Alternative Modes Of Communication Research Articles

Facebook Usage as a Community Engagement Tool by Residents in the Sauyemwa Location, Kavango East Region, During COVID-19 Lockdown

The purpose of this study was to investigate and explore how residents in Kavango east used Facebook as a community engagement tool during the pandemic in Kavango East region, being the region with the lowest percentage of people with access to cellphones and internet. The study also aimed at assisting different communities to create new alternative ways on how to engage with each other using social media platforms like Facebook during the pandemic. The author used a qualitative method to randomly select 10 participants (8 males and 2 females) that were interviewed using a semi-structures interview. The findings reveal that, Sauyemwa residents used Facebook to communicate with others, to share and receive trending information around the world. Moreover, residents used Facebook Messenger for commenting on posts, liking and possibly sharing, to stream and share live videos and events. This study suggests that, Sauyemwa residents should use Facebook as an alternative mode of communication during the pandemic as it allows people to connect remotely.

Comparing Interventions With Speech-Generating Devices and Other Augmentative and Alternative Communication Modes: A Meta-Analysis.

Optimal augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for children with complex communication needs depend in part on child characteristics, child preferences, and features of the systems themselves. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to describe and synthesize single case design studies comparing young children's acquisition of communication skills with speech-generating devices (SGDs) and other AAC modes. A systematic search of published and gray literature was conducted. Data related to study details, rigor, participant characteristics, design information, and outcomes were coded for each study. A random effects multilevel meta-analysis was performed using log response ratios as effect sizes. Nineteen single case experimental design studies with 66 participants (M age = 4.9 years) met inclusion criteria. All but one study featured requesting as the primary dependent variable. Visual analysis and meta-analysis indicated no differences between use of SGDs and picture exchange for children learning to request. Children demonstrated preferences for and learned to request more successfully with SGDs than with manual sign. Children who preferred picture exchange also learned to request more easily with picture exchange than with SGDs. Young children with disabilities may be able to request equally well with SGDs and picture exchange systems in structured contexts. More research is needed comparing AAC modes with diverse participants, communication functions, linguistic complexity, and learning contexts. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22111181.

Telling a story in a deliberation: addressing epistemic injustice and the exclusion of indigenous groups in public decision-making

ABSTRACT Deliberative scholars have suggested that citizens should be able to exchange arguments in public forums. A key element in this exchange is the rational mode of communication, which means speaking through objective argumentation. However, some feminists argue that this mode of communication may create or intensify epistemic injustices. Furthermore, we should not assume that everyone is equally equipped to take part in deliberation. Certain groups, such as Indigenous peoples, for instance, who may not be versed in rational forms of argumentation, may not be listened to or involved sufficiently in the deliberative process. Therefore, it seems we need an alternative mode of communication, such as storytelling, which is a first-person or collective narrative. Given this, how should we pursue this goal? This article aims to answer this question by analysing a local conflict involving an Indigenous tribe and a neighbouring community in Brazil and exploring the underlying testimonial and hermeneutical injustices. I argue that storytelling has an important normative and institutional role in public deliberation and show that its applied version could overcome epistemic injustices and lead to better public policies.

Wind disrupts trail pheromone communication in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmexlobicornis

Although wind is a ubiquitous component of ecological systems and might affect pheromone communication, its effects have not been studied in depth. To test whether wind impacts trail pheromone behaviour, we studied the behaviour of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex lobicornis in natural nests. We conducted observations under (1) unaltered scenarios with different wind intensities and (2) manipulative experiments aimed at altering trail-marking pheromone volatilization rates. In our manipulative experiments, we placed filter paper on ant trails, then removed the pheromone-marked paper 24 h later and either exposed or did not expose the marked paper to artificial wind (2 km/h) for 1 or 3 h. We then put the marked paper back on the trail and filmed ants' responses for 1 min. As controls, we filmed ants’ responses to filter paper immediately before it was removed as well as their responses to new unmarked filter paper. We measured ant flux, speed and walking sinuosity of ants over trails and filter paper, the number of ants tapping their gaster against the substrate (an indication of pheromone-marking frequency), the number of head-on encounters among workers (as alternative modes of communication) and ant body size. Wind negatively affected ant traffic by decreasing ant flux and speed. Colonies increased the number of U-turns and head-on encounters among workers, with a higher response as wind exposure time increased, but trail pheromone deposition was constant among treatments. The size frequency distribution of foragers over the treatment area was skewed towards larger ants on trails with unmarked paper and on trails with paper that had been exposed to wind for 1 or 3 h or not exposed to wind but removed for 3 h. This could be the result of small ants focusing on pheromone trail maintenance, while larger ones focused on foraging on the filter paper irrespective of whether it had been marked. Our results suggest that division of labour and behavioural plasticity might allow leaf-cutting ants to mitigate the effects of wind on pheromone communication and continue foraging. • Wind negatively affected ant traffic on trails by decreasing ant flux and speed. • Ants performed more U-turns and head-on encounters on trails exposed to wind. • Wind exposure did not affect trail pheromone deposition. • Wind exposure influenced the size frequency distribution of forager ants.

