Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking Communication, Technology, and Ourselves [Book Review]

Abstract

From virtual assistants to social robots, people are increasingly interacting with intelligent and highly communicative technologies throughout their daily lives. This shift from communicating with people to communicating with people and machines challenges how scholars have theorized and studied communication. 'Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking Communication, Technology, and Ourselves' addresses this transition in how people communicate and who, or what, they communicate with and the implications of this evolution for communication research. Geared toward scholars interested in people's interactions with technology, this book serves as an introduction to human-machine communication (HMC) as a specific area of study within communication (encompassing human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, and human-agent interaction) and to the research possibilities of HMC. This collection includes papers presented as part of a scholarly conference on HMC, along with invited works from noted researchers. Topics include defining HMC, theoretical approaches to HMC, applications of HMC, and the larger implications of HMC for self and society. The research presented here focuses on people's interactions with multiple technologies (artificial intelligence, algorithms, and robots) used within different contexts (home, workplace, education, journalism, and healthcare) from a variety of epistemological and methodological approaches (empirical, rhetorical, and critical/cultural). Overall, Human-Machine Communication provides readers with an understanding of HMC in a way that supports and promotes further scholarly inquiry in a growing area of communication research. Introduction: What is human-machine communication, anyway? / Andrea L. Guzman -- Animals, humans, and machines: Interactive implications of ontological classification / Autumn P. Edwards -- Aliveness and the off-switch in human-robot relations / Eleanor Sandry -- Child or product? The rhetoric of social robots / Leslie M Fritz -- "I'll present to the human": Effects of a robot evaluator on anticipatory public speaking anxiety / Chad Edwards, Brett Stoll, Autumn P. Edwards, Patric Spence, Andrew Gambino -- Presence past and future: reflections on 25 years of presence technology, scholarship, and community / Matthew Lombard -- Theorizing verbally persuasive robots / S. Austin Lee, Yuhua (Jake) Liang -- Communicating with robots: Analyzing the interaction between healthcare robots and humans with regards to privacy / Christoph Lutz, Aurelia Tamò -- My algorithm: User perceptions of algorithmic recommendations in cultural contexts / Terje Colbjørnsen -- A robot will take your job. How does that make you feel? Examining perceptions of robots in the workplace / Patric R. Spence, David Westerman, Xialing Lin -- Communicating with machines: Robots as the next new media / Sakari Taipale, Leopoldina Fortunati -- Ars ex machina: Rethinking responsibility in the age of creative machines / David j. Gunkel -- Ethics in HMC: Recent developments and case studies / Charles Ess.