Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
ICTs and Communication 1 ICTs, Context, and Face-toFace Communications John Mingers, Raul Espejo and The Black Group Warwick Business School, Warwick University Coventry CV4 7AL, UK email: [email protected] John Mingers ICTs and Communication 2 Black Topic “ICTs, and the approaches by which they are developed, can enhance data access and transmission but not interpersonal communications; they don't take account or provide the channel capacity required by the embodied nature of human communication and cognition. In particular they restrict the expression of emotions and thus restrict significantly the scope of virtual conversations in human interactions.” John Mingers ICTs and Communication 3 Black Outcome We recognise the rich, complex, multifaceted nature of human communication, especially because of the embodied and autonomous nature of human cognition. We also see a range of communication models/media both face-to-face and ICT enabled. We wish to explore the limits (and potential enhancements) and opportunities of these media with respect to communication. In order to do this we will develop the above into a framework, looking specifically at: – The various media/modes of communication whether ICT-enabled or not. – The way we model and frame our understanding of what human communication requires. – The significance of appreciating the participants' local contexts in the quality of human communication. John Mingers ICTs and Communication 4 John Mingers ICTs and Communication 5 Preliminaries • We are primarily concerned with human communications and the effects that the increasing use of ICTs has on them, both positively as enabling and negatively as restricting. • We are concerned with the pragmatics of communications, that is communication as it really occurs in its full richness rather than abstract or restricted forms or aspects of communications. • At this early stage we will restrict ourselves to some generalities concerning communications and to looking at a few theoretical approaches that may be relevant to the overall task - in particular the theories of Maturana, Luhmann, Habermas, and Merleau-Ponty. John Mingers ICTs and Communication 6 Three Basic Elements of Communication Mode John Mingers Meaning Media ICTs and Communication 7 Theoretical Assumptions The “transmission metaphor” which sees communication as the simple transmission of information from one’s party’s head to another is quite inappropriate. To the extent that communication occurs it is based on an ontogenetically established structural coupling between the parties. Particular selections or distinctions are drawn by the sender; these are transmitted, with or without distortion by the media; and trigger (or do not trigger) distinctions and selections in the receiver which may, or may not, be those intended by the sender. Indeed, the nature of the communication only becomes specified after the event. The embodied nature of much cognition and communicative action needs to be stressed, as does the importance of language, emotion and context. This applies both to the sender and receiver. It is particularly important when considering the media used for a communication, and what it will and will not transmit. Terms such as information, meaning, utterance, and understanding, cannot be taken for granted but must be the subject of theoretical scrutiny. John Mingers ICTs and Communication 8 Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action • A rational reconstruction of the basis of social action, and especially communicative action. He distinguishes between – instrumental action (nonsocial, oriented towards success) – communicative action (social, oriented towards understanding), and – strategic action (social, oriented towards success) • Communicative action is seen from the point of view of participants undertaking speech acts (utterances) with the purpose of generating mutual understanding. A speaker selects a particular utterance that is: Comprehensible to a competent speaker of the shared language; that is about something - i.e., concerns some state of affairs; that is acceptable in a normative sense within the shared social community; that truthfully expresses the beliefs of the speaker. John Mingers ICTs and Communication 9 • These are implicit assumptions of the utterance - criticisable validity claims - which can be questioned or rejected. The relate to three “worlds”: • truth relates to the material world of objective states of affairs and possibilities; rightness relates to our social world of intersubjectively shared norms and practices; sincerity relates to my personal world of subjective experiences. • Habermas envisages that a “rational” society will be one that fosters and encourages wide ranging discussions and debates in which anything and everything can be questioned and challenged in as free and unfettered way as possible. This he terms the “ideal speech situation” although he recognises that this can never be fully realised in an actual society John Mingers ICTs and Communication 10 Luhmann’s Autopoietic Communication • Behaviour becomes action when it is a selection from a range of possibilities. • Action becomes communication when it involves the understanding and response of another. • Communication is more basic (socially) than action since: – it is intrinsically social. – action only becomes identified as such through and indication and communication. • Communication is inherently self-referential • Society is an autopoietic network of communications John Mingers ICTs and Communication 11 Information Utterance Understanding