Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
16 results found in social interaction.
- Backchannel Feedback (Backchannel, Backchanneling, Backchannel Cues)
- Verbal or non-verbal signals given by a listener during a conversation to show attention, understanding, or agreement without taking over the speaking turn. Common examples include head nods, vocaliza…
- Co-Presence (Copresence)
- The sense of being together with another person in a shared space, whether physical or virtual, where individuals are aware of each other's presence and are "accessible, available, and subject to one …
- Communication Partner (CP, Conversation Partner)
- A person who communicates with an AAC user, whether through speech, sign, or other means. Communication partners play a critical role in the success of AAC interactions — their willingness to wait, th…
- Cultural Barrier (Cultural Challenge)
- Social and cultural norms that impede learning or participation in certain activities. In sign language education, cultural barriers significantly affect hearing learners' ability to produce non-manua…
- Dinner Table Syndrome
- The social and emotional isolation experienced by deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in hearing family settings where spoken language is the primary mode of communication. Named for the common exper…
- Disability Community (Disabled Community)
- A group of people connected by shared experiences of disability who may share culture, identity, advocacy goals, and mutual support networks. Disability communities can be organized around specific co…
- Head Pose Estimation (Head Orientation Detection, Gaze Direction Estimation)
- A computer vision technique that determines the orientation or direction a person's head is facing, typically classifying whether someone is looking towards or away from the camera. In accessibility c…
- Impression Management (Self-Presentation)
- The conscious or unconscious process of controlling how one is perceived by others, including managing what personal information is visible or shared. For blind people using visual assistance technolo…
- Parallel Play (Parallel Activity)
- A form of social interaction where individuals engage in separate activities alongside each other without direct interaction. Originally described in child development research by Mildred Parten in 19…
- Personal Space (Interpersonal Distance, Personal Distance Zone)
- The invisible boundary surrounding a person that they consider their own territory, the violation of which can cause discomfort or stress. Research by Edward T. Hall defined four distance zones: intim…
- Social Attention (Social Orienting)
- The set of behaviours, motivations, and perceptual processes involved in directing and coordinating attention toward other people during social interaction. Social attention includes orienting toward …
- Social Capital
- The networks of relationships, shared norms, trust, and reciprocity that enable individuals and communities to function effectively and access resources. People with intellectual disabilities often ha…
- Social Distancing (Physical Distancing)
- The practice of maintaining a minimum physical distance from other people to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases, widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic with recommended distances of a…
- Social Motor Synchrony (Interpersonal Synchrony, Motor Synchrony)
- The spontaneous or intentional coordination of body movements between two or more people during social interaction, such as matching rhythms, mirroring gestures, or moving in temporal alignment. Socia…
- Social Virtual Reality (Social VR, SVR)
- Virtual reality platforms designed primarily for social interaction, where users meet, communicate, and engage in shared activities through avatars in three-dimensional virtual spaces. Examples includ…
- Turn-Taking
- The process by which participants in a conversation manage who speaks when, including how speakers signal they are finished and how listeners indicate they want to contribute. Turn-taking norms are ty…