Gesture in Russia

Thursday, my wife and I travel to Moscow. Her brother Coen will marry Katja, a girl from Lotosjino near (160 km) Moscow. I'd better get acquanted with Russian gestures. It appears that the mano fico has another meaning: an absolute "no" to whatever question or proposal was just made. Although over here it is said to be very rude. Apparently the index-thumb-ring (as in 'OK' in some countries) and any shaken fist are vulgar. Winking at a girl is said to mean you think she is a prostitute. Don't show the soles of your feet. There is some serious writing about Russian gestures, and a Dictionary. Russians appear to be unrestrained, healthy gesturers. (source: newszine) Update: I checked with Katja, and the fico is indeed an absolute 'no' and also impolite (it's mostly a kid thing). The US-style 'OK' with ring-shape is fine, though not a strong convention, maybe more like they use it in Italy (described by Kendon). She also mentioned a nice 'drinking' gesture. It is a point to, or light tap on a spot to the side of the throat, under the chin. The history of it is that there was once a guy with a stamp at that spot who could drink for free on the czar's orders. First they gave him a notice to show at bars, but he was such a drunk that he always lost it. Now he only needed to point at the stamp to get a drink.

Tags: gesture, meaning, cross-cultural, Russia

From Protest to Celebration

From angry protests to the chants of victory. The people of Nepal raise their hands much the same way as would we (were we to revolt), I believe. In protest, the hands are tense. In celebration they are relaxed, or even waving. In defiance we raise a banner or a fist. In defeat we bow our heads and our hands dangle limply at our side. In glory we salute those who stood by us, and release the tension, by cheering or chanting.

Tags: gesture, expressive, cross-cultural, universal

Bin Laden Gestures

In the news today: an audio message by Bin Laden, the planet's most unlikely fugitive. A while ago BBC news analysed (see 'video') of Bin Laden's appearance and gestures in different videotapes. The most recent message dating of October 2004 shows BL in the role of elderly prince, appearing calm and restricting his gestures almost entirely to small 'point-making' (typical) and 'negation-finger-shaking'. Mind you, there are those who think it's a fake, but I'm inclined to trust the judgement of the BBC and AlJazeera.

Tags: gesture, video analysis, Bin Laden, posture

Berlusconi vs Prodi

Silvio Berlusconi is a man of great gestures, in every sense of the word. He is regularly caught on camera making nice gestures, often the mano cornuta (more on hand charms, or Italian gestures). Berlusconi can't resist using the mano cornuta, but jokingly, not as an insult. His familiar ways with world leaders, like our very own Jan Peter Balkenende, are charming indeed. In comparison, Romano Prodi, a great European leader and nicknamed il professore, appears more reserved in his body language. On camera, he appears mostly smiling amicably, sometimes withdrawn and sometimes exuberant. It didn't stop Prodi from snatching last weeks election victory. Personally, I think Italy can be proud of the grandeur their two rival politicans display. It is something we lack in the Netherlands, despite the occasional gesture by Wouter Bos.

