technology's potential to expand human communication

Technology’s Potential to Expand Human Communication

Jay VidyarthiUser Experience Designer / Research Coordinator

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1. The Limitations of Language

2. Communication Through Experience Design

3. Future Directions

Table of Contents

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Modern society is a product of language.

Technology has improved its range/format.

Speech Writing

Print Phone

Internet

The Limitations of Language

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Language is a symbolic representation.

Abstract meaning is assigned to combinations of symbols to facilitate transmission.

The Limitations of Language

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Symbols are naturally ambiguous.

Me: I feel like a burger…

You: Funny… you don’t look like a burger… lol!

The Limitations of Language

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“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.”

- Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”

The Limitations of Language

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…efficient with words, isn’t he?

In fact, language is an interface for human communication, and poets are ‘power users’

The Limitations of Language

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The Limitations of Language

My Thought

Your Understanding

Language

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The Limitations of Language

My Thought

Your Understanding

Language

My ideas are going through a funnel…

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The Limitations of Language

My Thought

Your Understanding

Language

The poet makes very elegant use of the funnel…

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The Limitations of Language

My Thought

Your Understanding

Language

Technology: Telephone/E-mail/etc.

Language

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The Limitations of Language

My Thought

Your Understanding

Language

Technology: Telephone/E-mail/etc.

LanguageYour ideas are still going through a funnel…

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The Limitations of Language

My Thought

Your Understanding

Is there a way to communicate without the

“funnel” of symbols/language?

?

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The Limitations of Language

Poets master working within the constraints of language.

Musicians master working within different constraints to communicate abstract concepts/emotion through sound.

(our innovation where language fails…)

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The guitar provides an EXPRESSIVE interface to control sound and

communicate moods beyond the limits of language.

The Limitations of Language

Interface design: helps us surpass language limitations.

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Singer/songwriter: uses guitar interface to create sound to supplement words.

Experience Designer: uses technology to create context which supplements words.

‘Improve’ vs. ‘Expand’

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Computers and technology could provide such interfaces for abstract expression…

…but instead we mostly use it to amplify verbal expression.

The Limitations of Language

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With an expressive interface for computer programming, we could expand communication beyond the limits of language. (WTF!?)

i.e. “What happened to you last night?”

The Limitations of Language

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Technology has the potential to become like music…

a novel form of communication, beyond words.

Communication Through Experience

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“Post-Symbolic Communication”Beyond symbols, a direct expression of thought / feeling.

Jaron Lanier…Father of “virtual reality”

Tele-immersion researcher

Computer scientist

Philosopher

Musician

“Musical instruments are the only good user interfaces.”

– Jaron Lanier

Communication Through Experience

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Experience design IS “post-symbolic communication”.

…building experiences for your audience, using technology to supplement words… just as the musician uses his guitar…

(music, movies, video games, websites, etc.)

‘Improve’ vs. ‘Expand’

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Today, creating impressive experiences is difficult and time-consuming.

Implementation is complex and costly, so we need to plan.

Analyze > strategize > design > test… …implement.

Future Directions

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tele-immersion + virtual reality + expressive programming

= on-the-fly experience design

START: tele-conferencing

FAST FORWARD: expand to daily conversation through social networks.

Future Directions

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We could EXPAND human communication!

Real-time manifestation(help me express my thoughts)

Self-identity, communication and creative expression…

Future Directions

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Remember: design is communication.

Consider how the concepts in any design project can express themselves beyond language…

Your designs can become an embodiment of technology as its own form of communication.

Future Directions

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Wikipedia uses language to its limit, but…

Future Directions

Would every practitioner agree?

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Future Directions

The true state of human knowledge is a vibrant ongoing discussion…

…and we end-up with a flat, flavourless “average” definition.

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Future Directions

Wikipedia could use the power of technology and its influence to upgrade the way we express our society’s knowledge to new heights!

- provide practical information

- present it in its state of debate

- escape an antique frame defined by the limitations of print distribution

The focus is on…

…designing for the technological expansion of communication.

Please, disagree with me!!!111

jay@yucentrik.ca

Thank you.