CONCEPTS IN COMMUNICATION: an artist's observations

A Basic Obstacle

HUMANS: video first, audio second

DOLPHINS: audio first, video second

2 PATHS TO COMMUNICATION

technology - intuition

BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION -

Our Assumptions: Humans know that information comes to them in graphic form. When they see a tv screen or a piece of paper, they know to look for information. Initial assumptions In building a basis for communication, we must analyse and breakdown what it is to communicate. This would seem obvious. What is not obvious is that this analysis must continue to search our own mind and collective minds for prior assumptions that we hold in regards to this subject. We must analyse our very thought systems, and remove from our communications assumptions that make our communication no more than colloquial, much less than universal.

OBSERVATIONS FROM FOCUS GROUPS:

Anecdote 01: Advertising and Communication Things have to be made very obvious. Humans in focus groups usually dont understand complex or even slightly sophisticated ads. The people creating the ads know what they are attempting to relate. They also pay a lot of attention to the ads produced (its their job). They also know the history of the ads, what their competitors ads look like, and generally pay more attention to all advertising. The public who see the ads have a much more piecemeal idea about them. They may (or more like probably) have false assumptions about how advertising works. They see the advertising randomly, during times of their life when they are doing something else.

When they are in a focus group, and an ad is presented to them for their opinion, it is a unique experience for them. At this point, all that there is is the ad, the picture that's supposed to relay a message and cause a reation (buy this!). And so many times the focus group doesnt understand (and therefore doesn't like) the ads that a whole staff has labored and theoried over for months. The usual, and partially true exclaimation by the creatives is "The public is so stupid." But an equally true statement would be "Boy did we communicate badly--too many assumptions on our part."

 

Anecdote 02: Playing on a Game Show. I was focus group participant for a test TV gameshow. Their show suffered from a similar common problem. None of what was going on was obvious enough. The guinea pig contestants sometimes couldnt tell who had buzzed in for the answer, or when we were supposed to do something.

We told this to the people working on the show, at which point they explained better how the show worked. Then we had an easier time playing, but the point being is they brought us more into their thinking and assumptions. Their show alone did not relay very well what was going on. The fact that certain buzzes and lights were too subtle or timed strangely detracted from the narrative of the show. The show's creators knew what they were trying to communicate. They knew the flow of the show, and so the sounds and visuals made sense to them. We were playing and seeing the show for the first time, and were confused at times. This confusion was tied directly to how much we liked or disliked the show, with the more confusing, the less liked the show.

Similar concepts are involved with the dolphin touchscreen. Our first attempts were made in earnest--with much thought put into what was put in front of the dolphins. But we didnt have much success. The assumptions we had were something like...

PROBLEMS WITH VOCAL COMMUNICATION.

Vocal Communication is Linear Communication: Information is relayed in a linear manner. Perhaps one has many concepts of equal value to relay to another. But because of vocal communication, one must necessaritly say one of them first, and thus incorrectly weight this concept more than the others. Even if it is properly framed by introductions proclaiming this concept to be no more important than the others to follow, it is still the first one in the mind of the hearer.

VOLUME VOLUME VOLUME: Vocal communication requires compatible volumes of the vocalization and the listening sensor

Louder over softer: the louder something is said, the more force it has and the more people can hear it. Most often, those who are wiser are also more at peace and less likely to yell. Those not so smart are more likely to speak loudly and more likely to be heard.

People Speak Different Languages: Just try to communicate with someone who you don't share a common spoken language and you'll have much trouble.

Inexact Meanings of Words: Even when two people speak the same language, they are bound to the words of that language, regardless of how appropriate that language may be for a particular intended communication. They also have to agree on the definitions of those words. This is easy for words describing definite objects, but much harder for words describing concepts or feelings.

Vocal Communication Makes Lying Easier: The power of vocal communication to drown out psychic or emotional communication allows for more lying. It is possible to argue that in psychic commmunication, people will still have mental boundaries (defining the self?) and will still be able to lie. one tactic: yell as loudly as possible that which is not true

PRONOUNS ARE DEADLY: Pronouns are totally based in assumptions. Of course, assumptions are also context, and context is what one needs to build to communicate. In fact, being able to use pronouins with dolphins could be one kind of twisted goal in the whole thing. In technical conversations pronouns are the worst

first over second: The first thing said is always the most powerful. The accusation is always more powerful than the denial. The misprinted headline is always remembered more than the retracted correction. Beyond the either or scenario, the first part of a communication certainly frames the last part in the context it is comprehended.

