitable solution. When hearing impaired people interact with their hearing partners, they can find new ways of communicating together (interactive gestures) but create a space for innovation. This has never been imagined or applied before.
- WORK IN PROGRESS
I analyzed the video process of participative activities as well as the characteristics of sign language in different countries. I tried to combine some simplified sign language with improvised gestures, draw illustrations of gesture graphics, and finally animate the gesture graphics system. I design web pages for research projects that are easy for hearing-impaired people and their hearing communication partners to understand and learn.
- EMERGING INSIGHTS
These studies highlight interactive gestures as an adjunctive tool for hearing-impaired people and their hearing communication partners. Hearing communication partners can understand the existing language barriers and limiting experiences of hearing-impaired people and express them in different ways: the importance of interactive gestures, which do not need to be tied to written text and spoken language, is a communication tool and represents an ideal component of independence.