Clifford Nass||Byron Reeves Stanford Communication Dept.||Stanford Communication Dept.A Social Science Theory is a Practical Thing: Social Responses to Communication Technology and Microsoft's Bob
April 14, 1995
For the past five years, we have been collaborating on a new
paradigm in human-computer interaction called "Social Responses
to Communication Technology" or "SRCT." Essentially,
SRCT is a theory and methods that argues that human's interactions
with computers and other technologies is fundamentally social
and natural. Via a series of experiments, we have demonstrated
that one can directly apply theories and methods taken from the
social sciences to inform how people will respond to computers.
The theory, results, and methods of this research program were
used in the development of Microsoft's Bob. In the first part
of our talk, we will discuss SRCT. In the second part of our
talk, we will demonstrate how SRCT was used to inform the design
of Bob.
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Professor Clifford Nass is an associate professor of Communication
at Stanford University, with appointments in Science, Technology,
and Society, Sociology, and Symbolic Systems. He received his
B.A. cum laude In Mathematics and his Ph.D. in Sociology, both
from Princeton University. He has worked as a computer scientist
for the IBM Research Center in Yorktown Heights and Intel Corp.
He has been a principal investigator on grants sponsored by US
West Advanced Technologies, National Science Foundation, the
Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering, the Center for
the Study of Language and Information, and Stanford University.
He has consulted for such organizations as American Electronics
Association, Amoco, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Northern
Telecomm, and the Smithsonian Institute. He has published over
twenty journal articles and book chapters concerning technology
and statistical methodology.
Professor Byron Reeves is the Paul C. Edwards Professor of
Communication, and Director of the Institute for Communication
Research at Stanford University. He is a nationally recognized
expert on the psychological processing of media in the areas
of attention, emotions, learning, and physiological responses.
He has been a consultant to Capital Cities-ABC, The Disney Channel,
The Advanced Television Test Center, The Federal Communication
Commission, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, IBM, US West,
Northern Telecomm, and Congress. He has published extensively
in communication, psychology, and neuroscience. His academic
background is in graphic design and music (B.F.A., Southern Methodist
University) and communication (Ph.D., Michigan State University).
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