Tags: gesture, cross-cultural, politics, body language

Garfield gestures

I browsed through half a year of daily Garfield comics (20 April 2006 - 20 Sep 2005) to mark the gestures they feature. It was a fun and interesting exercise. I know of no comic where the gestures are so true to life. Source Garfield.com Index-finger-up Making a Point 2 3 4 Getting the point Got-it Claiming-for-oneself Announcement 2 3 4 5 6 Attend-my-request 2 3 Hang-on Pull-my-finger? Mark-my-words 'Real' Pointing Index-point 2 3 4 Thumb-point-self 2 3 4 Accuse-point Center-attention 2 3 Point-at-body-location-self-stand-in 2 Point-at-body-location Palm-presenting Triad-presenting-vertical-palm 2 3 Triad-presenting-palm-up/vertical 2 3 Triad-presenting-concept-2hands-out/spread-wide 2 3 Repeat-apology-1h-horizontal Triad-presenting-self-2hands-spread Presenting-grandiose-thought Center-Attention-2H-downwards Palm-down 2hands-keep-it-down Affectionate-granting-dismissal-wave 2 Dismissal-next-subject-1h Small-horizontal-1h-you-wait Palm-out Ooh-Admire-2h-out Welcome-cheer-2h-spread Pick-me-up Happy-surprise-palms-up Look-no-hands Get-ready-for-this-2hands-palms-out Scream-1h-palm-up Implore-Heaven-2h 2 Greeting Salute-1h-palm-out-show Wave-bye-1h-finger-wiggle Give-me Gimme-2hands-reach Give-me-1hand-request Reach-tentative-pinky Come-gimme-food Smile-Grin Big-Grin 2 Grin-smug 2 3 4 Grin-subtle-joke Schadenfreude-grin Tease-Grin Cheer Big-Cheer-2Fists-Victory 2 Cheer-mime-honk-1fist Subdued-cheer-elbows-out Cheer-on-1fist-high 1fist-air-yeah Other Puzzled/baffled-lip-touch 2 3 4 5 6 Thinking-lip-touch 2 3 4 5 Lip-pout 2 Threaten-to-claw 2 Looking-cool Pat-pat Pat-belly Clench-fists Eyes-rolling Table-Drum Elbows-out-dominance 2 Fist-forward-action-now Angry-shout Disappear Exasperation-face Amplify-hearing-it 2 Lock-hands-contemplate 2 Yawn 2 Frame-Picture Glare Mime-inhaling-1nostril Depressed-face Thumb-up-Good 2 Disgusted-face Shock-face Amplify-speech-1h-by-mouth 2 3 4 Flex-biceps-strong Brush-hair-smug Frantic-waving Yes!-Fist-Driving Cover-Eyes-Shame 2 Making-me-sick-finger-throat Pose-confident-yo!-snap-finger

Tags: Garfield, gesture, meaning, comic

Hook 'em Horns

Jan 2005: Bush and family members saluted the marching band of the University of Texas, whose athletes are nicknamed Longhorns with this gesture. For many people in the world it has a different meaning, though. It is known as the 'horns gesture' or the Corna or mano cornuta, see this great wiki entry. Apparently it caused a bit of misunderstanding in Norway (why Norway, though?) Is Berlusconi also a Longhorns fan? (source) The norwegian confusion is confusing me though. Were there actual Norwegians being offended? Or did the newspaper just make the observation that it could have happened? (see my reward for gesture mix-up evidence)

Tags: gesture, meaning, cross-cultural, news

For the record mr. chairman

Dutch Minister Hoogervorst was caught in the act a while ago. When opposition leader Bos criticized his plans he made a vomiting gesture (dutch: 'ik kokhals ervan') which wasn't taken lightly. "Vanochtend heb ik een gebaar gemaakt dat niet past bij mijn functie en ik wil daarvoor uw Kamer en in het bijzonder de heer Bos mijn excuses aanbieden" , zei Hoogervorst. "Het was een stommiteit" (Telegraaf, wo 21 sep 2005 / RTL 4). See also the SLN sign 'misselijkmakend'.

Tags: gesture, news, insult, apology

Pen Gestures

Those who study them like to call them Pen Gestures. The best known example is perhaps the Graffiti on Palm, which a helpful chap managed to implement in a Flash version using his own pattern recognition for Flash. Sharon Oviatt is the great champion of multimodal HCI with pen and speech interfaces. A tell-tale sign of the trouble this technique has to tackle is given in the Palm UI. Graffiti is used to 'type', not to 'command'. For commands, the UI provides tap-buttons. Some Examples (source: InkGesture by Jumping Minds) Pen gesturing may well be a form of semiotically challenged HCI. Graffiti is actually writing in camouflage. Tapping buttons equals mouse clicks equals practical actions. Symbolical pen strokes that convey commands or modulate them come closest to being a 'movement intended to communicate'. But then to whom? If its to the computer, then what is the message? The message is that a certain command is to be executed. Nothing new. I see no a priori advantage for 'pen gestures' over clicking buttons or even a DOS-prompt. All that matters are the same old pro's and con's of UI means; of usability in a given task with given users. With some leniency any and all of the above actions can be seen as a communicative act towards the computer. In this sense Human-Computer Interaction is always a communicative dialogue. But I don't like it like that. I like to think there is a difference between talking and gesturing to addressees (be they computer or not) and using them as tools. And I'll make this promise: At the first sign that my computer is actually interest in what I have to say, I will tell it all my dreams and ambitions for his future.

