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Ravi VatrapuDirector, Computational Social Science Laboratory (CSSL)

Associate Professor, Center for Applied ICTCopenhagen Business School

Howitzvej 60, 2.10, Frederiksberg, DK-2000, Denmark

+45-2479-4315vatrapu@cbs.dk

http://www.itu.dk/people/rkva/

Cultural Considerations in HIP

Thursday, 31-March-2011

T14: Human Information Processing

Socio-Technical InteractionsVatrapu, R. (2010). Explaining Culture: An Outline of a Theory of Socio-Technical Interactions. Proceedings of the 3rd ACM

International Conference on Intercultural Collaboration (ICIC 2010), 19-20 August 2010, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Socio-Technical Systems involve: Interacting with Technologies Interacting with Others via Technologies

Interacting with Technologies Perception of Affordances Appropriation of Affordances

Interacting with Others via Technologies Structures of Technological Intersubjectivity Functions of Technological Intersubjectivity

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AFFORDANCES

Cognitive PsychologySubjectivity of Meaning: InterpretationInternal Representations & External RepresentationsMinded Meaning: Symbolic/ SemanticMind : Brain :: Software : Hardware (Block, 1995) “Copying in the world”

Ecological PsychologyRelationality of Meaning: “Direct Perception” of “Circumambient Arrays” (Gibson, 1979)

Affordanes: Action-Taking Possibilities and Meaning-Making Opportunities Embodied Meaning: Informational/PragmaticMind : Brain :: Action : Perception“Coping with the world”

Problem Logical Gap between Interpretive and Informational Theories of Meaning

One SolutionBridge the gap by making Meaning Ecologically Cognitive

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Affordances

From J.J. Gibson to Alva Noë Norman’s introduction to HCI and the debate thereafter

Enactive Approach: Evolutionary Biology, Ecological Psychology, Consciousness Studies

Action-Taking Possibilities & Meaning-Making Opportunities

Two -Systems Hypothesis (Bridgeman, 2000) Functionally Separate Visual Systems

Visual (Meaning-Making) Visual Guidance of Behavior (Action-Taking)

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2001: A Space Odyssey

• The ”greatest edit” ever

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Affordances

From J.J. Gibson (1977, 1979) to Alva Noë (2004) Norman’s (1988) introduction to HCI and the debate

Enactive Approach: Evolutionary Biology, Ecological Psychology, Consciousness Studies

Action-Taking Possibilities & Meaning-Making Opportunities

Two -Systems Hypothesis (Bridgeman, 2000) Functionally Separate Visual Systems

Visual (Meaning-Making) Visual Guidance of Behavior (Action-Taking)

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Uptake in HCI

POET (Norman, 1988)

Types Perceptible, Hidden, False (Gaver, 1991) Physical, Sensory, Functional and Cognitive (Hartson, 2003)

Classes Technology, Media, Interaction (Gaver, 1991, 1992, 1996) Social (Bradner, 2001)

Perceived Affordance (Norman, 1999) Review (McGrenere and Ho, 2000)

“We Can’t Afford it!” (Torenvliet, 2003) 7

Perception of Affordances

What do you perceive in a particular situation? Ecological Information, Technological Mediation, Cultural

Agency, “Demand Characteristics”(Orne, 1962) Professional Vision (Goodwin, 1994)

Strong Argument Differences are Incommensurable Socio-Biological Explanation

Weak Argument Acculturation, Assimilation, Accommodation Socio-Cultural Explanation

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Appropriation of Affordances

Rogoff and Lave (1984): “cognition is something one uses, not something one has”

Not deterministic, actors can choose to enact socio-culturally appropriate actions in a given situation

Intentional utilization of affordances is culture-sensitive, context-dependent, & tool-specific

Eg: Coke Bottle in the movie Gods Must be Crazy10

Gods Must be Crazy

• Please watch the movie or a ”youtube” clip for the ”appropriate of affordances” that ensues and the societal change that emerges

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Socio-Technical Affordances

Affordances are meaning-making opportunities and action-taking possibilities in an actor-environment system in a particular situation, relative to actor competencies and system capabilities

Ontological Foundations (Turvey, 1992) Materialist Dynamicist Property Realist Principle of Reciprocity—distinguishable yet mutually

supportive realities12

Intersubjectivity

Problem of Other Minds Having vs. Knowing Psychological as well as Phenomenological Situational vs. Dispositional Attribution Contact Hypothesis

Social consequences of connectivity augured by information and communication technologies Time-Shifting Place-Shifting

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TECHNOLOGICAL INTERSUBJECTIVITY

• Production, Projection, and Performance of Intersubjectivity• How actors interact with, relate to, and form impressions of each other

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"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge; www.phdcomics.com. Image used with permission.

