Re: Voice Economics

Arthur S. Hitomi (ahitomi@zola.ICS.uci.edu)
Fri, 16 Oct 1998 01:07:04 -0700


Full-duplex in a one-to-one conversation maybe desirable, but in group
conversations you can see how half duplex can actually help regulate
conversations in these situations, esp as the number grows.

Would you want to play Jeopordy without a buzzer? :)

Art

In message <BFF90FB6CF66D111BF4F0000F840DB850539DC62@LASSIE>, "Lisa Lippert (Dusseau
>Studies of how people communicate show that overlapping (full-duplex) is
>necessary. I'm pretty sure it was in Deborah Tannen's book "You Just
>Don't Understand" that I read about this. It's a good book; Tannen's a
>sociolinguist, not a pop psychologist.
>
>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345372050/forkrecommendedrA/
>
>Anyway, studies have shown that much of the meta-communication that goes
>on in a conversation goes on during those short periods where voice
>overlaps. Let's say you're explaining a difficult concept to me over a
>half-duplex connection. How do you know when to stop explaining? How
>do you know when to go into more detail? You could just go on and on --
>how could I say "OK I understand that concept, but what about this?" In
>a full-duplex voice-only conversation, I would sprinkle an encouraging
>"mm-hmm" or discouraging "uhh...", while you are talking, as a cue to
>you to know whether I am understanding.