When considering the video conference we engaged in last week, one course concept that springs to mind is “Technological Frames.” Orlikowski stated that people confronted with novel technology try to understand it in terms of their existing technological frames, often augmenting these frames to accommodate special aspects of the new technology (Orlikowski 365). For example, when someone is given a flash drive for the first time, their technological frame might be a CD, the previous most popular way of storing data.
When we consider the video conference, the existing frame that we are working with is simply face to face communications, because it is the most similar frame of reference that we are familiar with. Because we are looking at the video conferencing through the frame of FTF, there are several assumptions that we make about video conferencing. One that came up in the conference was the idea of eye contact. When talking to someone FTF, we find it natural to make eye contact as a way of acknowledgment. Avoiding eye contact in our culture has connotations of distraction or disrespect. In video conferencing, however, the person with whom you are speaking is not physically present. In FTF, you want to look at the person, and also make eye contact. This is easy because they are the same. With video conferencing, however, you must look at the display to see them but at the camera to make eye contact.
What we discussed during the conference was that it was important to have the camera near the top of the screen, near where the eyes are displayed. If the camera were on the bottom of the display (as they were in the conference room), it doesn’t look like we’re making eye contact, and creates confusion, as we are expecting to make eye contact. This could also lead to problems in grounding. If we aren’t making “eye contact,” they may make assumptions about us which are incorrect.
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I think thats a really good point, not being able to make eye contact really increases the social technological gap as well. Eye contact is an important part of communicating with someone else, that we have come to recognize as a key ingredient to interacting. Without it, it seems like the other person isn't paying attention to what you're saying, or isn't interested. If you've ever skyped, you have a similar problem- you look at the screen because you want to see the person you're talking to, but that means you're looking down away from the camera, and they're doing the same thing. I agree that there should be a better way to position the camera so that you can make eye contact, which has proven to be an important aspect of talking to someone else.
ReplyDeleteinteresting, I didn't really think that the closest technological frame to videoconferencing is just face-to-face interaction, unless you have experience with something else like skype or some other webcam program (although I guess this is pretty much the same thing).
ReplyDeletechristina, that's also a great point that a lack of eye contact increases the social technical gap also, i wonder if there is some eye tracking technology that can adjust images as necessary to account for where people are looking on a teleconference screen
Technological frames seems to pop up everywhere. I completely agree with you in terms of apply the frame of FtF interactions to video conferencing. In real life, I would feel totally uncomfortable talking to someone in real life if that person is looking at me directly. And I definitely apply that to the few times that I have video conference. It is the reason why I feel awkward doing anything else but focusing on the other person during video chat. Very nice post.
ReplyDeleteI think that the video chatting is a great advancement to the technological frame of face-to-face communication. Although, like you say, there can be difficulty with eye contact; overall video chatting can be exactly like face-to-face communication. The sound in video chat is pretty much identical to that in person, the image can usually be pretty clear, and the delays are usually minimal. Even though making eye contact was a problem in the beginning of our video conference last week, it was fixed within a few minutes when we changed the camera angle. With the exception of eye contact, video chatting is a successful development of face-to-face communication
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