Technological Intersubjectivity (TI)

Structures of TI Configuration of the particular social relationship

Mother – Child PhD Advisor – Student Project Manager – Member Dependent vs. Interdependent Conceptions of the Self

Functions of TI Dynamics of the particular social relationship

Eg: proxemics, socio-linguistics, interactional patterns

Cultural Variation in Structures and Functions of TI15

CULTURE

Kroeber and Kluckhorn(1952)Compilation of over 200 definitions of cultureCategorized into 6 distinct groups of definitions

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CULTURE AND BEHAVIOR

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Cultural Dimension“West” “East”

Social Hierarchy Lower Power Distance Higher Power Distance

Group Cohesion Higher Individualism Higher Collectivism

Gender Egalitarianism High-Moderate Moderate-Low

Assertiveness High Lower

(House et al., 2004)

CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION

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Low-Context Communication High-Context Communication

Informational Emphasis Relational Emphasis

Effective Speech Persuasive Speech

Unambiguous InterpretationSought

Ambiguous Interpretation Tolerated

Context is Functional Context is Structural

(Hall, 1976)

CULTURE AND COGNITION

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Cognitive Process “Westerners” “East-Asians”Attention Object Field

Perception Object-Oriented Relation-Oriented

Causal Inference Dispositional Situational

Knowledge Organization

Categorical Rules Relational Similarities

Reasoning Analytical Holistic

(Nisbett and Norenzayan,2002)

Culture and Computers

Reeves and Nass’s (1996)“The Media Equation”• Social aspects of human-computer interaction

• User Interface Design• Usability Evaluation• Web Design• E-Commerce• Information Systems• Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)• Online Learning

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Vatrapu, R. and Suthers, D. (2007). Culture and Computers: A Review of the Concept of Culture and Implications for Intercultural Collaborative Online Learning. In Ishida, T., Fussell, S.R. and Vossen, P.T.J.M. eds. Intercultural Collaboration I :

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag 2007, 260-275.

CULTURE AND CSCL

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• Vatrapu, R., & Suthers, D. (2010). Intra- and Inter-Cultural Usability in Computer Supported Collaboration. Journal of Usability Studies, 5(4), 172-197.

• Vatrapu, R., & Suthers, D. (2010). Cultural Influences in Collaborative Information Sharing and Organization. Proceedings of the 3rd ACM International Conference on Intercultural Collaboration (ICIC 2010), Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Vatrapu, R., & Suthers, D. (2009). Is Representational Guidance Culturally Relative? Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Practices: CSCL2009 Conference Proceedings, Rhodes, Greece, pp.542-551.

• Vatrapu, R. (2008). Cultural Considerations in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 3(2), 159-201.

Formal Definition of Socio-Technical Affordance

Let W = (T, S, O) be a socio-technical system (e.g., person-collaborating-with-another-person system) constituted by Technology T (e.g., collaboration software), Self-actor S, (e.g., artifact creator), and Other-actor O (e.g., artifact editor).

Let p be a property of T; q be a property of S and r be a property of O. Let β be a relation between p, q and r, p/q/r. β defines a higher order property (i.e., a property of the socio-technical system).

Then β is said to be a socio-technical affordance with respect to W if and only if:(i) W = (T,S,O) possesses β(ii) Neither T,S,O; (T, S); (T,O); (S,O) possesses β

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Design Space of Affordance Classes

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Affordance Classes Theoretical Sources

Perceptual Gestalt Theory of Perception

Notational Cognitive Dimensions of Notations

Representational Representational Guidance

Media Grounding Constraints

Conversational Conversation Analysis

Socio-Cognitive and Socio-Cultural Culture Theory

Interactional Ethnomethodology

Grounding Constraints

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Grounding Constraints in Communication

Clark, H. H., & Brennan, S. E. (1991). Grounding in communication. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine & S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on Socially Shared Cognition (pp. 127-149): American Psychological Association.

SOCIO-COGNITIVE PROPERTIES

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Cognitive Process “Westerners” “Easterners”Attention Object Field

Perception Object-Oriented Relation-Oriented

Causal Inference Dispositional Situational

Knowledge Organization

Categorical Rules Relational Similarities

Reasoning Analytical Holistic

(Nisbett and Norenzayan,2002)

Future WorkComputational Social Science Laboratory (CSSL)

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Instrumentation, Instrumentation and Instrumentation Actors

Eye-Tracking and Pupilometrics Physiological Measures Neuro-imaging?

Interactions Screen-Recordings Software Logs

Contexts Ethnographic Observations

Future Analytical WorkContingency Graphs & Uptake Analysis (Suthers et al. 2010)

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Q&A

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