Tags: gesture recognition, pen, tablet, touch, 2D, HCI, semiotics, palm, graffiti

Kids learn about Gesture

There's a nice site in the Netherlands that teachers can use to get ideas for special classes. One of the themes is about gestures and sign language. Mind you, it's for all children, not just deaf ones. There are great suggestions for each age group: 4-5 6-7 8-9 10-11. It is in Dutch. The author is Ben Verschuren. I tried to contact him at the publisher, but to no avail. If anyone could introduce us, I'd be grateful. The one I like best is for the oldest kids, who are invited to study gestures in art. I just recently started doing that, and I'm age 33. God, I wish my teacher had read this website when I was young.

Tags: gesture, sign language, art, education

Worries of a Signer

Onno Crasborn wrote a column in Woord en Gebaar called 'Wil ik met mijn computer praten' (more). In our Sign Language Recognition project, we try to keep him posted as something of an external conscience (see lecture in workshop 'Een Mooi Gebaar'. We always rush to explain that signing computers will not replace classroom assistants. They will only add a 'computer corner' to a deaf children's school class. Or it may provide some interactive 'playful learning' at home. Nevertheless, worries remain. And if our conscience worries, how shall we ease it? Update: Trying to ease conscience 1 - Computers that recognize spoken language have not replaced humans. Dictation software did not replace secretaries, it is only used in 2 cases: if you have RSI, or to replace voice recording (that you would have to type out later). Voice command software software did not replace phone receptionists, they replaced 'for this, press 1. For that, press 2.'

Tags: sign language, ELo, software, SLN, NGT, classroom, education, learning

Lichaamstaal

Frank van Marwijk keeps the world, or at least the Netherlands, posted on body language (dutch: lichaamstaal). First, there is www.lichaamstaal.nl with a lot of info. Second, he keeps lichaamstaal.startpagina.nl with a huge collection of links, also to gesture stuff and funnies like animal body language. An artisitic impression of a day in the life of Frank van Marwijk? (source) Finally, he's blogging about it too. Oh wait, he also wrote a book on babies' body language.

Tags: gesture, body language, baby, Dutch, cross-cultural

Gestures of the World

At work an idea is brewing to collect and publish the Gestures of the World. PW started it, some foreign students joined in and so did I. There have of course been previous attempts, like 'The NONVERBAL DICTIONARY of GESTURES, SIGNS & BODY LANGUAGE CUES' which is a lovely site made with a lot of care. Example: The Lip Pout is described as a fairly universal sign of sulkiness Other collections: www.lichaamstaal.nl - www.gesture.com And then there was this half-baked idea to make a historical gesture classification. Heather Brookes created 'A Repertoire of South African Quotable Gestures' with quite interesting items, I must say. See If you can guess what this one means: Gestures : The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World by Roger E. Axtell who wrote quite a bit on cross-cultural interaction. Field Guide to Gestures: How to Identify and Interpret Virtually Every Gesture Known to Man If you want a careful analysis, nothing beats Adam Kendon's 2004 book 'Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance' Morris, D., Collett, P., Marsh, P., & O'Shaughnessy, M. (1979). Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution. London: Jonathan Cape Other collections: Wikipedia - Adam Kendon's Bibliography - Online Sign Language Dictionaries: List - NGT - ASL (alt more) - VGT - DGS (wiki) - Indian - LSF HandSpeak covers ASL, BabySign, other gestures, facial expressions and cultural and artistic aspects. Sadly, it is a commercial site that charges for access. It does show samples like Kumari in Nepalese Sign Language or some of the ASL Lessons like Indexing. Funnies: Aeronautics Sign Language Dictionary Avatar Animations? Duiken

Tags: gesture, cross-cultural, sign language, non-verbal, dictionary, collections

Geeks Spell on Fingers

Mobile ASL Fingerspelling?

This is a study aid for ASL Finger Spelling created by Robert Hall of Talisman Interactive for the PDA, who also made this version for Flash Lite.

Tags: ASL, fingerspelling, PDA, Flash, software, gesture synthesis

Ronaldinho, a Sign from Above?

Or does he sign to a Vanessa, a deaf child in the crowd? Sources: FC Barcelona - doof.nl - Ronaldinho

Tags: Deaf culture, sports, Ronaldinho

New Zealand Rules

NZSL has been made official on april 6. It is now the 'third official language', after English and Māori. Sofar I've seen only movies with interpreters of web-info, and no signing avatars. Feel free to compare a human to a machine. Sources: scoop - vertaald voor doven - w3.org on signing avatar - eSIGN - govs elsewhere Update: Connell’s comments on NZ Sign Language concerning

Tags: sign language, official, NZSL, recognition

Umanify

A company in Spain called Umanify contacted me about their work on embedded conversational agents. Specifically: Angelina Jolie. Not unlike work by Justine Cassell. Watch me speak like an alien trying to blend in Next Step: Head Gestures? Some Literature - Max from Bielefeld

Unitech

Unitech is selling a Sign Language Tutor for ASL. They sell it by stating: 'This course acts like a teacher that never gets tired of repeating the same movements over and over again'.

