Ch5

• Social interaction


  What is meant by social interaction
• Overview of social interaction

  • What is meant by social interaction
  • The social mechanisms used in conversations
  • What is meant by social presence
  • Overview of technologies for supporting social interaction
  • How has social media changed how we keep in touch
  • New social phenomenon arising from being able to connect online
• Are we spending too much time in our own digital bubbles?
• Social interaction


  The social mechanisms used in conversations
• Questions raised by social tech

  • Are Face-2-Face conversations being superseded by social media interactions?
  • How many friends do you have on Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and so on versus real life?
  • How much do they overlap?
  • How are the ways that we live and interact with one another changing?
  • Are the established rules and etiquette still applicable to online and offline?
• Conversational mechanisms


  1. Mutual greetings

  2. A: Hi there

  3. B: Hi!

  4. C: Hi

  5. A: All right?

  6. C: Good, how's it going?

  7. A: Fine, how are you?

  8. C: OK

  9. B: So-so. How's life treating you?
• Conversational rules


  • Rule 1: The current speaker chooses the next speaker by asking an opinion, question, or request
  • Rule 2: Another person decides to start speaking
  • Rule 3: The current speaker continues talking
• More conversational rules


  1. Turn-taking used to coordinate conversation

  2. A: Shall we meet at 8:00?

  3. B: Um, can we meet a bit later?

  4. A: Shall we meet at 8:00?

  5. B: Wow, look at him?

  6. A: Yes what a funny hairdo!

  7. B: Um, can we meet a bit later?

  8. Back channeling to signal to continue and following

  9. Uh-uh, umm, ahh
• Further conversational rules


  1. Farewell rituals

  2. Bye then, see you, yeah bye, see you later....

  3. Implicit and explicit cues

  4. For instance, looking at watch or fidgeting with coat and bags

  5. Explicitly saying, "Oh dear, look at the time, I must go, I'm running late..."
• Breakdowns in conversation


  1. When someone says something that is misunderstood:

  2. Speaker will repeat with emphasis:

  3. A: "This one?"

  4. B: "No, I meant that one!"

  5. Also use tokens:

  6. Eh? Quoi? Huh? What?
• Online conversations


  • Do the same conversational rules apply?
  • Are there different kinds of breakdowns?
  • How do people repair them for:
  • Email?
  • Instant messaging?
  • Texting?
  • Skype or other videoconferencing software?
• Remote conversations


  • Much research on how to support conversations when people are 'at a distance' from each other
  • Many applications have been developed
  • For example, email, videoconferencing, instant messaging, and chatrooms
  • Do they mimic or move beyond existing ways of conversing?
• VideoWindow system (Bellcore, 1989)


  • Shared space that allowed people 50 miles apart to carry on a conversation as if in the same room drinking coffee together
• Findings of how VideoWindow System was used
• Videoconferencing and telepresence rooms


  • Many to choose from to connect multiple people (for instance, Zoom)
  • Customized telepresence rooms for groups
• Telepresence robots


  • Enable people to attend events who could not do so, such as by controlling their robot remotely
  • In places such as schools, conferences, and museums
  • Early example: Beam+
  • Often dressed up to appear like the person to others at the event
  • Positive experience of being there
  • Susan Lechelt at ACM CHI
• Telepresence


  Refers to one party being present with another party, who is present in a physical space, such as a meeting room
• Social presence


  Refers to the feeling of being there with a real person when in virtual reality
• Facebook/Meta vision of socializing in a 3D world using VR


  • People presence through Avatars
  • Users experience each other through donning VR headsets
• Telepresence


  • How much realism and immersion are necessary to make it compelling?
  • Telepresence rooms try to make remote people appear to be realistic.
  • Use multiple high-definition cameras with eye-tracking features and directional microphones
  • Do we have the tech to provide that presence?
• Co-presence


  • Co-located groups who want to collaborate
  • Many technologies have been designed to:
  • Enable groups to work, learn and socialize more effectively together
  • For example, tabletops, whiteboards, and public displays
• Coordination mechanisms


  • Verbal and non-verbal communication
  • Schedules, rules, and conventions
  • Shared external representations
• Face-2-Face coordinating mechanisms


  1. Talking to each others is central

  2. Non-verbal also used to emphasize and as a substitute

  3. For instance, nods, shakes, winks, glances, gestures, and hand-raising

  4. Formal meetings

  5. Explicit structures such as agendas, memos, and minutes are employed to coordinate the activity
• Awareness mechanisms


  • Involves knowing who is around, what is happening, and who is talking with whom (Dourish and Bly, 1992)
  • Peripheral awareness
  • Keeping an eye on things happening in the periphery of vision
  • Overhearing and overseeing—allows tracking of what others are doing without explicit cues
  • Situational awareness
  • Being aware of what is happening around you in order to understand how information and your actions will affect ongoing and future events
  • For example, air traffic control or an operating theatre
• Sharable interfaces


  • Designed to capitalize on existing forms of coordination and awareness mechanisms
  • Several studies investigating whether they help people to work together better, have found:
  • More equitable participation
  • More natural to work around
  • More comfortable sitting around a table than standing in front of a display
• The Reflect Table


  • LEDs lit up to reflect how much each member of the group spoke
  • Used microphones in front of each individual to do this
  • Study showed those who spoke the most changed their behavior the most
  • Those who spoke the least did not change their behavior
  • Why do you think this is?
• Sococo floor plan of a virtual office:

  • who is where and who meeting with whom
• Retweeting goes viral


  • The epic Twitter battle between Ellen DeGeneres and Carter Wilkerson
  • Millions retweeted in the space of hours
  • Connected millions of people for a fun cause
  • Many people found it amusing to join in and watch the numbers grow
• Dilemma: Is it OK to talk with a dead person using a chatbot?
• Summary


  • Social interaction is central to our everyday lives
  • Social mechanisms, like turn-taking, enable us to collaborate and coordinate our activities
  • Keeping aware of what others are doing and letting others know what you are doing are important aspects of collaborative working and socializing
  • Many technology systems have been built to support telepresence, social presence, and co-presence
  • Social media has brought about significant changes in how people keep in touch and manage their social lives