Can Your Audit Team Effectively Multitask? It Might Depend on How They Communicate

SUMMARYThis article summarizes Sidgman, Brown, and Brazel (2021) which demonstrates that, when multitasking, the performance of audit teams communicating in-person is greater than the performance of teams using computer-mediated communication (discussion boards and chatrooms). In the audit setting, multitasking is unavoidable and pervasive; in-person communication is not always an option. To facilitate multitasking, engagement team communications have extended in-person interactions to computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies. However, little is known about the performance of multitasking teams under these alternative modes of communication (in-person, discussion boards, and chatrooms). Contrary to expectations, we find that participants' familiarity with, and preference for, chatroom features (similar to text messaging) may have offset the benefits previously attributed to discussion boards (similar to email). This finding is timely, given the pandemic-induced environment of remote and hybrid work, as it informs practitioners on audit teams' multitasking effectiveness while using CMC.

The Multitasking Audit Environment: The Effect of Alternative Modes of Communication on Team Performance

ABSTRACTDespite the considerable evidence suggesting multitasking reduces performance, multitasking is unavoidable and pervasive in the audit setting. Members of engagement teams are often required to work on multiple engagements simultaneously and their work on one engagement is frequently interrupted due to the demands of another engagement. In hopes of facilitating multitasking, engagement team communications have extended beyond face-to-face interactions to computer-mediated communication technologies. However, little is known about the performance of multitasking teams under these alternative modes of communication (face-to-face, discussion board, and chatroom). Our study demonstrates that, when multitasking, the performance of audit teams communicating face-to-face is greater than the performance of teams using computer-mediated communication. While we expected enhanced team performance with discussion boards, additional analyses reveal that participants' familiarity with, and preference for, chatroom features (which are similar to texting) may have offset the benefits prior studies have attributed to discussion boards (which are similar to emailing).

Typical preschoolers’ perceptions of augmentative and alternative communication modes of a preschooler with autism spectrum disorder

Understanding typical preschoolers’ perceptions of communication modes could help guide augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study explored the perceptions of 16 typically developing preschoolers toward an (a) AAC application (app) on a tablet, (b) picture exchange using a binder with printed Picture Communication SymbolsTM, and (c) prelinguistic communication used by a preschooler with ASD in a series of videos the preschoolers watched. Using a multi-method design, the study implemented both quantitative (rank ordering and preference selection) and qualitative (interview) methodologies. Quantitative results revealed the typical preschoolers had a clear overall preference for the AAC app, but variation in preference existed when selecting a communication mode to use in specific social scenarios. Qualitative data show the children more easily understood the child with ASD when he used the AAC app and associated tablets with fun, which may have accounted for positive perceptions of this AAC mode. The study is exploratory in nature and limited by its size and scope. However, it provides insights useful for clinicians’ understanding not just how typical preschoolers perceive various modes of communication, but also why they may perceive some more favorably than others, in order to tailor intervention accordingly.

The Multitasking Audit Environment: The Effect of Alternative Modes of Communication on Team Performance

The Multitasking Audit Environment: The Effect of Alternative Modes of Communication on Team Performance

Thinking Together, Working Apart: Leveraging a Community of Practice to Facilitate Productive and Meaningful Remote Collaboration

Considering the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, scholars were encouraged to cease collocated meetings. Many researchers have turned to remote collaboration to continue group-based projects. This paper focuses on the structure, processes, and outcomes that a group of physically distanced, embedded researchers used to collaborate across Canada to produce research outputs prior to the pandemic. The intent of this paper is to provide an overview of mechanisms that can facilitate meaningful and productive remote collaboration using online and digital technologies as a feasible and effective alternative mode of communication for research teams.

Is the Onion Router a Secure Network?

This paper attempts to answer the question of how government agencies use The Onion Router, or Tor, in conducting investigations. The essay observes that Tor is free open-source software that can be used by anyone who desires to communicate with others in a secure manner. In surveying the literature, it is found that Tor can be employed for both legal and illegal purposes. As the major financial contributor, Tor is used by government to secure its communications. Because Tor by bad actors, and because many of the Tor relays are operated by government agencies, Tor has been successfully employed in catching unsuspecting criminals. The conclusion of this exposition is that if one wants to communicate securely with someone else, and not be visible to government agencies, Tor should not be the vehicle of choice. There are alternative modes of communication that can thwart the risk of government surveillance.

ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Background: Communication breakdown is one of the major problems that occur during disaster event, despite its importance in disaster management. In recent years, the social media, which has gained its popularity and expanded its function, provides a promising solution in disaster management over traditional communication. This paper aims to determine the role of social media in disaster management cycle and to create a framework for the application. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted systematically using PubMed, Google Scholar, Science-direct and Scopus with keywords of role of social media OR social media AND disaster event OR natural disaster. The literature searched was limited to documented natural disaster for the past ten years, open source articles, original article and reported in English language. Primary screening of title and abstract involved 128 articles, from there, 90 articles were excluded. Secondary eligibility screening of the remaining 38 articles, resulted in 14 articles which were then synthesized and reviewed in this manuscript. Result: A framework was produced pertaining to role of social media according to disaster management cycle. In mitigation phase the role of social media includes incorporation of risk reduction and preventative activities. Further into preparedness phase, social media provides disaster warnings, implement crisis communication activities and signal/detect disaster. Further to response phase, the role includes deliver and analyse news coverage of disaster, provide and receive disaster respond information, send and receive request for assistance and reconnect family members. Finally, in the recovery phase, social media raises donation and awareness, encourage volunteerism and provide/receive information on recovery and rebuilding process. This review highlighted the dynamic and complexity of social media functions in providing better communication approach during disaster management. Conclusion: Social media certainly has the capacity to become an alternative mode of communication to complement traditional communication during disaster. However, drawbacks from using social media and its implications in disaster management need to be considered as well. Keywords: social media; social network, disaster, communication

Validating Deep Neural Networks for Online Decoding of Motor Imagery Movements from EEG Signals.

Non-invasive, electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) on motor imagery movements translate the subject’s motor intention into control signals through classifying the EEG patterns caused by different imagination tasks, e.g., hand movements. This type of BCI has been widely studied and used as an alternative mode of communication and environmental control for disabled patients, such as those suffering from a brainstem stroke or a spinal cord injury (SCI). Notwithstanding the success of traditional machine learning methods in classifying EEG signals, these methods still rely on hand-crafted features. The extraction of such features is a difficult task due to the high non-stationarity of EEG signals, which is a major cause by the stagnating progress in classification performance. Remarkable advances in deep learning methods allow end-to-end learning without any feature engineering, which could benefit BCI motor imagery applications. We developed three deep learning models: (1) A long short-term memory (LSTM); (2) a spectrogram-based convolutional neural network model (CNN); and (3) a recurrent convolutional neural network (RCNN), for decoding motor imagery movements directly from raw EEG signals without (any manual) feature engineering. Results were evaluated on our own publicly available, EEG data collected from 20 subjects and on an existing dataset known as 2b EEG dataset from “BCI Competition IV”. Overall, better classification performance was achieved with deep learning models compared to state-of-the art machine learning techniques, which could chart a route ahead for developing new robust techniques for EEG signal decoding. We underpin this point by demonstrating the successful real-time control of a robotic arm using our CNN based BCI.

The Multitasking Audit Environment: The Effect of Alternative Modes of Communication on Team Performance

Despite the considerable evidence suggesting multitasking reduces performance, multitasking is unavoidable and pervasive in the audit setting. Members of engagement teams are often required to work on multiple engagements simultaneously and their work on one engagement is frequently interrupted due to the demands of another engagement. In hopes of facilitating multitasking, engagement team communications have extended beyond face-to-face interactions to computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies. However, little is known about the performance of multitasking teams under these alternative modes of communication (face-to-face, discussion board, and chatroom). Our study demonstrates that, when multitasking, the performance of audit teams communicating face-to-face is greater than the performance of teams using computer mediated communication (discussion board and chatroom). While we expected enhanced team performance with discussion boards, additional analyses reveal that participants’ familiarity with, and preference for, chatroom features (which are similar to text messaging) may have offset the benefits prior studies have attributed to discussion boards (which are similar to email).

“At Least They’re Workin’ on My Case?” Victim Notification in Sexual Assault “Cold” Cases

Sexual assault is a significantly under-reported, -investigated, and -prosecuted crime in the United States, which criminal justice and advocacy actors across the country are working to address. Law enforcement procedures often involve providing crime victims, including sexual assault victims, with written notification by mail about the status of their case, but little is known about the best practices for victim notification in sexual assault "cold" cases. This qualitative research explored whether this standard law enforcement practice was appropriate for sexual assault victims in "cold cases" particularly when there had been no contact from law enforcement, despite forensic evidence having been tested. The research questions were what do sexual assault victims in cold cases have to say about victim notification protocols and practices? and What do sexual assault victims in cold cases have to say about hypothetical written victim notification protocols? Twenty-three sexual assault victims were asked in focus groups and individual interviews to respond to hypothetical written notification letters for content and the sending authority and to give input on alternative modes of communication. The data were analyzed using grounded theory. Themes related to trust, personal agency, and decision making from notification examples emerged. Recommendations on notification included respecting privacy, including specifics, identifying next steps, normalizing, translating, and providing resources. Implications for developing notification protocols include use of emerging evidence about neurobiology of trauma, use of victim input, and patience for the varying reactions and needs of sexual assault victims.

