Steve Whittaker, AT&T Labs-Research, USA: Rethinking conversational models for workplace interaction

Current models of face to face interaction make a number of assumptions about the nature of conversation. According to these theories, conversations are thought to be: self-contained, single-threaded, ephemeral, linguistic and informational. I will talk about two sets of naturalistic studies of workplace interaction that challenge these assumptions. The first study of face to face workplace interaction finds conversations to be intermittent and repeated, multi-threaded and artefact-centered. I will describe a system, TeleNotes that we built to address these problems and support this type of interaction. The second study investigates asynchronous email and voicemail conversations finding them to be intermittent and repeated, multi-threaded, permanent and social. I will describe a second system, ContactMap that addresses this second set of issues. I will conclude by discussing how conversational theories need to be modified in the light of these new findings.

Välkommna!
John Cumberbatch