Multimodal participation in civilian crisis management training: Embodied practices in task-based interaction

Crisis management experts work in complex environments and carry out demanding tasks in crisis areas around the world. They must work together as teams effectively in order to succeed in their work, as well as collaborate together in critical settings.

This dissertation studies how civilian crisis management trainees participate in interaction together to accomplish various training exercises. The dissertation explore how the trainees multimodally interact, that is, how they employ verbal, embodied, sensorial, and material resources to collaborate on joint tasks. The studies use ethnomethodological conversation analysis (EMCA) to examine video recordings of authentic institutional training that prepares the trainees for their work in crisis areas. The training features simulated exercises based on real-life high-stakes scenarios.

All of the studies show how the trainees use talk, object manipulation, gesture, body posture and torque, touch, and movement – locally, temporally, and sequentially – to convey their presence in a team and their orientation to a shared task. The findings showcase the multimodal nature of interaction, which provides novel insight for the field of crisis management.