NSF Award
0803225
The research proposes to integrate theories and methods from computer-supported collaborative work and learning (CSCW and CSCL) to promote better human-computer intercultural interactions. The research will consist of three phases: 1) identify and categorize intercultural communication problems and determine how they impact group outcomes; 2) apply machine learning to automatically recognize recognize when communication problems arise (or are likely to arise); and, 3) develop and test interventions for improving intercultural communication that could be triggered based on the automatic analysis. <br/><br/>This work has the potential to improve the design of global on-line classroom experiences and business collaborations. At the societal level, the research will help improve intercultural communication and the effectiveness of intercultural teams. This work will also advance the emerging field of automatic collaborative process analysis, which until now has focused only on English-speaking collaborations.
