Jessica Vitak, Priya C. Kumar, Yuting Liao, Michael Zimmer
An exemplar of human-machine communication, voice-based assistants (VBAs) embedded in smartphones and smart speakers simplify everyday tasks while collecting significant data about users and their environment. In recent years, devices using VBAs have continued to add new features and collect more data—in potentially invasive ways. Using Communication Privacy Management theory as a guiding framework, we analyze data from 11 focus groups with 65 US adult VBA users and nonusers. Findings highlight differences in attitudes and concerns toward VBAs broadly and provide insights into how attitudes are influenced by device features. We conclude with considerations for how to address boundary regulation challenges inherent in human-machine interactions.
{"title":"Boundary Regulation Processes and Privacy Concerns With (Non-)Use of Voice-Based Assistants","authors":"Jessica Vitak, Priya C. Kumar, Yuting Liao, Michael Zimmer","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.10","url":null,"abstract":"An exemplar of human-machine communication, voice-based assistants (VBAs) embedded in smartphones and smart speakers simplify everyday tasks while collecting significant data about users and their environment. In recent years, devices using VBAs have continued to add new features and collect more data—in potentially invasive ways. Using Communication Privacy Management theory as a guiding framework, we analyze data from 11 focus groups with 65 US adult VBA users and nonusers. Findings highlight differences in attitudes and concerns toward VBAs broadly and provide insights into how attitudes are influenced by device features. We conclude with considerations for how to address boundary regulation challenges inherent in human-machine interactions.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43754773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite rapid advancements in robotics, most people still only come into contact with robots via mass media. Consequently, robot-related attitudes are often discussed as the result of habituation and cultivation processes, as they unfold during repeated media exposure. In this paper, we introduce parasocial contact theory to this line of research— arguing that it better acknowledges interpersonal and intergroup dynamics found in modern human–robot interactions. Moreover, conceptualizing mediated robot encounters as parasocial contact integrates both qualitative and quantitative aspects into one comprehensive approach. A multi-method experiment offers empirical support for our arguments: Although many elements of participants’ beliefs and attitudes persisted through media exposures, valenced parasocial contact resulted in small but meaningful changes to mental models and desired social distance for humanoid robots.
{"title":"Valenced Media Effects on Robot-Related Attitudes and Mental Models: A Parasocial Contact Approach","authors":"Jan-Philipp Stein, J. Banks","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.9","url":null,"abstract":"Despite rapid advancements in robotics, most people still only come into contact with robots via mass media. Consequently, robot-related attitudes are often discussed as the result of habituation and cultivation processes, as they unfold during repeated media exposure. In this paper, we introduce parasocial contact theory to this line of research— arguing that it better acknowledges interpersonal and intergroup dynamics found in modern human–robot interactions. Moreover, conceptualizing mediated robot encounters as parasocial contact integrates both qualitative and quantitative aspects into one comprehensive approach. A multi-method experiment offers empirical support for our arguments: Although many elements of participants’ beliefs and attitudes persisted through media exposures, valenced parasocial contact resulted in small but meaningful changes to mental models and desired social distance for humanoid robots.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47193900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Hepp, W. Loosen, Stephan Dreyer, Juliane Jarke, Sigrid Kannengießer, Christian Katzenbach, R. Malaka, M. Pfadenhauer, C. Puschmann, Wolfgang Schulz
The aim of this article is to more precisely define the field of research on the automation of communication, which is still only vaguely discernible. The central thesis argues that to be able to fully grasp the transformation of the media environment associated with the automation of communication, our view must be broadened from a preoccupation with direct interactions between humans and machines to societal communication. This more widely targeted question asks how the dynamics of societal communication change when communicative artificial intelligence—in short: communicative AI—is integrated into aspects of societal communication. To this end, we recommend an approach that follows the tradition of figurational sociology.
