Communication Histories & Technologies

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Siri iPhone 4S - What is this technology an extension of? How so?

See our previous post for video of Siri iPhone 4S ad.

Technology can be defined as an extension of the body. It can assist us in everyday tasks that are tedious and mundane, allowing us the luxury of increased time and freedom. However, with every benefit technology brings comes an amputation of a bodily part that cease to function in that situation. Apple unveiled Siri in October 2011 as a highly intelligent interactive personal assistant. It recognizes voice commands and has the ability to adapt to the user’s preferences over time. It has the potential to greatly increase our daily productivity levels. Extension Of The Mind Users can pose any form of questions to Siri, as they would to a human. One can ask Siri when and where World War II started or what an Abominable Snowman is and all it takes is a second or two for the application to provide you with accurate responses. With this function, Siri is an extension of the human mind. However with an application that provides you with any type of information you require at just a spoken command, there is less of a need to remember facts, trawl through libraries and search engines to acquire data.This function of Siri amputates the human ability of memory and research skills. Ability To Multi-task Another service that Siri provides its users with is the ability to multi-task more freely. In the ad, a man with a cup of coffee in one hand and his iPhone in the other walks while listening to a text message being read out by Siri. This provides an extension of one's concentration ability. Suddenly, it is not too hard to do juggle multiple tasks in one go. The usage of fingers to navigate through the text message application or eyes to read becomes redundant in this situation. Siri makes it easier to do more, yet it amputates physical bodily parts. Need To Organise The primary function of Siri is to act as a personal assistant to its user, from organising and remembering calender appointments to even setting alarms. As such, the user no longer needs to worry about missing out on important events. Siri provides an extension of a user's productivity. What does one compromise in such a situation? His independence from technology and the part of his brain that is used to register and store information such as important dates and events becomes less exercised. Siri made more things possible by acting as an extension of the body. Ultimately, Siri is a valuable tool available to us. However, we will need to find a balance between independence and convenience.

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Siri iPhone 4S - What claims does the ad make about communication technologies?

Siri was introduced as an intelligent personal assistant to supplement Apple’s iPhone 4S. It has a voice control functionality that allows the user to verbalise commands to. In the accompanying ad, Apple has positioned Siri as an interactive application that can aid users in many aspects of their lives. Before Siri, there were many other applications that had voice control functionality. But none could reply in ways that clearly showed its capacity for understanding the user’s command, until now. In the ad, the iPhone users were conversing with Siri. Wait - humans carrying out conversations with a machine? It seems from the ad that we can now communicate with a machine at a level equal to that of a human-to-human interaction. As mentioned in our previous post, communication is defined as an effective, two-way transfer of a message through a medium involving a sender and a receiver. Interaction with Siri exceeds this mere definition. Siri understands commands and Siri executes requests accordingly. One example given to us in the ad was the guy asking Siri if he could walk to his destination from where he stood. Before this innovation, we would most likely be directing our enquiries for directions to a stranger instead. Now, we can replace that human-to-human interaction to speak with a machine. Previously, we stated that effective communication is a two-way street when a receiver gives feedback to the sender. However the two-way transfer of ideas can also be defined as senders and receivers changing roles. A normal conversation between two people can have a constant switch of sender-receiver roles. As Siri is capable of having a conversation with its user, it is at times the sender too. With effective communication also comes an understanding of target audience from the sender, and Siri - might we once again remind you that it is a machine - analyzes its data and information to verbalize the content in a language known to the user. The ad showed a boy looking out of his window to check the weather. The following shows how the conversation went:

Boy: Do you think it will snow today? Siri: It sure looks like snow today. (Pulls out information about the weather displaying current and future temperature and conditions)

Siri, acting as the receiver initially, turned the tables around by taking the information requested from the boy and processing it to terminology and jargon that the boy understands. The ad concludes with “Say hello to Siri”. The word, hello, typically a start to conversations, used on a machine also tells us that Apple encourages verbal communication with Siri. In time we might just be able to eliminate humans out of the communication cycle altogether.

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Optus Whale Song - What claims of communications does the ad articulate?

See our previous post for video of Optus Whale Song ad.

The orchestra emulates the sounds made by male humpback whales to reach out to the whales as a gesture of friendship. The whales responded by the first level of communication, singing back (0:56 min of the video), and then leaping out of the waters (1:04 min of the video) which is the second level of communication. It shows that communication has no boundaries as long as the right methods and language are used.

