Project Converse is dedicated to improving face-to-face expressive communication for individuals with complex communication needs (CCN) who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Although AAC technologies have transformed access to communication, many individuals still encounter significant barriers when participating in one of the most fundamental human experiences: conversation.
Our mission is to challenge outdated assumptions about AAC-mediated communication and address the institutional barriers that have limited innovation in the field. By building a highly interdisciplinary research center, we aim to advance the study, design, and development of conversational AAC technologies that better support real-world human interaction.
Using a research-informed, interaction-centered approach, we will design and develop technologies that support children learning AAC and help bridge the communication gap experienced by adults who rely on AAC. Our work is grounded in the belief that effective communication technologies must be shaped by the lived experiences of AAC users and informed by evidence from social interaction research.
Project Converse brings together researchers, engineers, designers, artists, clinicians, and AAC users to rethink how AAC can support dynamic, in-person conversation. Our work focuses on fostering social engagement, mutual understanding, and personal empowerment through a range of interconnected initiatives, including:
Despite ongoing advances in technology, face-to-face interactions mediated by AAC often remain slow, fragmented, and vulnerable to misunderstanding. The research track focuses on deepening our understanding of how AAC users and their communication partners navigate conversation in real time.
Through a series of investigations, we examine communication strategies, composition delays, conversational breakdowns, and patterns of misunderstanding that frequently emerge during AAC-mediated interactions. These insights provide the foundation for the development of more responsive and conversationally supportive technologies.
The development track emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and inclusive design. Drawing on findings from our research and contemporary work in conversation and interaction analysis, we prototype and test interfaces that help AAC users participate more fluidly and naturally in conversation.
Our work is highly collaborative, bringing together AAC users, scientists, engineers, designers, and artists to imagine and create new possibilities for conversational communication.
Project Converse is committed to open, accessible, and community-facing dissemination of research and development. In addition to traditional scholarly outputs, we share ongoing project updates, reflections, and findings through this website.
We are also developing flexible, online, open-source platforms that will accelerate AAC research and development while making new tools and innovations broadly accessible to researchers, developers, clinicians, and AAC users worldwide.
- Investigating the interactional challenges experienced by individuals who use AAC during face-to-face communication.
- Expamding research efforts to better understand how children learn and develop AAC-based communication.
- Designing and developing conversational AAC technologies that enable users to participate more effectively, efficiently, and naturally in real-time interactions.
- Creating an interdisciplinary and inclusive research environment that actively includes AAC users as co-researchers and consultants in the design process.
- Training the next generation of researchers and engineers to apply interaction-focused research methods in academia, industry, and clinical practice.
- Advancing a culture of innovation that will help move the AAC field forward for decades to come.
The overarching goal of Project Converse is to develop effective conversational technologies and support their successful transition into the AAC marketplace, ensuring that research-driven innovations reach the people who can benefit from them most.
Project Converse is funded by a grant from the Engelke Family Foundation.