Embodied interactions, Languaging and the Dynamic Medium
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Lyon, France — 18th February 2020

A workshop gathering interests and works in embodiment, languaging, diversity computing and ethical technologies. Recent developments in these communities are ripe for focused conversations, cross-pollination and explorations of possible common futures.

Invited speakers
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- Elena Clare Cuffari (Worcester State University)
- Mark Dingemanse (Radboud University)
- Omar Rizwan (Dynamicland.org)
- Jelle van Dijk (University of Twente)

Important dates
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- Submission deadline: 20th January 2020
- Notification of acceptance: 22nd January 2020
- Registration opens: 1st January 2020

Call for Proposals
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Our understanding of language is currently undergoing a major shift as practitioners and researchers from many fields recognise the constitutive role of embodied interactions in its emergence. Instead of a primarily symbolic capacity, language is increasingly seen as an activity fluidly grown from our enaction (i.e. our co-generation and navigation) of ties and interactions with other bodies. The complexity of language as we know it seems to be not so much the result of individual brain-based computing capacities as an emergence from our constant negotiation of the tensions inherent to the dynamics of everyday interactions. Languaging, rather than language, is thus a particular way of engaging with others and the world around us, and pervades all levels of our action and perception.

A strikingly parallel move is happening in the technology world: reconnecting with research ideas lost behind the emergence of the Personal Computer, technologists have started to break the stranglehold of designing devices for the brain in a vat, which effectively restricts our relationship to machines (and through them to other humans) to minute finger movements in front of a small screen filled with symbols. Instead, mediums are being designed to appeal to body and mind indistinctly, developing rich manual and spatial dynamics to facilitate interactions with people and machines, without substituting themselves to an environment conceived as already rich. Instead of isolating individuals into bodily inertness, such systems are designed to support us in navigating interactions with other people and with our own thought processes.

These two movements share strong views about the ways in which technological creations and scientific questions about body and mind can be more ethical and humane, while coming from complementary starting points. For instance, the study of languaging is concerned with broader experimental validation, when medium design could benefit from theoretical work to guide future design choices. The ELDM workshop aims to bring these communities together to share views and needs. We call for contributions concerned with embodied interactions, languaging, and humane or interaction-centric computing mediums, and propose a space to cross-pollinate and exchange about current developments in academia, technology and arts.

General topics
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- Embodied interactions
- Languaging
- Humane dynamic medium
- Complexity of interactions
- Enactive cognitive science
- Diversity and alterity computing
- Human-computer-human interaction
- Interaction nurturing and support

Guidelines for submitting
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There are up to 6 slots for contributed talks or demos, and up to 20 poster slots. Talks will be 20 minutes presentation and 10 minutes questions. If you are interested in submitting but have doubts or questions, ask by email at sebastien.lerique@normalesup.org!

To submit, please write to sebastien.lerique@normalesup.org with the subject line "ELDM2020 Submission", and include:

- an abstract of about 300 words
- your preference for oral or poster presentation (or another format you would like to propose, e.g. an exhibition)
- the list of authors and affiliations if applicable