What if smartphones were human?
Using Actor Network Theory to explore human-machine relationships
Actor Network Theory (ACN) in a Nutshell
The world exists as a series of networks that connect humans and non-humans (artifacts and nature), known as actors. Any action in the world occurs as a result of actors coming together. [1]
For example, adding an event to Google calendar involves the actors in the following tool system working together to allow the behavior to occur…
In looking at the network of actors, we are then able to analyze the roles of each actor, relationships between them, and how tasks are delegated (especially to non-human actors).
Actant Switching
In our Seminar III class today, we looking at how ACN and the use of actant switching*–swapping non-human actors for human ones or vice versa–can be employed to uncover insights into people’s relationships with artifacts.
Consider the following thought experiment using the example above: What if we swapped the Google Calendar app with a human? How would this affect the network and our interactions with the actor? Here’s one example of what that might look like…
Danielle has a meeting with a colleague at 2pm tomorrow. To make sure she doesn’t forget, Danielle asks Cally (her trusty human calendar) to make a note of it and notify her when it’s 1:45pm so that she can head to the meeting. At 1:45pm sharp, Cally knocks on Danielle’s door.
Cally: Meeting with Steve.
Danielle: I’m almost done. Come get me in a few minutes.
5 minutes later.
Cally: Meeting with Steve.
Danielle: Just 5 more minutes.
5 minutes later.
Cally: Meeting with Steve.
Danielle: Alright, alright, I’m leaving.
If Google Calendar was a real person, seeing her say “Meeting with Steve” over and over would feel very strange. A more normal, human version of this might be “Hey, your meeting with Steve starts in 15 minutes”, or after a few snoozes maybe it’s simply “Ready for your meeting?”.
A real human would adapt to the situation instead of repeating the same thing. They would acknowledge what is already known to the two of them (this entire interaction is regarding a meeting with Steve). Now, what if the app version of Google Calendar behaved like this too? This could help the app appear more sensitive to the user’s context.
*Sarah Foley dives deeper into this in her thesis and blogpost.
ACN & Actant Switching As a Design Method
- Can be used as a tool for analyzing artifacts and answering questions like: What is the network like? What are the actors? What tasks are delegated to humans and artifacts? What do you lose/gain when you swap actors? What trade-off between autonomy and independence take placed? Who holds the power?
- Makes relationships between actors more social, as we start to think of relationships as exchanges.
- Makes implicit relations more explicit, especially when used in analyzing service systems.
- Giving technological actors human forms allow us to explore the nuances of human-machine relationships. It can open up the possibility of conversations with inanimate objects and surfaces insights, emotions, etc. about how we perceive them, our relationships with them. These are nuances that would be otherwise difficult to tease out.
- If used for user research, think about how you lead the participant through from visualizing the tool system as it exists to actant switching to envisioning interactions with the actor’s new form.
Bibliography
[1] Where are the Missing Masses by Bruno Latour
[2] Artifacts as Social Agents by Philip Bray
