Reading assignment: Chapters 6 and 10 Of Make it So
Chapter 6: Sonic Interfaces
The authors establish 2 major categories for sonic interfaces: sonic output and voice interfaces. The chapter covers outputs including considerations for effects such as alarms, ambient sound such as buzzing or clattering made by machinery, and directional sound. Topics around interfaces deal with music and multiple types of voice interfaces, including more sophisticated conversational interfaces. I agree that the more sophisticated the voice interface, the more that is expected out of it (for example, when dealing with the automated voice when calling insurance or the bank). Still, I’m surprised that there still is not a feature that allows automated systems to measure how annoyed a person is getting with the system (for example, syllables becoming more terse, or volume increasing) and getting the caller over to a human associate as quickly as possible. Perhaps everyone gets terse and annoyed, so there’s no need to measure it, or rank people by the amount that the automated system annoys them.
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Chapter 10: Communication
I was interested to see authors using terms “asynchronous” and “synchronous,” which I’m sure have been used in discussions around communication for a long time, but I only started seeing that term at the start of COVID-19 to make a distinction between a zoom call and a zoom recording. The chapter identifies the functions needed in both categories of communication: composing, playback, activation, connecting between caller and receiver, connection monitoring, ending a call. Other considerations addressed include volume control, accompanying visuals/video, mute functions, language translation, and disguises. One of the noted opportunities- subtle appearance alteration (lighting correction, blurred background, etc)- is realized today with features on Zoom.
One of the subjects addresses is the complexities of language translation- it reminded me of an article I read about the challenges of translating Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, written in Chinese by Xiaolu Guo. The author describes the language of the book as “slangy, raw Chinese” and the article discussed the difficulties of conveying that tone and the cultural connotations associated with it into English. By comparison, machines attempting to translate in real time would be at an even greater disadvantage. Perhaps the translate-in-real-time would be forced to restrict itself to austere and utilitarian function, or risk completely missing the boat.