Importance of Ordering Speech: [ANECDOTE]

An English woman is traveling in a foreign country. She is interested in finding a restaurant for the evening. She approaches the hotel clerk who speaks very little English. She begins "I was wondering if you might be able to recommend a--" Upon her beginning to speak, the hotel clerk strains to listen. His parsing of the English is slow and has less RAM available for English. The beginning of the woman's question completely fills his capacity to understand on the fly, without ever getting to the real thing the woman wanted--a restaurant. At the moment the listeners capacity is filled, he must reset, and listen again, and in the transition he misses the point when the woman says "restaurant", and be further in the dark. A better attempt would have been "I need a restaurant for dinner tonight. Can you reccommend one please?"

simple over complex - simple concepts are easier related than complex. This is both because of limitations in intelligence and limitations in language

concrete over abstract- This one is responsible for a lot of trouble on this planet It effects political campaigns, what projects get funded, and people's spiritual beliefs alike. An abstract idea is by definition harder to relate than a concrete one. Beyond this, abstract ideas, regardless of their appropriateness, are viewed with suspicion versus concrete ideas. Abstract ideas work horribly as soundbytes and headlines. The concrete over abstract problem is at its best though in spiritual discussion, where the concepts necessarily are quite abstract.

CONCEPTS IN TOUCHSCREENING: -

Why a touchscreen? - A valid question in regards to human/dolphin communication research, is why focus so much energy on it.

Problems with a touchscreen-

1. Screen is mostly visual. Dolphins are mostly audial.

2. Touching a screen is unnatural for dolphins

TOUCH TOUCH TOUCH ! : Every time a dolphin touches the screen something must happen immediately--even if its a "wrong" touch. This something must be both visual and audial. - Idling times of the program must also contain small motion and sounds. These events must not overshadow and upstage reward motions and sound.

Screen Activation

1. non-dolphin methods

b. timer (screen works same time every day)

2. dolphin methods

b. motion activation

c. touch activation

 

VIDEOPHONES

Videophones can be a great and cost-effective method to gain recordings of dolphin speech. It solves the problem of identifying who is speaking, and will help in the problem of identifying context of the speech.

By definition, the dolphins using the videophone will be on video. All communications over the videophone shall be recorded and analysed by our signal processing software. The audio/video clips will then be classified and databased into a random access system. Clips will be assigned keywords to allow researchers to view and listen to many similar clips together.

Are videophones also touchscreens?

PRO- We run the risk of confusing the dolphins and lose some good touchscreen workers if some of the screens work and others do not. Thus, every screen must have touchscreen abilities.

CON- COST. To correctly equip each screen with touchscreen abilities greatly increases their cost, both in the actual equipment, and in the housing and maintenance costs. Also, perhaps differentiation of screens (some touchscreens, some visual screens, some videophones) should be a goal of Delphis research. This is directly tied to the question of "What is Button? What is Display?"

"What is Button? What is Display?" - A major issue in touchscreen programming is differentiation of button and display. When is the screen relating an idea to the dolphins; when is it laying out buttons for them to touch. One way around this problem is to have a touch screen and a display screen. This has a large drawback in the practical issues of screen placement.

questions in touchscreening -

How well do dolphins see?

Do they see in color?

What is their field of view? -

Is it a problem that the screen is flat?

Do they try to sonar it? -

How many different languages do the dolphins have?

Do the dolphins in captivity have their own dialects?

What do they make of the ultra-sonic properties of the monitors?

SOME CRAZY IDEAS.

Teach Dolphins English: As the old geezer said, "Its easier to teach the dolphins our language than it is to teach humans delphinese." This may be so, but its probably too much to ask of the dolphins. Another old geezer said, "The voice of the dolphin in air is like that of a young child, in that they can pronounce vowels but have trouble with consonants." It must be noted that the dolphins vocalize in air by an adapted method. They use their blowhole to produce sounds. This is akin to someone communicating to a moose by blowing air into their hands to produce sounds. If this approach is taken, a full-scale analysis of English is needed. What is wrong with English? How could it be modified to 'make more sense' to the dolphins? Could a modified English be understandible to both humans and dolphins? Is English the best human language to use? The task of attempting to teach english to dolphins was undertaken at the labs of Dr. John C. Lilly in the mid 1960's. Most notable of these experiments was the 2 1/2 month cohabitation between Margret Howe (human) and Peter (dolphin).

One Tone Per Letter Interface: Assign a single note of the keyboard to each letter of the alphabet. This has one great advantage in that it allows the human to type words normally. The great disadvantage is that most words don't sound anything like they mean. And other words that might be commonly used sound much too similar (example. "call" and "ball"). This interface has been created. It is possible to teach a human a small vocabulary of such tone-words, but they are almost totally unable to discern new words that are typed at random. Perfect grasp of this language requires the being listening to have perfect pitch. A secondary grasp of the language can be attained by beings who can remember the riffs that each word makes, comparing the notes contextually, (is the most recent note higher or lower than the one before? And how many notes were played?).

WHERE DOES KNOWLEDGE HIDE?

A. In the unknown

B. In assumptions

 

compiled by bigtwin, 1999