As mentioned previously, by knowing your target audience’s preference, you can transmit your message across more efficiently and effectively. The orchestra understood their target audience, the whales, and their preferred vehicle of communication, thereby creating the whale song. This optimises communication accuracy and made communication successful even across species (humans to whales) and domains (land to sea). When a familiar sound to the whales was chosen - not just any song, but a song made by the whales during migration and mating seasons - it creates a bond to let the whales know of the Orchestra's friendly intent, instantly establishing rapport through a form of relationship building. As mentioned in the previous post, the right context of understanding is essential as we do not want to be interpreted wrongly.

Right Context of Understanding  

Mass-media communicated messages often generate ‘noises’ (e.g. radio). By contrast, interpersonal communication seeks to establish personal rapport through relationship building. These clarify ambiguous subtexts which may otherwise be lost in translation, or interpreted wrongly. Financial advisers use face-to-face meetings with potential clients as the definitive means of securing sales; besides building rapport, it also provides the opportunities to clarify doubts on the spot.

All these are further supported by the tag line at the end of the advertisement, "When it comes to communication, anything is possible".

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Optus Whale Song - What relationship is presented between the orchestra and the whales?

The relationship can be summed up in three aspects: Mutual Acknowledgment The relationship is one that shows mutual respect, admiration and desire of a peaceful coexistence between the two different species. Traditional spatial limitations, as demarcated by the land and sea boundary, can and has been bridged by technology. Linguistic differences are erased. Initially, the orchestra acts as the sender, and the whales, the receivers. However, the roles are quickly reversed, with the whales providing feedback by their unexpected appearances, and subsequent ‘whale dances’. Thereafter, we witnessed yet another reversal of roles and feedback when the musicians stood up mid-score - a natural form of ovation to the whales’ acknowledgements of their efforts to communicate. Conformity As a Form of Respect The medium of choice is sound while the musical instruments, the tools. The party with the higher technology has to conform. The language of choice, thus, are dictated by the lower common denominator - the whales. While a layman might claim that ‘music’ is the language of communication here, this is untrue. An instrument merely produces sound and in order for sound to be qualified as music, artistic arrangements are necessary. Here, sound waves of the frequency range used by whales for communication were being replicated by humans in an attempt to communicate with their sea-going mammal cousins. It is unorthodox, and indeed draws questions to why the humans would even contemplate doing that. The only logical explanation is that the humans want to reach out to the whales for some higher purposes. Roles of Technology in This Equation The narrative illustrates how humans have a desire to communicate across species, especially fellow mammals, and across domains (land and sea). The fact that the whales are attracted to the sound is undeniable. The resulting behaviour of the whales - leaping out of the water with a sense of jubilation - seems to indicate a form of appreciation for the human efforts and a need to be emotionally gratified. A medium, aided by technology, is capable of breaking down barriers. Here, instruments and the underwater speakers functions as extensions of the musicians’ body. They augment the body’s limitations such as the inability to talk under water or to speak the whales’ language. This however, also amputates our need to attain physical proximity (by swimming) with the whales. Likewise, linguistically, this technological extension (using instruments and distribution of messages by underwater microphones) enabled us to ‘talk’ to whales, but at a cost of us deferring our desire to communicate verbally.

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Why do you think we have the drive or urge to communicate?

Emotional Function - Communication As A Way of Life The existence of human beings has required for interaction as a way to express feelings, thoughts and opinions. On a daily basis, we are constantly interacting with others. The need to share these expressions might have been a result of people being created so differently; we see and experience life in different manners. It is also in our natural instinct to seek reassurance and comfort from others, thereby bringing out the urge to communicate with others.

Curiosity A conversation often begins with this because we want to know what others are thinking, and to hear their opinions in the hope that they concur with our own thoughts. We wish to learn more about others in order to enrich our own lives.

Sharing Sentiments Human empathise with each other and understand emotions. Thus, when we communicate, we are sharing more than just information, but sentiments too. More often than not, we communicate to avoid awkward situations. By establishing rapport, we seek to remove the degree of awkwardness, one layer at a time.

We are more likely to communicate when we have a positive and arousing piece of information to share, as compared to having a negative one. Sharing positive sentiments also builds on mutual trust. For example, the success of Wikipedia is largely due to its massive content production that has been heavily influenced by shared interests among netizens.

