Clippit Post Mortem Panel Tim Bickmore John Davis Lewis Johnson Brian Whitworth

Format Overview & Objectives Motivation behind & Genesis of Clippit Panelist presentations Audience Q&A

Panelist Questions What is the best thing about Clippit from an etiquette perspective? What is the single worst thing about Clippit from an etiquette perspective? What could have been done to detect and fix the problem? Is there a role for character-based interfaces in desktop applications? What etiquette model(s) would you use? What design methodology would you use? How would you evaluate your design?

What could have been done differently? A Look at Interruptions Tim Bickmore MIT Media Lab

Turn-taking in f2f conversation Duncan, S. On the structure of speaker-auditor interaction during speaking turns. Language in Society 3, 1974, Goodwin, C. Achieving Mutual Orientation at Turn Beginning. Conversational Organization: Interaction between Speakers and Hearers. Academic Press, New York, 1981, Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., and Jefferson, G. A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn- Taking for Conversation. Language 50, 1974, Torres, O., et al Modeling Gaze Behavior as a Function of Discourse Structure, in Proceedings of First International Workshop on Human-Computer Conversation, 1997.

Turn-taking in f2f conversation Speaker Give-Turn Auditor Take-Turn Speaker Keep-Turn Paralinguistic drawl on final syllable of clause Termination of hand gesture Discourse markers (‘but uh’, ‘you know’) Completion of clause Gaze away Start of hand gesture Gaze away Speaker Request Feedback Gaze towards & End clause Pause or Restart FunctionBehavior

Interruption in f2f conversation Bargiela-Chiappini, F. and Harris, S. J. Interruptive strategies in British and Italian management meetings. Text 16, 3, 1996, Brown, P. and Levinson, S. C. Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Tannen, D. Conversational Style: Analyzing talk among friends. Ablex, Norwood, New Jersey, Ulijn, J. M. and Li, X. Is interrupting impolite? Some temporal aspects of turn-taking in Chinese-Western and other intercultural business encounters. Text 15, 4, 1995,

Interruption in f2f conversation “Any deviation from a smooth speaker switch” Ulijn & Li Unmarked – gives impression of a normal turn switch. e.g. during hesitation in 2 nd half of utterance Marked – Depicted as unexpected by the speaker e.g. during planning hesitation, or while speaking Marked interruptions are more frequent Study of Chinese, Finnish, Dutch – Ulijn & Li

Interruption as Face Threat True interruption (violation of norms) is a face threat. Threat to positive face (desire for inclusion) Threat to negative face (desire for autonomy) Depending on nature of relationship, some amount of mitigation is called for Positive politeness: I’m really enjoying your story, but.. Negative politeness: I’m very sorry, but…

Interruption in f2f conversation Significant cultural variation in “involvement” style Turn overlap / Inter-turn delay Significant variation based on relationship Power & Distance Significant variation based on personality

Interruption in f2f conversation Interruptions are not always bad In a study of British and Italian management meetings, the majority of interruptions were facilitative (supporting, reinforcing, etc.). [Bargiela-Chiappini & Harris] Power Conflicting findings on relationship with frequency of interruptions. One study: high power interrupt and are interrupted more (and have more floor time); low power individuals rarely interrupt and are rarely interrupted. [ibid]

Back to Clippit Two levels of interrupt: Shortcut tip – displays light bulb Important, timely information — taps at the screen and gestures. In both cases, character appears if not already displayed. Both “wanting turn” signals, may be interpreted as interruptions.

Suggestions for Clippit2 Only interrupt at “transition relevant points” When user has paused, or is otherwise in-between tasks. Use gaze to help determine when user is giving the turn. Be sensitive to culture, personality, “relationship”, even task context e.g., a user on deadline probably doesn’t want tips Be clear about how the relationship works Express appropriate politeness