学生预见通信的未来

伊曼纽尔Helbert

2018年2月26日

学生预见通信的未来 – and it’s not yet another tool!

When we asked students from Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin and the University of Ethnology of Strasbourg to think about the future of communication, 他们把我们带到遥远而意想不到的地方. 奇怪，但鼓舞人心!

We thought they would cross science fiction frontiers and propose new sophisticated gadgets. 我们错了! 我们错了 because while continuing to look for the next collaboration feature, we nearly forgot the basics: Good communication starts with an appropriate environment inviting people to talk and to listen.

When it comes to business communication the requirement is the same, 然而, 等式正在改变. First, the 流程 are changing as they need to be agile and straightforward. The work environment is also changing with an increasing number of remote workers and virtual teams. 和, the management style is changing from command and control to employee empowerment and self-managed work teams. 沟通意味着必须适应这种新模式. 不仅学生们明白这一点, but they looked like they owned these keys deep inside themselves.

Two groups of students decided to focus on meetings and the communication between participants. “How can we improve the quality of information exchanged during meetings?”

第一个项目:Cirro Focus

Cirro Focus, the first project, analyzed interactions and participant behaviors in 敏捷 流程. The group needed to answer the questions “How do you create a workplace without walls, and how do you create links inside a working group even if they are mobile?” Cirro Focus is a meeting device that helps people to feel part of the team even if they are not physically present. Cirro Focus is a light made of circular rings which can open as wide as the area occupied by the team under the device. 中央结构包含一个视频投影仪, microphone and loudspeakers and is connected to a global communication system. The device encourages closeness and confidence between the teammates, even for those not present in person as their image (avatar or live video) is projected on the floor and is fully part of the team. Cirro Focus uses a mobile application running on each participant’s smartphone to make a connection between the teammate and the meeting area.

第二个项目:Ostrakinda

Ostrakinda, 第二个项目, took a closer look at interactions between participants during meetings, either at the same location or through the conferencing system. They concluded that the quality of the meeting outcome does not rely solely on the quality of the audio and video communications. 经常, 会议以糟糕的结果告终, 要么是因为参与者之间的误解, 自我争吵, 或者主题复杂性. 走出这些死胡同, one could use meta-communication and this is the core of Ostrakinda.

Ostrakinda is a device playing the role of a virtual and neutral participant in the meeting that introduces chance and disruptive viewpoints to nurture the discussions, 提出备选方案, 和冷静的辩论. 基本上, it consists of a communication system embedded in a puzzling and handmade crafted structure which listens silently for words that reoccur frequently in the meeting, 声级, the temper of the discussions and fetches and displays in the meeting room random images in relation to those words. 这些图像构建了一个启发式地图, 用二维表示, 对会议的另一种解读, 通向其他解决途径.

其他探索手机/用户行为的项目
Aside from these two devices are five other projects that explored phone-user behaviors and their relationships with their communication device. 在电话发明一个多世纪之后, these projects proposed to re-think how our body could interact with communication devices. 五名学生开发了几个曲目，例如:
  - 首饰作为通讯控制装置
  - 使用皮革或柔软的材料 
  - Including light to transform the phone into a more luxurious element
  - 分析身体手势以启动通信服务

Though these devices may look quite different than what we’re used to for communications, they highlight something very interesting: What gives value to communication is more the content of the information rather than the ability to exchange that information. 

So, what we’ve learned is that it’s not just about the tools, but about human interactions!

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise continues to lead in research about human communications and the tools that help enable and improve those connections and relationships. 从ALE了解有关通信解决方案的更多信息.