One of the problems with non-realtime conversations

[dsrtao]

One of the problems with non-realtime conversations, especially in groups, is the resultant lack of realtime feedback.

It's hard for people to figure out that they are being inappropriate, or worse, without it. And then too many people pile on at once.

Comments

[siderea]

Hmm! I've been thinking lately about this feedback-loop problem, but focusing on the f2f gap. F2F, the way disapproval is initially signalled is with timing (a pause), tone of voice, and change of posture. All missing and without substitute in text/async. In green-on-black, the only indication of disapproval is that explicitly made. Unfortunately, our system of ettiquette has prohibatory rules about expressing disapproval explicitly: it is only permitted (non-rude) when the case is rather severe. So, as you say, the feedback loop only get closed too late.

[jducoeur]

Hmm. That's a really interesting problem. I do wonder if there are middle-ground options -- probably not as good as f2f, but better than raw text. Since CommYou is (all too slowly, but steadily) moving towards a pretty arbitrary realtime protocol and a reference UI that is arbitrarily expressive (the advantage of using Flash), I'm always curious about experiments to try once I feel that the infrastructure is decent.

I can see some elements of the problem -- for instance, the difference in subject between the f2f expression of "*I* am uncomfortable" vs. the common textual "*You* did something wrong", and the distinction in impact between subtle visual cues and overt textual ones. That's probably just scratching the surface, though.

If you come up with any specific ideas of things to try, I'd love to hear about them, and think about how they might be implemented.

(DSR, I'm going to raise this as a topic in Art of Conversation -- it's on-topic and interesting. Would you like a pointer back to this post? I don't know whether you want pointers to your LJ.)

[(Anonymous)]

Feel free -- anything unlocked is public.

Random ideas for realtime feedback:

- private side-channels, not just text (although that's useful), but emoticons or applause-meters or similar. The equivalent of facebook's "n people like this" applied to comments. More valuable: "n people thought that this wasn't expressed well" and "n people thought you should reconsider your tone".

- public side-channels, like an applause-meter. Also useful in instant voting -- the ability for a participant to add a labeled vote-meter easily and quickly might be very valuable. "Where are we going for lunch? Vote by noon: A B C D E Other"

[dsrtao]

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