WHEN I saw my nine-year-old鈥檚 excited face and white knuckles in a ski jump
simulator at the Glasgow Transport Museum, I was impressed that a television
screen and shaking seat could have such a dramatic effect. Then, glancing at the
screen myself, I saw that we were hurtling towards a tree, and I started
screaming and gripping the seat too.
We all get as excited or scared by images on TV as if we were experiencing
them directly. Our brains evolved well before modern media, so arguably our
emotions do not distinguish media from reality. This is the basis of 鈥渢he media
equation鈥� which Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass introduce in their book of the
same title (CLSI/Cambridge University Press, 拢19.95/$27.95, ISBN 1
57586 052 X).
The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television and
New Media Like Real People and Places aims to study how people relate to
each other and then to substitute a computer for a person in the interaction.
For example, people are polite face-to-face, but less so when talking about
someone not present. The media equation predicts that people will be 鈥渕ore
positive鈥� about a computer when in front of it than when referring to it while
using another computer. And the experiments confirm this theory.
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We also prefer people who try to adapt to our personalities. Again, as
anticipated, people respond dramatically to the tone of computer prompts.
Whether a computer sounds 鈥渂ossy鈥� or 鈥渃ompliant鈥� determines whether we feel that
we 鈥済et on鈥� with it and subsequently how highly we rate it as users.
Ethicists and scientists may find that the experiments cited in The Media
Equation are not explained in enough detail鈥攁nd there is little on
the controversial consequences of this new understanding. But everybody should
read the book. It is well-written and accessible: a decent framework for
discussion.