Conversational effectiveness in multimedia communications

Oregon Graduate Institute reports a laboratory experiment that compared three different communications modalities (face‐to‐face, audio‐only, and audio and video) across two co‐operative tasks, which can be characterized as visual and non‐visual. In each task, effectiveness varied as a significant function of modality. However, the directions of these functions were opposite. That is, for the visual task conversants were more effective in the face‐to‐face and audio and video modalities than in the audio‐only modality; for the non‐visual task, conversants were more effective in the audio‐only modality than in the face‐to‐face modality. Additional analysis of the non‐visual tasks suggests that modality affects the extent to which asymmetry of knowledge results in asymmetry of influence between conversants.

[1]  Steve Whittaker,et al.  Conversations Over Video Conferences: An Evaluation of the Spoken Aspects of Video-Mediated Communication , 1993, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[2]  Thomas P. Moran,et al.  The workaday world as a paradigm for CSCW design , 1990, CSCW '90.

[3]  John C. Tang,et al.  VideoDraw: a video interface for collaborative drawing , 1990, CHI '90.

[4]  David G. Novick,et al.  CONTROLLING INTERACTION WITH META-ACTS , 1991, SGCH.

[5]  S. Bulick,et al.  The US West Advanced Technologies prototype multimedia communication system , 1989, IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, 1989, and Exhibition. 'Communications Technology for the 1990s and Beyond.

[6]  M. Abel.  Experiences in an exploratory distributed organization , 1990 .

[7]  G. D. Weeks,et al.  Studies in Interactive Communication: I. The Effects of Four Communication Modes on the Behavior of Teams During Cooperative Problem-Solving , 1972 .

[8]  Marilyn Tremaine,et al.  Experiences in the use of a media space , 1991, CHI.

[9]  S. Garrod,et al.  Saying what you mean in dialogue: A study in conceptual and semantic co-ordination , 1987, Cognition.

[10]  Philip R. Cohen.  The Pragmatics of Referring and the Modality of Communication , 1984, Comput. Linguistics.

[11]  H. H. Clark,et al.  Understanding by addressees and overhearers , 1989, Cognitive Psychology.

[12]  Steven H. Lewis,et al.  Listener Responsiveness and the Coordination of Conversation , 1982 .

[13]  Herbert H. Clark,et al.  Contributing to Discourse , 1989, Cogn. Sci..

[14]  M. Argyle,et al.  Gaze and Mutual Gaze , 1994, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[15]  B. Webber,et al.  Elements of Discourse Understanding , 1983 .

[16]  David G. Novick,et al.  Control of mixed-initiative discourse through meta-locutionary acts: a computational model , 1988 .

[17]  Shiro Sakata,et al.  Distributed multiparty desktop conferencing system: MERMAID , 1990, CSCW '90.

[18]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[19]  Terry Winograd,et al.  A language perspective on the design of cooperative work , 1988 .

[20]  John C. Tang,et al.  VideoWhiteboard: video shadows to support remote collaboration , 1991, CHI.

[21]  G. D. Weeks,et al.  Studies in Interactive Communication: II. The Effects of Four Communication Modes on the Linguistic Performance of Teams during Cooperative Problem Solving , 1977 .

[22]  Alan Borning,et al.  Two approaches to casual interaction over computer and video networks , 1991, CHI.

[23]  H. H. Clark,et al.  Referring as a collaborative process , 1986, Cognition.

[24]  Ederyn Williams,et al.  Experimental comparisons of face-to-face and mediated communication: A review. , 1977 .

[25]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  What is coordination theory and how can it help design cooperative work systems? , 1990, CSCW '90.

[26]  Hiroshi Ishii,et al.  TeamWorkStation: towards a seamless shared workspace , 1990, CSCW '90.

[27]  Candace L. Sidner,et al.  Attention, Intentions, and the Structure of Discourse , 1986, CL.

[28]  Philip R. Cohen,et al.  Discourse structure and performance efficiency in interactive and non-interactive spoken modalities☆ , 1991 .

[29]  David G. Novick,et al.  Modeling belief and action in a multi-agent system , 1990, Proceedings [1990]. AI, Simulation and Planning in High Autonomy Systems.

[30]  Robert W. Root,et al.  Design of a multi-media vehicle for social browsing , 1988, CSCW '88.

[31]  Robert G. Schwab,et al.  The communicative economy of the workgroup: multi-channel genres of communication , 1988, CSCW '88.

[32]  John Bowers,et al.  Local and global structuring of computer mediated communication: developing linguistic perspectives on CSCW in cosmos , 1988, CSCW '88.