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A Conversation Analysis Case Study – Saul Albert


Saul Albert, Magnus Hamann, Elizabeth Stokoe

Abstract:

Policymakers are increasingly interested in using virtual assistants to strengthen social services amid an aging population crisis. At the same time, technology companies are marketing conversational user interfaces (CUI) and smart home systems as assistive technologies for the elderly and disabled. However, we know relatively little about how commercially available CUIs are used today to facilitate daily home care activities, nor about how care service users and human care assistants interpret and adapt these technologies in practice. Here we report a longitudinal conversation analytic case study to identify, describe, and share how CUIs can be used as assistive conversational agents in practice. The analysis reveals that while CUIs can augment and support new capabilities in a home care environment, they cannot replace the delicate interactional work of human care assistants. We argue that the design of CUIs is best informed and informed by a better understanding of joint coordination of home care activities.

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