Research Seminar by Brennan Jones | Designing Technologies for Social Situation Awareness in Human-Human and Human-Agent Communication

Designing Technologies for Social Situation Awareness in Human-Human and Human-Agent Communication

Communication plays a dominant role in society and is crucial for working together in groups, forming social connections, and for humans to collaborate effectively with AI agents. However, the effectiveness of communication depends on the degree of social situation awareness that the communicating parties have. My research in human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) focuses on designing interactive systems for social situation awareness in technology-mediated human-human and human-agent communication. I explore how different types of technology can identify and properly support appropriate information sharing within communication situations such as when interacting with other individuals and teams (e.g., telework, distributed collaboration) and with anthropomorphized agents and AI tools (human-agent interaction). In this talk, I will present research on technologies that aim to make human-human communication more equitable, particularly in asymmetric circumstances such as remote work, emergency response, and remote family communication. I will demonstrate interfaces involving immersive telepresence, extended reality (XR), and video communication. I will also present research on technologies that aim to foster effective long-term human-AI partnerships, such as context-aware AI chatbots and mechanisms for long-term memory in artificial agents. Lastly, I will present my vision for future research and technology design in this space.