The EMCAI network brings together researchers working at the intersection of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA) and artificial intelligence (AI).
Our goal is to foster dialogue, to identify joint research agendas, and to create opportunities for collaboration.
What we do
We discuss emerging research trends and common challenges in EMCAI. We also host a data session series in which we discuss video recordings of interactions involving any form of artificial agent, such as robots and voice user interfaces.
Interested in participating? Sign up to receive invitations to the network meetings.
Who we are
The network was founded in summer 2020 after discussions at the European Conference on Conversation Analysis (ECCA2020) where Saul Albert presented a Keynote on meeting points between conversation analysis and artificial intelligence. Saul Albert, Hannah Pelikan, Kati Cyra, and Andreas Liesenfeld facilitated a series of initial meetings. About 30 people interested in EMCA approaches to artificial intelligence regularly attended these meetings, discussing interaction with AI in the form of voice assistants, natural language processing, autonomous vehicles and robots. Stuart Reeves summarised some of the discussions emerging from the network on navigating the incommensurability between ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and artificial intelligence. Since winter 2022, the mailing list and website are kindly hosted by ISCA. Lynn de Rijk, Hannah Pelikan, and Saul Albert are currently organizing regular meetings.