EVENT

The Embodied Semiotics Closing Conference

The Closing Conference of 'Embodied Semiotics: Understanding Gesture and Sign Language in Language Interaction' will be held in February 2025.

Title:

The Embodied Semiotics Closing Conference

Pre-event:

10 February, 12F Conference Room, National Institute of Informatics (1208/1210) + Zoom

Report on the research results of the UK and Japan Cross-Signing Project [IS] (Interpreters: JSL, JPN, ENG)

• 10:00-10:10 Opening remarks (Yutaka Osugi, Tsukuba University of Technology)
• 10:10-10:40 Project description: Robert Adam (Heriot-Watt University)
• 10:40-11:10 Research report 1: Tomohiro Okada (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies/National Institute of Informatics)
• 11:10-11:40 Research presentation 2: Sujit Sahasrabudhe (Heriot-Watt University)
• 11:40-12:00 Questions and answers (designated discussant: Maartje De Meulder, HU-University of Applied Sciences Utrecht/Heriot-Watt University)

Embodied Semiotics Closing Conference, Part I: Research Report [JPN] (Interpreters: JSL, ENG, IS)

• 13:30-14:00 Opening remarks (Mayumi Bono, National Institute of Informatics)
• 14:00-14:40 A01 Report on the results 'Annotation design based on semiotics (tentative)' (Rui Sakaida, Future University Hakodate)
• 14:40-15:20 A02 Report on the results 'Next Generation Sign Language Corpus of Daily Conversation (JSL)' (Tomohiro Okada, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies/ National Institute of Informatics)
• Break (20 min)
• 15:40-16:20 A03 Report on the results 'YouTube as a resource for LLM' (ENG) (Minh-Duc Vo, Junwen Mo, The University of Tokyo)
• 16:20-17:00 B01 Report on the results 'Tracrin (tentative)' (Ryosaku Makino, Waseda University)
• 17:00-17:20 Comments by external advisor (Hiromichi Hosoma, Waseda University)
• 18:00 Reception

11 February Hitotsubashi Auditorium, Conference Room 3 & 4 + Zoom

Embodied Semiotics Closing Conference, Part 2: Multimodal Interaction Studies with AI on our side [JPN] (Interpretation: JSL, ENG, IS)

• 10:00-10:10 Overview (Kohei Kikuchi, Tsukuba University of Technology)
• 10:10-10:20 Presentation 1: 'Using word glosses for AI: an example using the JSL corpus' (Victor Skobov, former Graduate University for Advanced Studies / National Institute of Informatics)
• 10:20-10:30 Presentation 2: 'Using speech transcripts/gesture annotations for AI: an example using the SC corpus' (Norioki Nishida, RIKEN)
• 10:30-10:50 Presentation 3 'How to make AI use of directives, pointing and index' (Ryosaku Makino, Tomohiro Okada, Minh-Duc Vo, Junwen Mo, Takeshi Enomoto, Osaka University)
  Break (10 min)
• 11:00-12:00 Panel discussion (designated discussant: Sotaro Kita, University of Warwick)
• Lunch break (60 min)

Embodied Semiotics Closing Conference, Part 3: Invited Lectures [ENG/IS] (Interpreters: JPN, JSL)

• 13:00-14:00 Invited Lecture 1 (Dr. Maartje De Meulder, HU-University of Applied Sciences Utrecht/Heriot-Watt University)
• 14:00-15:00 Invited Lecture 2 (Prof. Sotaro Kita, University of Warwick)
• 15:00-15:15 Break (15 min)
• 15:15-16:15 Invited Lecture 3 (Prof. Kearsy Cormier, DCAL-Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre)
• 16:15-16:20 Closing

Dates:

Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 February 2025

Venue:

10 February, National Institute of Informatics, 12F conference room (1208/1210) (+ hybrid format using Zoom)

11 February, Hitotsubashi Auditorium, Conference Rooms 3 & 4 (+ hybrid format using Zoom)

Languages:

Japanese (JPN), Japanese Sign Language (JSL), English (ENG), International Sign Language (IS) (the primary language of each session in [])

Registration:

Both on-site and online will close when capacity is reached.
https://forms.gle/Zyw1NUq6T3gavoqW9

Organised by:

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (B) 'Embodied Semiotics: Understanding Gesture and Sign Language in Language Interaction' (Area Representative: Mayumi Bono)
https://research.nii.ac.jp/EmSemi/index.html

Co-organiser:

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): International Joint Research Programme (JRP-LEAD with UKRI) 'Understanding cross-signing phenomena in video conferencing situations during and post-COVID-19 in rural areas' (PI : Mayumi Bono)