{"title":"ChatGPT, LaMDA, and the Hype Around Communicative AI: The Automation of Communication as a Field of Research in Media and Communication Studies","authors":"A. Hepp, W. Loosen, Stephan Dreyer, Juliane Jarke, Sigrid Kannengießer, Christian Katzenbach, R. Malaka, M. Pfadenhauer, C. Puschmann, Wolfgang Schulz","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.4","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this article is to more precisely define the field of research on the automation of communication, which is still only vaguely discernible. The central thesis argues that to be able to fully grasp the transformation of the media environment associated with the automation of communication, our view must be broadened from a preoccupation with direct interactions between humans and machines to societal communication. This more widely targeted question asks how the dynamics of societal communication change when communicative artificial intelligence—in short: communicative AI—is integrated into aspects of societal communication. To this end, we recommend an approach that follows the tradition of figurational sociology.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46094994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This introduction to the volume discusses the evolving field of Human-Machine Communication (HMC), drawing on insights from the philosophy of science. We explore critical debates in the field, underscoring the importance of challenging assumptions, embracing interfield work, and fostering dialogue in shaping our understanding of HMC. Moreover, we celebrate the vibrant collaboration between disciplines that drives progress in HMC. This piece serves as an invitation to join the exploration of this collection and contribute to shaping the future of HMC.
{"title":"Defining Dialogues: Tracing the Evolution of Human-Machine Communication","authors":"Andrew Prahl, Autumn P. Edwards","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.1","url":null,"abstract":"This introduction to the volume discusses the evolving field of Human-Machine Communication (HMC), drawing on insights from the philosophy of science. We explore critical debates in the field, underscoring the importance of challenging assumptions, embracing interfield work, and fostering dialogue in shaping our understanding of HMC. Moreover, we celebrate the vibrant collaboration between disciplines that drives progress in HMC. This piece serves as an invitation to join the exploration of this collection and contribute to shaping the future of HMC.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42120371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
While humans actually need some overt communication channel to transmit information, be it verbally or nonverbally, robots could use their network connection to transmit information quickly to other robots. This raises the question how this covert robot-robot communication is perceived by humans. The current study investigates how transparency about communication happening between two robots affects humans’ trust in and perception of these robots as well as their feeling of being included/excluded in the interaction. Three different robot-robot communication styles were analyzed: silent, robotic language, and natural language. Results show that when robots transmit information in a robotic language (beep sounds) this leads to lower trust and more feelings of social exclusion than in the silent (i.e., covert) or natural language conditions. Results support the notion that humans are over-sensitive to signs of ostracism which seems to be detected in this style of overt but nonhuman robot-robot communication.
{"title":"Seriously, what did one robot say to the other? Being left out from communication by robots causes feelings of social exclusion","authors":"Astrid M. Rosenthal-von der Pütten, Nikolai Bock","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.7","url":null,"abstract":"While humans actually need some overt communication channel to transmit information, be it verbally or nonverbally, robots could use their network connection to transmit information quickly to other robots. This raises the question how this covert robot-robot communication is perceived by humans. The current study investigates how transparency about communication happening between two robots affects humans’ trust in and perception of these robots as well as their feeling of being included/excluded in the interaction. Three different robot-robot communication styles were analyzed: silent, robotic language, and natural language. Results show that when robots transmit information in a robotic language (beep sounds) this leads to lower trust and more feelings of social exclusion than in the silent (i.e., covert) or natural language conditions. Results support the notion that humans are over-sensitive to signs of ostracism which seems to be detected in this style of overt but nonhuman robot-robot communication.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47457880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Efforts to develop empathetic agents, or systems capable of responding appropriately to emotional content, have increased as the deployment of such systems in socially complex scenarios becomes more commonplace. In the context of human-machine communication (HMC), the ability to create the perception of empathy is achieved in large part through linguistic behavior. However, studies of how language is used to display and respond to emotion in ways deemed empathetic are limited. This article aims to address this gap, demonstrating how an interactional linguistics informed methodological approach can be applied to the study of empathy in HMC. We present an analysis of empathetic response strategies in HMC and examine how these diverge from the practices employed in human-human dialogue. The specific challenges encountered by current systems are reviewed and their implications for future work on HMC considered.
