Push-to-Talk Social Talk

This paper presents an exploratory study of college-age students using two-way, push-to-talk cellular radios. We describe the observed and reported use of cellular radio by the participants. We discuss how the half-duplex, lightweight cellular radio communication was associated with reduced interactional commitment, which meant the cellular radios could be used for a wide range of conversation styles. One such style, intermittent conversation, is characterized by response delays. Intermittent conversation is surprising in an audio medium, since it is typically associated with textual media such as instant messaging. We present design implications of our findings.

[1]  Steve Whittaker,et al.  The character, functions, and styles of instant messaging in the workplace , 2002, CSCW '02.

[2]  Mark S. Ackerman,et al.  Mediated voice communication via mobile IP , 2002, UIST '02.

[3]  Austin Henderson,et al.  Your place or mine? Learning from long-term use of Audio-Video communication , 1996, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[4]  Daniel P. Siewiorek,et al.  In-car cell phone use: mitigating risk by signaling remote callers , 2002, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[5]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  Media Affordances of a Mobile Push-To-Talk Communication Service , 2003, ArXiv.

[6]  Leysia Palen,et al.  Discovery and Integration of Mobile Communications in Everyday Life , 2001, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.

[7]  Henry B. Strub,et al.  ConcertTalk: A Weekend With a Portable Audio Space , 1997, INTERACT.

[8]  Cristian Bogdan,et al.  IT Design for Amateur Communities , 2003 .

[9]  E. Schegloff,et al.  Opening up Closings , 1973 .

[10]  Leysia Palen,et al.  Instant messaging in teen life , 2002, CSCW '02.

[11]  Julian E. Orr,et al.  Ethnography and Organizational Learning: In Pursuit of Learning at Work , 1995 .

[12]  Owen Daly-Jones,et al.  Informal workplace communication: what is it like and how might we support it? , 1994, CHI '94.

[13]  Alexandra Weilenmann,et al.  Local use and sharing of mobile phones , 2001 .

[14]  Steve Whittaker,et al.  Theories and methods in mediated communication , 2003 .

[15]  Rebecca E. Grinter,et al.  Y Do Tngrs Luv 2 Txt Msg? , 2001, ECSCW.

[16]  Alex S. Taylor,et al.  Age-old practices in the 'new world': a study of gift-giving between teenage mobile phone users , 2002, CHI.

[17]  Mark S. Ackerman,et al.  Hanging on the ‘wire: a field study of an audio-only media space , 1997, TCHI.

[18]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  How push-to-talk makes talk less pushy , 2003, GROUP.

[19]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  Making space for stories: ambiguity in the design of personal communication systems , 2005, CHI.

[20]  Christian Heath,et al.  Broadcast Talk: Initiating Calls Through a Computer-Mediated Technology , 2002 .

[21]  Richard Ling,et al.  Hyper-coordination via mobile phones in Norway , 2002 .

[22]  Herbert H. Clark,et al.  Grounding in communication , 1991, Perspectives on socially shared cognition.

[23]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  The mad hatter's cocktail party: a social mobile audio space supporting multiple simultaneous conversations , 2003, CHI '03.

[24]  Gregory D. Abowd,et al.  The Family Intercom: Developing a Context-Aware Audio Communication System , 2001, UbiComp.

[25]  Bonnie A. Nardi,et al.  Interaction and outeraction: instant messaging in action , 2000, CSCW '00.

[26]  Mizuko Ito.  Mobile Phones, Japanese Youth, and the Re-placement of Social Contact , 2005 .

[27]  E. Vesterinen,et al.  Affective Computing , 2009, Encyclopedia of Biometrics.

[28]  Hanging On , 2002, Science.