From embodied scanning to tactile inspections: When visually impaired persons exhibit object understanding

Brian L. Due, Rui Sakaida, Hiro Yuki Nisisawa, Yasusuke Minami

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this chapter, we show how visually impaired people employ embodied practices to locate and identify objects. We show how the “invisible features” of objects are made salient, relevant, and understandable for co-participants through the visibility of the visually impaired persons’ actions, in particular the transition from embodied scanning of the environment using a white cane or an arm, to using the hand for detailed tactile inspection of the object to achieve understanding of it. We show how co-participants respond to these multimodal actions by providing a characterization of the object. The chapter builds on video-based ethnographic methodology and multimodal EM/CA analyses of video data from Japan and Denmark and contributes to our understanding of objects-in-interaction in general.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Practical Accomplishment of Everyday Activities without Sight
EditorsBrian L. Due
Place of PublicationAbingdon
PublisherTaylor and Francis/Routledge
Publication date2023
Pages154-179
ISBN (Print)9780367742577
ISBN (Electronic)9781003817765
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

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