Moving Ahead With Human-Machine Communication

Abstract

The four layers of discourse that this second volume of Human-Machine Communication contains substantially advance key debates in the field. The foundations of the major theoretical frameworks are progressing and the methodological tools are subject to ongoing innovation. Furthermore, the research methodologies used in this field are less confined to strictly quantitative and experimental ones, and increasingly integrate qualitative and mixed methods. Likewise, it is encouraging to witness critical approaches to HMC emerging alongside and also challenging the more traditional and administrative approaches to theory and practice. We still need to better understand the actual practices of use of technologies, which are at the basis of the big issues, if we want to progress substantially in this field (Suchman, 2019). However, we are aware that we face serious limitations in exploring the daily practices of use, especially of social robots, because these are still at the prototyping level and, thus, users have a very limited direct experience of them. This call for additional research on situated use practices, as well as our call for greater integration of historical, sociological, and semiotic/hermeneutic insights, for work that interrogates and challenges structures of privilege, exploitation, and oppression, and for research that extends HMC inquiry into transforming and transformative communication technologies like the automobile, is offered with excitement and appreciation for our wonderful community of researchers, theorists, and practitioners. We extend our gratitude to the brilliant, generous, and constructive scholars who comprise the editorial board and to the scientists, critics, and practitioners who submitted their excellent work.