Some sentiments that promotes communications has a arousal factor. Such sentiments are capable of evoking emotions such as anger, jealousy and anxiety. A good (albeit negative) example is gossip.

Societal Function - Making Life Easier  In order for society to function, members of a community has to fulfil assigned roles and responsibilities and to engage in tasks that often augments each others’. The complexities of such coordinated effort for the good of society requires us to communicate and share information constantly. This pre-empt others of our actions and intentions by keeping everyone informed. That way, we able to coordinate with one another and perform tasks efficiently. When we communicate, we seek information and assurance of their accuracy. At the same time, by being informed of other’s intentions, we can anticipate changes and allocate enough reaction time.

Interpersonal Functions In contrast to mass media communications, interpersonal communication fulfils other unique functions.  This can be classified into four sub-roles:

Identity   Firstly, communication allows one to adopt a ‘role’, thereby creating an identity. This allows one’s identity to be asserted and maintained effectively among recipients of your messages. For example, Lady Gaga has successfully constructed and imposed her stage persona among her fans.

Right Context of Understanding   Mass-media communicated messages often generate ‘noises’ (e.g. radio). By contrast, interpersonal communication seeks to establish personal rapports through relationship building. These clarify ambiguous subtexts which may otherwise be lost in translation, or interpreted wrongly. Financial advisers use face-to-face meetings with potential clients as the definitive means of securing sales; besides building rapport, it also provides the opportunities to clarify doubts on the spot.

Information Channel    As mentioned, human has an natural desire to gain information so as to make better decisions. Human societies depends on the pooling of knowledge. In order to have access to them, disclosure of information is often necessary as a form of trade.  

Emotional    Humans have a psychological need for inclusion and acceptance within parts of a larger social structure. This can be achieved by being active participants in the transfer of messages within those structures. Used effectively, communications can also be used to reinforced the level of affection (or social standing) bestowed upon the sender by the recipients. Examples of this include personality cults and celebrity fan clubs.

‘Call-to-Action’ Function – At times, the human desire to serve our self-interests compels us to exert influence over others. Through messages, it is possible to shape the perceptions of others to your advantage by ‘educating’ them. This can change the recipients’ attitudes towards an issue, and thus shape their ultimate behaviour. For example, advertisement messages are meant to implant beliefs and thus generate positive sales responses among their recipients.

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Define ‘communication’ using your own words. Discuss why you say so.

“Communication is an effective, two-way transfer of a message through a medium involving a sender and a receiver.” Communication is considered to be effective only when the receiver is able to interpret the meaning of the transmitted message as it was originally intended (by the sender). The Medium A message is conveyed through a medium (plural - media) that acts as the bridge between the sender and the recipient. Examples include words, images, audio and video. For example, a public announcement can be broadcasted to the masses through a radio channel. Factors That Affect Communications In order to optimize communication, the following play a pivotal role:

Understand Your Target Audience Firstly, by understanding your target audience, you will be able to optimize your communication accuracy. Different demographics may prefer different channels of communication. For example, youths may prefer to communicate through social media while the elderly are probably more comfortable with more traditional forms of exchanges, such as face-to-face interactions. Language (a ‘vehicle’ of communication) and culture plays a big part in understanding the audience. For example, a  man who does not know the French language might find it hard to interact with another who speaks only French. Similarly, a student might experience difficulties in understanding a theory if the teacher uses difficult terms in class. By knowing your audience’s preference, you can transmit your message across more efficiently and effectively.

‘Noises’ Messages can be easily distorted by ‘noises’. These refer to external influences or distractions that may cause misinterpretation of the intended message. For instance, if you are preoccupied with a problem, you may be inattentive during a lecture and thus miss out on what the professor is trying to explain. In order to get the message across effectively, the sender must find a way to rise above the ‘noises’ by maintaining the class’s attention.

Exchange Of Ideas Communication is also an exchange of ideas between two or more people. Effective communication starts with the sender sending a message across to another person known as the receiver. In order for the message to be effective, the receiver has to correctly interpret the message that was sent. For example, if person A (sender) is having a conversation with person B (receiver), the only way in which person A would know if the message was conveyed successfully is through feedback received from person B. This is why communication is a two-way interaction.

In essence, effective communication requires a mutual understanding between the sender and the receiver. To quote R. Rivera, “As communicators, we must be able to do what machines cannot.”