Colette R Brunschwig

Colette R. Brunschwig is a Senior Research Associate at the Legal Visualization Unit of the University of Zurich, Department of Law. She is responsible for the content management of the Legal Visualization Unit’s legal image database. Her research focuses on law‘s visualization, audio-visualization (videos, films, animations, and so forth), and multi-sensorization (virtual realities, humanoid robots). Her publications, postings, and presentations at national and international conferences strive to promote, expand, and intensify the ongoing debate on these subject matters.

Outlook

As the visualization, audio-visualization, and multi-sensorization of law is an emerging field of inquiry, I intend to undertake further relevant research. Specifically, I would like to explore in greater depth whether and how the visual, audio-visual, and ultimately the multi-sensory design of legal information might affect addressees in positive terms, be it at a cognitive, an emotional, and a motivational level. Similar to the approach of good listening, what I tentatively call multi-sensory law has a mental health agenda. By designing legal information in new ways, multi-sensory law aims at overcoming the negative effect that the flood of legal Information can have on its addressees. This means that the addressees of multi-coded and thus multi-sensory legal information probably do not avoid anymore dealing with it, but instead become interested in understanding and perhaps even assimilating it.

Regarding the approach of good listening, I would like to add that a great part of legal work depends on listening to someone, or on being listened to. Many legal problems result from someone not hearing something, or getting it in the wrong way. In general, legal actors do not really know how to listen. With the exception of a few law schools , active listening skills are not taught. Learning listening skills and awareness makes or would make better lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police officers, and so forth. The Global Listening Centre to which I lend my energies contributes to promoting these skills and this awareness.