Measuring mediated communication experience

Abstract

A great deal of our daily communication is technologymediated and ranges from phone discussions to negotiations in sophisticated video conferences. We studied the mediated communication interaction and experience in three experimental setups: high quality video conferencing, Skype calls with webcam and audio conferencing. The communication experience was studied with a statistically developed five-dimensional measure. The differences were analysed with a direct multivariate discriminant analysis which enabled mapping of the set-ups in a two-dimensional communication experience space. The clearest difference between the groups was found in co-presence. The second dimension grounding also disclosed each groups' characteristics well. The added value of a multidimensional approach to user experience in communication technology is further discussed.Index Terms-Communication systems, teleconferencing, human factors, communication experience INTRODUCTIONncreasingly people are communicating through different mediated channels instead of face-to-face. Present day technologies, for example, enable high-quality video conferencing, video over IP, and related real-time communication scenarios along with audio and text-only solutions. Furthermore, the interest in different high-tech communication systems is increasing because of growing concern over ecological issues, the savings in travel expenses, and time.One of the key issues in mediated communications is the way technology affects the interaction and communication experience, i.e., whether the technology hinders or facilitates communication. For successful communication and collaboration, emotional and social signals between the participants need to be conveyed in such a way that the communication feels effortless, even fun, and that the communication goals are met. To achieve this result each participant should be able to perceive the information conveyed during the interaction as it is intended to be understood. The process for achieving these mutual goals of communication is generally called grounding [1].Fluent communication is often hindered by the insufficient quality of the tools, the difficulties in setting up the meetings, poor connections and the difficulty to distinguish between the speakers; these problems are familiar to anyone who has used different kinds of tools to communicate. The communication channels and tools are often not sophisticated enough to deliver non-verbal communication which is especially important in a social context. The problems are usually handled by utilising different strategies to achieve mutual understanding; with limited channels more effort is required to convey information and achieve the communication goals [1], [2]. As it is not always possible to fix the technology in an ad hoc manner, new behaviours emerge to compensate for such problems including identifying oneself before speaking, a formal protocol in turn-taking and strict discourse rules, all of which add to the complexity of the situation. In optimal cases technology wou...

Sharing Experiences over Video: Watching Video Programs together at a Distance

“…Likewise, the separation of TV and Proxy speakers allowed the participant to directly perceive the sound sources as spatially distinct. The visual and audio representations came closer to emulating the remote individual's physical representation and as a result made participants feel closer to having the actual person in the room [1,10].…”

“…We build on Flora and Segrin's exploration on the effect of different leisure activities on relationships [14], by focusing specifically on watching video programs together and better understanding how to support it. While Aaltomen et al [1] used groups of strangers to study how VMC configuration affected the experience of a remote shared activity, we use groups of people with an established relationship and who enjoy spending time together.…”

“…We selected nine questions from the Networked Minds Social Presence Scale [4] most relevant to the nature of our study. Each question was asked on a 7-point Likert scale 1 . We also asked participants to rate how close they felt with their remote companion after completing the activity on a 7-point Likert scale.…”

Qualitative analysis of mediated communication experience

“…In our earlier, questionnairebased study we investigated communication experience with videoconferencing, teleconferencing and face-to-face situation [1]. The main experiential differences were found in the dimensions of co-presence, group cohesion, emotional involvement and active participation.…”

“…In the current study we report qualitative data that is partially from the experiment from which we earlier reported quantitative data [1]. We utilized a variant of Interpretation Based Quality (IBQ) methodology in which the participants can freely describe their experiences [13,9,17].…”