Tags: sign language, learning, software

A Creative way with Familiar Gestures

It's an old newsflash. Basketballer Matthew Richardson 'kissed his middle finger and blew the kiss to the crowd with his finger raised'. Matthew Richardson saluting the crowd (source) Isn't that a nice add-on? Or is it a combination of 'fuck you' and 'blowing a kiss'? I could even argue that here we see a combination of two gesture morphemes, one meaning contempt+dismissal the other 'to you over there'. But that would dull the brilliance of the invention, wouldn't it? He takes two familiar things and blends them into an ironic one-acts-says-it-all gesture.

Tags: gesture, morpheme, sports, insult, creative

Futurism III - Intuitive Gestures

This is a complex bit of Futurism that reminds me of C. Hummels' work on gestures (and Diderot). It builds on Bergson's concept of intuition as an essential part of creativity. Boccioni transformed the 'Simple Act' into 'Intuitive Gesture'. I think CH was taken by the expressive power of gestures, almost trying to side-step semiotic function, instead going directly to perceived expression (by what means, I am left to wander). Boccioni, Dynamism of a Cyclist 1913 o/c I guess that this sort of thing led to 'action painting' aka 'gesture painting', see the example below by Willem de Kooning. Attention is drawn to the act of painting itself. The action, or gesture, carries the expressive potential of the artist? It seems a bit arrogant. Here I am, admire my every act... Silly thing: if you google for 'intuitive gesture' you get only technical stuff about how some geek built a new breakthrough interface that works with 'Intuitive Gestures' (I'll take Quek's word for it: it is a myth). But this just means that people who know a lot about computers think that dumb users would be better off trying to 'gesture intuitively' at their computers, rather than using them like they do themselves. ref: Tisdall, Futurism, p70

Tags: Futurism, intuitive, gesture, painting, art, expressive, act

Futurism II - Capturing Universal Dynamism

"For us the gesture will no longer be an arrested moment of universal dynamism: it will clearly be the dynamic sensation itself made eternal." (from the 'Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting' in Poesia, 11 apr 1910). Carlo Carra, The Red Horseman, 1913, o/c Umberto Boccioni. Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. 1913. Bronze, 43 7/8 x 34 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches Tisdall (Futurism) describes the Futurist Painters' ambition: Not the analysis of movement, nor the capture in visual form of a single movement. But the visual expression of the essence.

Tags: art, gesture, visual, expression, Futurism, movement

French 'Sign Language' Crash Course

French gestures in 3 easy lessons. Some comments from Gael, a French colleague of mine: About counting in- or excluding the thumb: "I think you can count on your fingers in another way if you want. I am not so sure that french people are unable to notice it." More remarks * I am not so sure about this "comme ci, comme ca" gesture * I have never seen the "Je le jure !" gesture and would not understand it. I know several other way to express the same idea. * This "Rien !" gesture is a bit ambiguous. I am not convinced everybody would understand it that way. * There is several ways to express "Ça pue !"

Tags: gesture, emblems, meaning, cross-cultural

Demo ELo at Conference

With Jeroen Lichtenauer and Elmar Wennes we gave a nice demo of our Sign Language Tutor and the Recognition Technology at the ICT-Kenniscongres. More pictures It wasn't very crowded, but Minister Van der Hoeven (education) was there. And some interesting people came to watch or even participate in the demo, most notably Lucas Noldus. He keeps an eye on TUD developments. Perhaps keen to enter the fray when commercial application becomes viable? He talked about automatic analysis of human behaviour.

Tags: conference, ICT, gesture recognition

Futurism I - Destructive Gestures

"What do the victims matter, if the gesture be beautiful?" Laurent Tailhade 1893, or in French: "Qu'importe la victime si le geste est beau." And repeatedly occurring in descriptions of the early days of Futurism: "The Destructive Gesture of the Libertarians" It is also the title of a science fiction story online, by Frank Wu. Who can tell the future victims from the future perpetrators?

Tags: art, gesture, Futurism