Abstract
Mediated communication is the way that distributed and proximate work teams communicate, and is structured nearly completely through software. Users request and make commitments, collaborate on and complete projects, and develop new software systems through software-based conversations. Yet, software designers and developers approach designing conversation software as a series of generic submissions, rather than as an iterative and reflexive process of specific and varied types of speech-acts. This paper examines two pieces of software: The Coordinator and the Uber Partner (driver) app, and a summary of the dialog surrounding the release of the Coordinator as an implementation of Language/Action Theory.
Keywords
conversation; Language/Action theory; systems design; behavior shaping
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.293
Citation
Mages, M. (2016) Uber and Language/Action Theory, in Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Future Focused Thinking - DRS International Conference 2016, 27 - 30 June, Brighton, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.293
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Uber and Language/Action Theory
Mediated communication is the way that distributed and proximate work teams communicate, and is structured nearly completely through software. Users request and make commitments, collaborate on and complete projects, and develop new software systems through software-based conversations. Yet, software designers and developers approach designing conversation software as a series of generic submissions, rather than as an iterative and reflexive process of specific and varied types of speech-acts. This paper examines two pieces of software: The Coordinator and the Uber Partner (driver) app, and a summary of the dialog surrounding the release of the Coordinator as an implementation of Language/Action Theory.