{"title":"An Interactional Account of Empathy in Human-Machine Communication","authors":"S. Concannon, I. Roberts, M. Tomalin","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.6","url":null,"abstract":"Efforts to develop empathetic agents, or systems capable of responding appropriately to emotional content, have increased as the deployment of such systems in socially complex scenarios becomes more commonplace. In the context of human-machine communication (HMC), the ability to create the perception of empathy is achieved in large part through linguistic behavior. However, studies of how language is used to display and respond to emotion in ways deemed empathetic are limited. This article aims to address this gap, demonstrating how an interactional linguistics informed methodological approach can be applied to the study of empathy in HMC. We present an analysis of empathetic response strategies in HMC and examine how these diverge from the practices employed in human-human dialogue. The specific challenges encountered by current systems are reviewed and their implications for future work on HMC considered.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48621822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Kai Laitinen, Minna Koivula, Tanja Sihvonen
This article examines communicative anthropomorphization, that is, assigning of humanlike features, of socialbots in communication between humans and bots. Situated in the field of human-machine communication, the article asks how socialbots are devised as anthropomorphized communication companions and explores the ways in which human users anthropomorphize bots through communication. Through an analysis of two datasets of bots interacting with humans on social media, we find that bots are communicatively anthropomorphized by directly addressing them, assigning agency to them, drawing parallels between humans and bots, and assigning emotions and opinions to bots. We suggest that socialbots inherently have anthropomorphized characteristics and affordances, but their anthropomorphization is completed and actualized by humans through communication. We conceptualize this process as communicative anthropomorphization.
{"title":"Triggered by Socialbots: Communicative Anthropomorphization of Bots in Online Conversations","authors":"Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Kai Laitinen, Minna Koivula, Tanja Sihvonen","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.8","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines communicative anthropomorphization, that is, assigning of humanlike features, of socialbots in communication between humans and bots. Situated in the field of human-machine communication, the article asks how socialbots are devised as anthropomorphized communication companions and explores the ways in which human users anthropomorphize bots through communication. Through an analysis of two datasets of bots interacting with humans on social media, we find that bots are communicatively anthropomorphized by directly addressing them, assigning agency to them, drawing parallels between humans and bots, and assigning emotions and opinions to bots. We suggest that socialbots inherently have anthropomorphized characteristics and affordances, but their anthropomorphization is completed and actualized by humans through communication. We conceptualize this process as communicative anthropomorphization.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43614970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this theoretical paper, we delineate two fundamental paradigms in how scholars conceptualize the nature of machines in human-machine communication (HMC). In addition to the well-known Media Equation paradigm, we distinguish the Media Evocation paradigm. The Media Equation paradigm entails that people respond to machines as if they are humans, whereas the Media Evocation paradigm conceptualizes machines as objects that can evoke reflections about ontological categories. For each paradigm, we present the main propositions, research methodologies, and current challenges. We conclude with theoretical implications on how to integrate the two paradigms, and with a call for mixedmethod research that includes innovative data analyses and that takes ontological classifications into account when explaining social responses to machines.
