The shape of objects: blind people’s tactile work to establish understanding about the physical shape and form of objects

Blind people rely on tactile sensations for various tasks. Perhaps even more than seeing people. Establishing understanding about objects and the sociomaterial world is, by blind people, accomplished by the use of multimodal sensory inputs except sight. Whereas seeing people simply sees the shape of objects, blind people have to establish this understanding by touching the object and thereby establish some kind of tactile experience. Research questions: 1) where/when does tactile experience become sequentially relevant? 2) how are tactile experiences publicly accomplished; by which semiotic resources and in what semiotic ecology? How is understandings about the shape of things established and displayed as important for the blind in his/her emerging practices?