Kategoriarkiv: Posts in English

London, and @IARC2016, here I come!

Afasi - Aphasia, Identitet - Identity, Kommunikation på nätet - Online communication, Konferenser - Conferences, Om projektet - About the project, Posts in English 1 svar

One week from today, I’ll be on my way to London, to attend the International Aphasia Rehabilitation Conference (IARC).  To quote the IARC web page, the conference ”is based on a tradition of excellence, and brings together researchers and clinical specialists in Speech-Language Pathology, Linguistics, Neuropsychology, and Rehabilitation Medicine dedicated to aphasia rehabilitation”.

On the second day of the conference (15th December) I will be presenting a poster (marked P223), on the topic ”Online re-negotiation of identity in post-stroke aphasia”. I have interviewed nine individuals, observed their online communication and analysed the material based on social semiotics and Goffman’s theory of stigma, trying to find out how they manage their stigma and re-negotiate their identity.

I am really looking forward to the conference! The programme is very interesting, and I hope to meet a lot of inspiring people from all around the globe. IARC, see you soon!

Stay tuned: follow the IARC conference on Twitter (@IARC2016)!

iarcwebb

Identity, you say?

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So, I claim identity to be central to my research. But what, really, is identity? What’s the difference between identity and personality, for example? Or between identity and experience? Identity and attribute? Property? Capacity? I’m struggling a bit here…

But, what I do know is that identity is created in relation to others, and that language is the tool we use in this construction. This means losing your language (partially or entirely) must affect your identity. Or, as Monica Blom Johansson puts it in her dissertation from 2012: ”if identity is a product of relationships, it follows that it may be harmed by having aphasia”.

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Btw, Monica’s dissertation is available in full-text here!

So, what is aphasia? Two videos from TED-ed

Afasi - Aphasia, Posts in English, Tips - Recommendations 1 svar

So, what is aphasia? Well, the formal answer would be ”an acquired language impairment caused by brain injury such as stroke”, but does that makes things any clearer? 

TED-ed has made a few lessons on the topic, and they are worth watching! Start with these two: 

Aphasia, the disorder that makes you loose words 


Watch the lesson here: https://youtu.be/-GsVhbmecJA 

The treasure hunt


Watch the lesson (which by the way is told in rhymes) here: https://youtu.be/3qZmO1iKASg
In my project, I focus on the identity issues caused by the aphasia. This aspect is not really mentioned in these videos, but I guess that only makes my project even more important. 

”Where words aren’t needed” 

Afasi - Aphasia, Kommunikation på nätet - Online communication, Konferenser - Conferences, Posts in English Lämna ett svar

Online communication provides ways to express feelings, thoughts or desires without having to type actual words. Since Facebook introduced the ”reactions” buttons, we are not only able to ”like” but also ”love” posts, or show that then make us feel ”angry”, ”sad” or ”happy”. Facebook promotes these buttons by stating they provide ”a place where words aren’t needed”.

Living with aphasia is challenging, in a world filled with words. But what are words, anyway? If I press a button saying ”like”, am I not using words then? Am I not verbally expressing myself? When I share your post on Facebook, whose words am I using – mine or yours? Could it be that online communication enables people with aphasia to actually communicate verbally?

The Language, Literacy and Identity International Conference in Sheffield sure got my mind spinning, that’s for sure.

Manchester, July 2016.

Manchester, July 2016.

……………..

Update: the conference team in Sheffield put together a nice recap.

Aphasia Awareness Month #AphasiaAwareness

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AphasiaAwareness from kidscures.orgJune is the Aphasia Awareness Month. The aim is to share information and stories about aphasia, to raise awareness about this acquired communication disorder. In Sweden, some 10,000 people get aphasia each year, and the most common cause is stroke.

A campaign that caught my attention is ”Finding Words” at the Faces of Aphasia website. It aims to show how diverse the group is. Anyone can get aphasia, at any age! Read more, and see all the faces, at facesofaphasia.com

Read more about aphasia

In Swedish: www.afasi.se (Afasiförbundet)

In English: www.aphasia.org (National Aphasia Association, US)

My earlier posts about aphasia (in Swedish and in English): http://blogg.hh.se/aphasia-online/category/afasi-aphasia/

 

(Picture abocve from http://kidscures.org/june-is-aphasia-awareness/)

Second life – Lecture by Ulrike Schultze 

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Today’s privilege in being a PhD student: getting to listen to Ulrike Schultze. Her research is about cyborgian identity in Second Life and the lecture addressed subjects such as embodiment, reality/virtuality dualism and sociomateriality of virtual worlds. Very interesting!  

Maybe it’s time I revived my Second Life avatar Elena Katscher… 

  

Sheffield, here I come!

Identitet - Identity, Kommunikation på nätet - Online communication, Konferenser - Conferences, Om projektet - About the project, Posts in English Lämna ett svar

Good news! I am invited to present my research at the Language, Literacy and Identity International Conference in Sheffield in July. My presentation will be about online communication as improved stigma management in post-stroke aphasia.

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Read more about the conference in the attached poster (pdf): CSL Updated Poster 2016

 

Aphasiology – special issue about digital technology

Afasi - Aphasia, Handikappvetenskap - Disability Research, Kommunikation på nätet - Online communication, Posts in English, Tips - Recommendations Lämna ett svar

papersThe journal Aphasiology publishes a wide range of scientific articles about aphasia. In early 2016 they gathered research about aphasia and digital technology in a special issue, with the aim to bring together researchers from aphasiology and human-computer interaction.

Read the articles here: Aphasiology – Special Issue: Digital Technology and Aphasia

Post-stroke aphasia and identity, online and offline

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People ask me ”what is your project all about”? Well, here’s my answer.

The project is about post-stroke aphasia and identity, online and offline. Aphasia is a language disorder caused by a brain injury. The most common cause is stroke. Post-stroke aphasia affects some 10.000 people in Sweden every year, of which about a third are between 18 and 65.

Aphasia can be understood not only as losing your language but also as being deprived of your identity, since the language is the mediating tool we use to construct our identities.

Online communication is a key to inclusion and participation in the Swedish democratic society. 80% of the Swedish population use the Internet on a daily basis. Hence, it is fair to assume that a large proportion of the people living with aphasia have been Internet users and that being an internet user formed an important part of their identities pre-stroke.

The aim of this study is therefore to examine how working-age Swedish Internet users with post-stroke aphasia construct their identity offline and online.

Nine participants with post-stroke aphasia are included in the project. They are between 26 and 61 years old. Data consists of transcribed interviews and posts from online social media. The analysis is qualitative and performed using the software Nvivo.

At this point (eg March 2016) the project has been going on for a year and a half. The main focus right now is summarizing the results and writing two articles. Hopefully, the results will also soon be presented at some international conference.