Narratives, Imperatives, and Moral Reasoning

By downplaying externalities, magnifying the cost of moral behavior, or suggesting not being pivotal, exculpatory narratives can allow individuals to maintain a positive image when in fact acting in a morally questionable way. Conversely, responsibilizing narratives can help sustain better social norms. We investigate when narratives emerge from a principal or the actor himself, how they are interpreted and transmitted by others, and when they spread virally. We then turn to how narratives compete with imperatives (general moral rules or precepts) as alternative modes of communication to persuade agents to behave in desirable ways.

Effective communication modes in multilingual encounters: Comparing alternatives in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

AbstractThis paper reports on an experimental study investigating alternative communication modes to English as a Lingua Franca. The purpose was to examine the effectiveness of different modes of communication and to gain insight in communication strategies used by interlocutors to solve referential conflicts. Findings show that ELF may not necessarily be the most effective mode of communication for speakers who do not share a native language. In the context of multinational corporations, RM may be regarded as a viable alternative to English for negotiating mutual understanding, particularly for speakers with (linguistically) closely related mother tongues.

Kompetencje pracowników socjalnych w zakresie komunikowania się z osobami niesłyszącymi

Hearing-impaired individuals can experience considerable difficulties when communicating with their hearing environments. Those difficulties occur when the social environment does not use communication modes preferred by the hearing-impaired to communicate with them. The communication with deaf people using communication modes preferred by them is an expression of preventing discrimination and it helps eliminate problems making everyday life complicated. The objective of the research undertaken was an attempt to answer what communication skills social workers possess in order to communicate with hearing-impaired people and what communication modes they use. The research performed proves that social workers encounter deaf individuals at their work and overcome communication barriers through alternative communication modes. The most commonly used method is writing. Not many people know a sign language (SL). Many social workers do not practically use the sign language although they are trained (in courses) to use SL. The vast majority of social workers see the need for additional training courses in order to widen their knowledge of the problems of hearing-impaired people, their command of SL; what is most important, they declare they want to participate in such courses

Embodied writing: choreographic composition as methodology

This paper seeks to examine how embodied methodological approaches might inform dance education practice and research. Through a series of examples, this paper explores how choreographic writing might function as an embodied writing methodology. Here, choreographic writing is envisioned as a form of visual word choreography in which words move, pause, gain emphasis, and flow as if dancing across the open page. To explore writing as choreography, this paper primarily draws from three theoretical perspectives on embodiment: phenomenological, new materialist, and Deleuzian. For each of these perspectives, this paper describes its approach to embodiment, provides choreographic writing examples, and discusses the implications thereof for dance education practice and research. Given the increasing importance of practice-as-research and creative arts inquiry, this paper finds that choreographic writing provides an alternative mode of communication for dance writers and qualitative researchers alike. Significantly, choreographic writing also offers new pedagogies for dance education researchers. In so doing, dance provides a venue for written arts-based research.

Undergraduates’ perceptions of three augmentative and alternative communication modes

Objective: To assess undergraduates’ perceptions of three augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) modes. Method: We showed 104 undergraduates a video clip of a person using each of the three AAC modes and asked them to rate each option in terms of perceived (a) intelligibility, (b) ease of acquisition, (c) effectiveness/acceptability, and (d) preference. The three AAC modes shown were (a) manual signing, (b) picture exchange, and (c) speech-generating device. Results: Mean ratings for perceived intelligibility and effectiveness/acceptability were significantly higher for the speech-generating device. The speech-generating device and manual signing options were rated as being more preferred over picture exchange. Picture exchange was rated significantly higher on perceived ease of acquisition. Conclusion: Speech-generating devices were perceived to have greater social validity than manual signing and picture exchange.

Pointing gestures in video blogs

AbstractVideo blogs are a form of CMC (computer-mediated communication) that feature speakers who talk into a camera, and thereby produce a viewer-directed performance. Pointing gestures are part of the resources that the medium affords to design vlogs for the absent recipients. Based on a corpus of 40 vlogs, this research categorizes different kinds of common pointing actions in vlogs. Close analysis reveals the role multimodal factors such as gaze and body posture play along with deictic gestures and verbal reference in the production of a viewer-directed monologue. Those instances where vloggers point at referents outside the video frame, e.g., elements of the Web site that represent alternative modes of communication, such as written comments, receive particular attention in the present study, as they require mutual knowledge about the shared virtual context the vlog is situated in.