{"title":"Disentangling Two Fundamental Paradigms in Human-Machine Communication Research: Media Equation and Media Evocation","authors":"Margot J. Van Der Goot, Katrin Etzrod","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.2","url":null,"abstract":"In this theoretical paper, we delineate two fundamental paradigms in how scholars conceptualize the nature of machines in human-machine communication (HMC). In addition to the well-known Media Equation paradigm, we distinguish the Media Evocation paradigm. The Media Equation paradigm entails that people respond to machines as if they are humans, whereas the Media Evocation paradigm conceptualizes machines as objects that can evoke reflections about ontological categories. For each paradigm, we present the main propositions, research methodologies, and current challenges. We conclude with theoretical implications on how to integrate the two paradigms, and with a call for mixedmethod research that includes innovative data analyses and that takes ontological classifications into account when explaining social responses to machines.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45943338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Stephens, Anastazja Harris, Amanda Lee Hughes, Caroline Montagnolo, Karim Nader, S. A. Stevens, Tara Tasuji, Y. Xu, Hemant Purohit, C. Zobel
Humans play an integral role in identifying important information from social media during disasters. While human annotation of social media data to train machine learning models is often viewed as human-computer interaction, this study interrogates the ontological boundary between such interaction and human-machine communication. We conducted multiple interviews with participants who both labeled data to train machine learning models and corrected machine-inferred data labels. Findings reveal three themes: scripts invoked to manage decision-making, contextual scripts, and scripts around perceptions of machines. Humans use scripts around training the machine—a form of behavioral anthropomorphism—to develop social relationships with them. Correcting machine-inferred data labels changes these scripts and evokes self-doubt around who is right, which substantiates the argument that this is a form of human-machine communication.
{"title":"Human-AI Teaming During an Ongoing Disaster: How Scripts Around Training and Feedback Reveal this is a Form of Human-Machine Communication","authors":"K. Stephens, Anastazja Harris, Amanda Lee Hughes, Caroline Montagnolo, Karim Nader, S. A. Stevens, Tara Tasuji, Y. Xu, Hemant Purohit, C. Zobel","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.5","url":null,"abstract":"Humans play an integral role in identifying important information from social media during disasters. While human annotation of social media data to train machine learning models is often viewed as human-computer interaction, this study interrogates the ontological boundary between such interaction and human-machine communication. We conducted multiple interviews with participants who both labeled data to train machine learning models and corrected machine-inferred data labels. Findings reveal three themes: scripts invoked to manage decision-making, contextual scripts, and scripts around perceptions of machines. Humans use scripts around training the machine—a form of behavioral anthropomorphism—to develop social relationships with them. Correcting machine-inferred data labels changes these scripts and evokes self-doubt around who is right, which substantiates the argument that this is a form of human-machine communication.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44765951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this commentary, I call for maintaining the archipelagic character of human-machine communication (HMC). Utilizing the metaphor of the archipelago or a chain of connected islands indicates that HMC entails a variety of islands differing in shape, size, location, and proximity to one another. Rather than aiming for conceptual unity and definitional homogeneity, I call for embracing a cultivated ambiguity related to HMC key concepts. Ambiguity in the sense of allowing these concepts to be flexible enough to be explored in different contexts. Cultivated in the sense of demanding resonance across individual studies and theoretical lineages to allow for cumulative and collaborative theorizing. My hope is that HMC scholars can continue to build bridges that traverse the paradigmatic, methodological, theoretical, and technological archipelago of HMC.
{"title":"Archipelagic Human-Machine Communication: Building Bridges amidst Cultivated Ambiguity","authors":"Marco Dehnert","doi":"10.30658/hmc.6.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.3","url":null,"abstract":"In this commentary, I call for maintaining the archipelagic character of human-machine communication (HMC). Utilizing the metaphor of the archipelago or a chain of connected islands indicates that HMC entails a variety of islands differing in shape, size, location, and proximity to one another. Rather than aiming for conceptual unity and definitional homogeneity, I call for embracing a cultivated ambiguity related to HMC key concepts. Ambiguity in the sense of allowing these concepts to be flexible enough to be explored in different contexts. Cultivated in the sense of demanding resonance across individual studies and theoretical lineages to allow for cumulative and collaborative theorizing. My hope is that HMC scholars can continue to build bridges that traverse the paradigmatic, methodological, theoretical, and technological archipelago of HMC.","PeriodicalId":34860,"journal":{"name":"HumanMachine Communication Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42405300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}