Understanding Information Utterance Information: what the communication is about Utterance: the form of the communication (who, when, how etc. Understanding: the interpretation made by the receiver John Mingers ICTs and Communication 12 Maturana and Varela - Biological Phenomenology • Systems are structure-determined - there can be no instructive interactions with the environment and thus no transmission of information • Yet systems become structurally coupled and develop a consensual domain of linguistic interactions • Social interaction can be seen in terms of conversations (an ongoing coordination of actions in language among a group of structurally-coupled observers) which are an inter-twining of: – language – emotion – integrated through the body John Mingers ICTs and Communication 13 Merleau-Ponty - Phenomenology • Follows a trajectory in phenomenology from: Husserl - pure thought free from the everyday Heidegger - Being as concerned activity in the everyday Merleau-Ponty - perception and cognition as embodied phenomena • Always concerned to resist dualisms such as body/mind, empiricism/idealism, behaviourism/intentionality, thinking/language • Emphasises the intertwining of these modalities (chiasma) and their reciprocal interplay John Mingers ICTs and Communication 14 Cognition and Embodiment “When I reflect on the essence of subjectivity, I find it bound up with that of the body and that of the world, this is because my existence as subjectivity is merely one with my existence as a body and with the existence of the world, and because the subject that I am, when taken concretely, is inseparable from this body and this world” (“Phenomonology of Perception”, p.408). Behaviour is determined neither externally, by the world, nor internally, by intentional consciousness. Rather, it must be explained structurally in terms of the physical structures of the body and nervous system as they develop in circular interplay with the world. I.e., structural determinism and coupling John Mingers ICTs and Communication 15 Thought and Language “There is not thought and language: upon examination each of the two orders splits in two and puts out a branch into the other. ... Expressive operations take place between thinking language and speaking thought; ... It is not because they are parallel that we speak; it is because we speak that they are parallel... Speaking to others (or to myself), I do not speak of my thoughts; I speak them and what is between them …” (“Signs”, p. 18, original emphasis) • There is no dualism between thought and language speaking is thinking. Consciousness only becomes articulate when we speak. • Speech is thus an act of the body and so is entwined with gestures, expressions, and emotions • Many of the fundamental categories of language stem from spatial and bodily functions (Lackoff and Johnson) John Mingers ICTs and Communication 16 Habermas Luhmann Maturana Merleau-Ponty Mode 1-1 1-2 1-many many-1 many-many Meaning Purpose, intention, function, context Generally assumes a single individual speaker but is also concerned with processes of debate and discussion - the ideal speech situation Does not assume a particular speaker or even an actual person. Is more interested in the network of communication per se. Does analyse the mass media Generally assumes F2F interactions. Recognises people may be part of different and potentially conflicting groups Is interested in thought and language in general, not particular communications or interactions. Distinguishes between strategic action oriented towards success and communicative action oriented towards understanding. Three validity claims: Truth - states of actual or possible affairs Rightness - normatively acceptable Truthfulness - sincerity Generally interested in physical presence but recognises that this has become impossible. Communication media have developed that replace traditional interaction. These “systems” invade and colonise the lifeworld. Communication always relies on previously established structural coupling in a linguistic domain. Emphasises the importance of mood and emotion (and thus non-conscious communication). Sees language as part of the ongoing flow of mutual coordinations of activity. Language is connotative not representational. Little said explicitly but the emphasis on the body would suggest that virtual technologies have serious limitations. Emphasises the strongly embodied nature of both cognition and language. Media The mechanism of communication Sees communication and meaning as always a selection from manifold possibilities Recognises communication not as transmission but as a mutual triggering. Distinguishes between: Information - that which is communicated Utterance - the form of the communication. Understanding - the way the receiver interprets the communication The technology of dissemination constitutes a medium. All institutions/technologies that distribute communications. The “mass media” is where there is no direct contact between sender and receiver. His model could easily be applied to the internet as a network of communications. John Mingers Generally quite similar to Maturana. ICTs and Communication 17 To Do • Synthesize the above theoretical work to create an underlying theory of communication • Identify the main dimensions of mode and meaning • Classify the characteristics of the main communication media • Consider the effects of the media on both – Actual instances of communication - e.g. using email for socially sensitive communications – Social interaction and communication in general - e.g., what are the effects of mobile phone technology on society? John Mingers