An interactive session using a tool to support distributed conversations around digital video

Abstract

Workshop Theme and Objectives Jordan and Henderson (1995) outline a research methodology they term interaction analysis—a powerful method for investigating human activity in which a group of researchers come together in a meeting to offer their insights on some video recorded event. Although the interaction analysis approach proved to be highly influential for ethnographers and other social scientists, it was limited by the technologies available at the time of Jordan and Henderson’s writing (VHS tapes, etc.). Reconstructing the contextually grounded insights of researchers can be an onerous task, not to mention the challenge of accommodating the schedules of several busy researchers. Fortunately, the decreasing costs and increased accessibility of digital video technologies has made it possible to support fluid conversations around a video record without the constraints of an in-person meeting. Pea, Lindgren, and Rosen (2006) present a framework for enhancing interaction analysis with internet technologies that they term computersupported collaborative video analysis (CSCVA). They also describe a software environment designed to facilitate CSCVA in the research community called DIVER (Digital Interactive Video Exploration and Reflection). The purpose of this session will be introduce to participants the theoretical issues around CSCVA and give them practice collaborating on video analysis using the DIVER platform. Session participants will have access to a large video data corpus that we have collected on families discussing the role that mathematics plays in activity at home. The goal of the session is to build fluency among participants with CSCVA tools and to have them recognize the potential for using these types of tools to improve and expand their research practices.