A Design Vocabulary for Scaffolding Group Interaction Archetypes through Synchronous Telephony

Abstract

Multiple HCI projects have demonstrated the potential of digitally-enhanced, synchronous telephony platforms for use with and by resource-limited communities. However, these platforms were each designed to only facilitate a single archetype of community engagement, limiting their capacity for adaptation when contextual or stakeholder requirements change. This paper builds upon these projects to introduce a design vocabulary, grounded in a formal ontology describing the core components necessary to run adaptable, structured engagements through synchronous group telephony. Through a series of scenarios, we present how this design vocabulary can be used to: help design and communicate different models of synchronous audio engagements, describe existing technologies, and highlight other novel ways in which such platforms could be used. We discuss how while under-explored to this point, synchronous telephony platforms can be designed to orchestrate stakeholder engagements with a degree of flexibility previously impossible in remote, offline contexts.