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From: markabel@uswat.uswest.com (Mark Abel)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Audio & Video Needed for Group Support?
Message-ID: <14533@uswat.UUCP>
Date: 18 Jan 91 00:44:49 GMT
Sender: news@uswat.UUCP
Organization: US WEST Advanced Technologies, CO, USA
Lines: 31

This is a followup to a discussion between Nick Szabo, Mark Shepherd (& later
Alan Wexelblat).

Let me say first that I strongly support Mark Shepherd's position that
visual and auditory communication is a critical factor in interaction.
This is based on 6 years of research in Multi-media Groupware systems at
Xerox PARC and U S WEST Advanced Technologies. (Many other groups have
been exploring these issues as well - e.g., Bell Labs, Bellcore, NTT, NEC,
Olivetti, Xerox EuroPARC, etc., etc.).

Social scientists claim that two types of communication are taking place in
any interaction: 1. "information transfer," and 2. social or emotional
info.  For example, if two hackers are discussing the best way to code
something, they not only exchange information (e.g., details of how a
program works) but they also read each other and decide things like "Do
I believe this person?" "Do I trust their opinion?" "Do they like me and/or
believe me?" etc.  As Alan Wexelblat said, the visual channel carries most
of this socio-emotional information by allowing people to see gesture,
posture, facial expression, eye-contact info, etc.  Admittedly, some
socio-emotional information is carried via other channels (e.g., through tone
of voice, through "flames" in e-mail, etc.).  

Although one can coerce single channel interaction systems like e-mail into
providing socio-emotional information (e.g., smileys :) ), a richer
set of interaction media that includes two-way video, quality audio etc.
is almost certainly much better to convey this sort of information.  In
short, why limit ourselves, especially when full multi-media communications
solutions will be here in the 1990's?

	-Mark Abel
	 U S WEST Advanced Technologies