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Chapter 24 Polyphonic Inter-Animation of Voices in VMT

  • August 2009
DOI:10.1007/978-1-4419-0228-3_24
Authors:
Stefan Trausan-Matu at Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Stefan Trausan-Matu
Traian Rebedea at Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Traian Rebedea
Gerry Stahl at Drexel University
Gerry Stahl
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This chapter introduces a theoretical framework for analyzing collaborative problem solving in chats, based on the concept of polyphony and Bakhtin’s theory of dialog. Polyphony, a notion taken from music theory, may be considered as a general model for interaction and creativity by a group of people (“voices,” in an extended sense) following patterns of counterpoint. As Bakhtin emphasized, polyphony may occur in texts; we will show that it can occur in problem-solving chat texts. One of the features of polyphonic music is its potential development of complex architectures starting from a given theme. Polyphonic structuring of dialogs may transform the interaction into a “thinking device”: Different voices jointly construct a melody (story or solution), sometimes adopting different positions and then generating, idenepsying or solving dissonances (unsound, rickety stories or solutions). Polyphony consists of several “horizontal,” longitudinal melody lines that are “vertically,” transversally integrated. Similarly, in chats, the continuations of utterances are tied together over time providing a melodic line. Simultaneously, they are coordinated with the utterances of others, maintaining the integration toward unity across various themes and variations that sometimes can introduce differences. This chapter also proposes software tools for the visualization of the polyphonic weaving in chats. These tools idenepsy and visualize the explicit and implicit links among utterances, and may determine or visualize the contributions of each participant in a chat. KeywordsBakhtin–polyphony–voice–dialog–reference
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... The polyphonic model of CSCL [2][3][4][5] was inspired by Bakhtin's dialogism and polyphony [6][7][8]. It considers the inter-animation patterns of voices in an extended sense (participants' points of view and/or discussed ideas or concepts) that span through the conversation [3][4][5]. ...
... The polyphonic model of CSCL [2][3][4][5] was inspired by Bakhtin's dialogism and polyphony [6][7][8]. It considers the inter-animation patterns of voices in an extended sense (participants' points of view and/or discussed ideas or concepts) that span through the conversation [3][4][5]. Using this analogy, utterances may contain one or more voices that overlap, interact one with another, and generate through their intertwining the underlying discussion threads [2,3]. ...
... In conversations with several participants, the inter-animation phenomenon [3][4][5]12] is encountered, and, together with the polyphonic model, may be used for the analysis of the CSCL conversations. Several classes of interanimation patterns may be identified [3] such as: adjacency pairs [13] in which the first type of utterance implies the second one, repetitions that, according to Tannen [14,15], "induce a phenomenon similar to the rhythm in music, reflecting involvement" or collaborative utterances [16] in which "participants build an utterance together, as a single person". ...
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... Accordingly, voices represent distinct positions, points of view, or ideas, that impact the nature and outcome of a discourse. Multi-voicedness, may drive to polyphony, which is a central concept within dialogism, and a focus of the polyphonic model, which is essential to this study (Trausan-Matu & Rebedea, 2009). ...
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... Voices may also be themes, or recurrent topics emerging from the discourse. They enter in inter-animation patterns which generate a polyphonic weaving characterized by a multitude of voices, each with its individuality, but which give birth to a coherent whole (Trausan-Matu & Rebedea, 2009). ...
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... Each utterance is represented as a rectangular node having a horizontal length proportional with the textual length of the utterance. The distance between two different utterances is proportional with the time passed between the utterances (Trăușan-Matu, Rebedea et al., 2007;Trăușan-Matu & Rebedea, 2009). The links between utterances are represented by line segments with different colours (see Figure 5). ...
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... Our aim is to use a more generalizable model that can be more easily applied to multi-participant conversations. The polyphonic theory of CSCL (Trausan-Matu, 2010b;Trausan-Matu & Rebedea, 2009;Trausan-Matu, Stahl, & Zemel, 2005) follows the ideas of Koschmann (1999) and Wegerif (2005), and investigates how Bakhtin's dialogism theory, centered on polyphony and inter-animation (Bakhtin, 1981(Bakhtin, , 1984, can be used to analyze such conversations. Other attempts to analyze conversations with multiple participants have considered other global perspectives, such as transactivity, which focuses on argument sequences and how learners build upon their learning partners' contributions (Joshi & Rosé, 2007). ...
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