Written by Eija Kakko
Communication via technology has been rapidly rising in the past few years: advanced technology has brought us diverse and effective ways to communicate so that everybody can have their own favourite platform of keeping in touch with other people.
It is said that 55% percent of our communication is based on non-verbal cues, cues like our small psychical reactions. Some sources say it may be even more. As the amount of communication happening via technology has grown, our share of getting non-verbal hints has decreased.
So what to do if you want to be sure you made your intentions clear?
Communication via technology has been rapidly rising in the past few years: advanced technology has brought us diverse and effective ways to communicate so that everybody can have their own favourite platform of keeping in touch with other people.
It is said that 55% percent of our communication is based on non-verbal cues, cues like our small psychical reactions. Some sources say it may be even more. As the amount of communication happening via technology has grown, our share of getting non-verbal hints has decreased.
So what to do if you want to be sure you made your intentions clear?
Emojis, uppercase letters, informal language, avatars, acronyms – the synthetical ways of compensating the lack of non-verbal cues are widely used via different platforms. Basically all the messaging applications have the opportinity of snapping a picture right in the moment and edit text on it like it was some kind of picture text message - a evolved version of traditional text message. It's definetly also on way of compensating missing nonverbal cues even thought sending pictures of yourseld directly to a new person may see too intimate or wierd in official contextes.
How to improve existing ways?
Being psychically present in meetings has many positive effects starting from overall effectiveness. Companies are more global than ever and flying to other country to attend to ameeting isn’t a big deal. At the same time global warming and other environmental issues are seriously discussed and flying isn’t seen very healthy habit to the Earth.
One way of dealing these issues is developing videocalling applications and take them in the direction of 3D hologram technologies. Ability to 3D project a real time version of yourself would compensate the lack of missing non-verbal cues and you wouldn’t need to use flying to only attend to a meeting.
Microsoft is already putting money on research of 3D hologram technologies. The pretty interesting situation in 2016 can been seen on the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d59O6cfaM0
Future
So maybe one day technology will be so advanced we don’t have to think about flatness of our communication via CMC – but in the other hand, with so advanced technology, how easy it would be to adjust AI to recognize some specific feelings and erase them away and replace with more suitable ones? Couldn’t we again be sure about other person’s real emotions? We will see :-------O
Sources
Ahtinen, A. and Chowdhury, A. 2018. Psychology of Pervasive Computing lecture slides. Tampere University of Technology.
Storper, M. and Venables, J. 2004. Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy. Journal of Economic Geography. 1 (August 2004), 351-370. DOI: https://doi-org.helios.uta.fi/10.1093/jnlecg/lbh027
Incorporates the message of the lecture quite well, the text is also fairly well written, but does have certain small things that hinder the reading experience for instance, a few spelling errors and the abbreviations should be explained.
ReplyDeleteThe text is more focused on the technical aspects and most of the psychological analysis and effects have not been explored.
-Shayan
I really liked the reference you made to sustainability.
ReplyDeleteWhile the benefits of attending the meeting on the short term (or just for the company) may be beneficial, it affects everyone.
It would be importance to see what affect face to face interactions have not only for the interactors, but for others, and examine how could technology help us.
With technology becoming greener, but the rising importance or "being old school" about interacting, it may be conflicting, so how could we solve both issues?
Adding to the possible 3D hologram technologies, advanced VR real time meetings could be highly beneficial :D
Hi!
ReplyDeleteSome very interesting ideas in your text. I work for a Finnish organization but none of the people I actually work with, work from the same office space I do. That means that I do a lot of my work meetings online - for example Skype. I feel that calling without the video connection has it good and bad sides. For example I have some meetings that I just have to hang around and be available if my help is needed at some point and I usually work on my computer with other stuff while there's nothing concerning me. I wouldn't appreciate having to have a live video (or a 3D avatar) of me showing in a situation like that. On the other hand we do a lot of trainig via Skype and usually without video since we have to use the connection for screen sharing. But I would still feel that the training situation would be a lot easier and more interesting to follow if I could see the person giving the training.
All in all I feel that communication might be easier when you can also receive the non-verbal cues but in a organizations like mine, where majority of communication is based just on speech or text, I don't feel that I necessarily miss or need any other sorts of communication. Only time I might want to use for example 3D holograms would be if I was communicating with someone new for the first time. That way they would probably feel a bit less of a stranger.
Noora
I really liked that worklife aspect that noted flying across the world to business meeting to this subject. Practical issue in which technology could save time, environment, money and probably nerves of the ones that were supposed to travel. That example shows also that you have writing skills: I think it is easy to present information, but to make it memorable by examples is way more difficult! Good work!
ReplyDeleteJouko M.
Interesting article! Didn't know that the percent of non-verbal cues is that high. It's something I personally has to think about nowadays, I work in different city than my office is, so the non-verbal communication is mostly used way of communication. Nicely done article, it was really easy to read
ReplyDeleteRiina P
Incorporates the message of the lecture quite well, the text is also fairly well written, but does have certain small things that hinder the reading experience for instance, a few spelling errors and the abbreviations should be explained.
ReplyDeleteThe text is more focused on the technical aspects and most of the psychological analysis and effects have not been explored, for instance what psychologically advantageous aspects would a hologram bring to a virtual presence compared to a regular text, speach or even video communications.
Personally, I think the idea of limiting the ammount of people moving arround to do jobs they could do at home is a very novel and beneficial concept that would hopefully gain traction in the future and gain widespread adoption. Also I find your omen of the edited version of everyones online presence distressing but at the same time quite possible.
-Shayan
Thanks for good post!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you gave work life example of this situation and this is something which I've seen in my work too. Sometimes chatting in Skype just isn't enough to explain the situation, and then voice call is needed. What if that's not enough? Then it's video call or even keeping real meeting. Driving hundreds of kilometers to have a meeting with bunch of people sounds really stupid, especially environmentally, but sometimes having face-to-face meetings is the most efficient way of doing things.
I'm also looking forward how the work communication will develop in the future, so flying or driving to meetings wouldn't happen so often like it does currently.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteAs you said, there are many ways to compensate the lack of non-verbal cues, when messaing with friends or family. The usefulness of these ways differ greatly with the context. I wouldn't use emojis, gifs, acronyms etc. with work place messaging. Meetings can be replaced with video calls, but it is still lacking the presence of other participants.
You made a great point about flying to the meetings. Nowadays is essential to think about our planet. Although, it is usually easier (and cheaper, for now) for employers to just fly you to the meeting. I wasn't aware about the Microsoft's holoportation. It was an interesting video and I hope that this kind of technology can replace face-to-face meetings and reduce flying.