269111 – Communication Technology in a Changing World Week 6 Dr. Ken Cosh

Recap Introduction to Semiotics Saussure Peirce Dyadic Model Triadic Model

This Week A little more on Semiotics Communication and Collaboration Models Human Computer Interaction (Dix – Chapter 14)

But First Remember “Layers” TCP/IP Application Layer Transport Layer Internet Layer Link Layer Today we’ll look at a different set of layers The Semiotic Ladder

The Semiotic Ladder Social World Pragmatics Semantics Syntactics Empirics Physical World

The Semiotic Ladder Physical World

The Semiotic Ladder Empirics Physical World

The Semiotic Ladder Syntactics Empirics Physical World

The Semiotic Ladder Semantics Syntactics Empirics Physical World

The Semiotic Ladder Pragmatics Semantics Syntactics Empirics Physical World

The Semiotic Ladder Social World Pragmatics Semantics Syntactics Emprirics Physical World

Communicating via signs If all communication is carried by signs For communication to succeed we need to consider all the rungs on the Semiotic Ladder

Face to Face Communication Primitive In terms of technology Sophisticated In terms of complex interplay between different channels Not just speech and hearing Also body language & eye gaze

Personal Space How much space do you need? Different cultures allow different distances Environmental factors (such as noise) affect space But can you be comfortable? What does this have to do with technology?

Video Conferencing #1

Video Conferencing #2

Video Conferencing #3

Solution? Can I control the zoom on Tom’s camera, and he control mine?

Eye Gaze What’s it for? How about on video conferences? Lovers Checking attention Conveying interest / confusion / boredom Authority / Power Building a bond How about on video conferences?

Video Conferencing #4

Gestures “Lets move this one there…” Technological Assistance Group Pointer Shared Work Surface

The Power of “Um” Aha! Erm! Hmmm…! Er! Um! Uhh!

“Back Channels” For Confirmation / Interruption Electronic communication reduces the channels available; Sight Sound Gesture As we lose channels, we lose back channel responses

Context Context helps us understand, and back channels provide context; Internal context Depending on previous utterances External context Depending on the environment

“Do you want one?”

“Do you want one?”

“Do you want one?”

Turn taking A conversation is a series of turns… I could request a ‘turn’ with “well, uh…” You could offer a ‘turn’ with “what do you think?” Often turns are signified with a pause or gap in conversation. We live in a physical world, and physics says communication can not be instant… Quick(er), but not instant Given these pauses are short, often the pauses are lost during telecommunication Leading to confused conversations

Breakdown A: Isn’t that beautiful? B: The symmetry of the branches A: How some people can dislike them I can’t understand. B: Yes, the rangers should cull those deer, they strip the bark terribly in winter…

Repair We are efficient at repairing communication breakdowns However with electronic communication Lack of redundant channels Reduced turn taking frequency Reduced back channels In reality it isn’t the breakdowns that cause problems, but the inability to recover from them.

Constructing a shared understanding What is different between reading a book, and sitting in class? Here we can build a common ground Much of communication is concerned with building common ground Utterances should be relevant & helpful Relevant – continuing the current topic Helpful – considering the listeners knowledge & understanding

Where is it? “Just passed the pub…” Assuming we know which pub, this is relevant and helpful It creates a common ground within the conversation It doesn’t matter that “A” thinks of the pub with memories of a great party, while “B” has never been, but has seen the sign. i.e. we don’t necessarily need the same sense of individual signifiers if the conversation leads us to the same global sense.

Text Based Communication Common & Familiar From letters to Google wave Very different style from face-to-face communication Discrete: directed messages such as email, with no explicit connection between messages Linear: Participants messages added in temporal order to a single transcript Non-linear: messages are linked together in hypertext fashion Spatial: Messages arranged across 2D surface

Back Channels Text based communication loses channels Gesture, Body Language, Facial Expressions Loss of Affective State of speaker Happy, Sad, Angry, Humorous Loss of Illocutionary Force of the message Importance, Urgency

Emoticons Emoticons are often used to convey this :-) ;-)

Netspeak LOL BRB BBL IDK WTF GTG ASL RL ROFLMAO 555 PRW NIFOC 2BH FOOBAR GNOC IMHO J/K L8R NOOB

Emotion Text based communication is often more heated, by calmer conversants Stronger language, as message has to be explicit Emotionally distanced, often time to calm down between messages

Email culture Becoming more or less important? Originally Email was unreliable “I didn’t get it” ;) No guilt felt Originally we wouldn’t react the same way to an email as a formal letter But different cultures treat email differently

Turn Taking Different environments Cotemporality? Message is seen as soon as it is typed Simultaneity? Participants send and receive at the same time Sequential? Utterances are ordered How often have you misunderstood an online chat conversation due to sequential issues?

Overlapping A: How many should be in the group? B: Maybe this could be one of the four strongest reasons? A: What do you mean? B: I agree A: Hang on? B: What did you mean?

Group discussions When multiple users chat simultaneously, these issues grow: Alison: Brian’s got some lovely roses Brian: I’m afraid they are covered in greenfly Clarise: I’ve seen them, they’re beautiful Google Wave?

Group Project How did the Google Docs project go? How did you work as a group? In what ways was Google Docs useful? In what ways was Google Docs unhelpful? What alternative collaboration means would be useful?