Human-Machine Communication (HMC) in Communication Studies: The Paradigm Shift and Essential Approaches

Year 2021, Issue: 36, 203 - 220, 31.12.2021

Bilge Narin

https://doi.org/10.31123/akil.988494

Cited By: 1

Abstract

We live in an age where technologies that interact with people such as virtual assistants and social bots have become widespread. Developments in such artificial intelligence technologies that gain social features by interacting with people, point to a transformation and breaking in the essential paradigm of communication, which defines communication merely as the transfer of meaning between people. In the field of communication sciences, where communication has been conceptualized as a human process that has been carried out through machines for a long time; it is worth examining what it means for machines to overcome the tool/device role and to become communicators in a communication process. In this context, the present research focuses on the rising position of human-machine communication in the communication sciences by questioning how it transformed the fundamental communication paradigm. Human-machine communication (HMC), both as a concept and research area within the communication sciences, focuses on the effects of interaction between people and technology on individuals, society, and humanity. This research focuses on a small number of leading academic studies in the field, centering human-machine communication as a new field of study. The main approaches of these studies are categorized and defined under the titles of “Computers Are Social Actors (CASA)”, “Perceived Understanding Framework”, “Disclosure Processing Framework”, and “Discursive / Narrative / Linguistic Approaches.” The approaches categorized and analyzed in the present study could provide both theoretical and methodological basis for new studies in the field of human-machine communication.

Keywords

Human-machine communication, algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Social Bot, Communication Sciences

İletişim Çalışmalarında İnsan-Makine İletişimi: Paradigma Değişikliği ve Temel Yaklaşımlar

Abstract

Sanal asistanlar ve sosyal botlar başta olmak üzere, insanlarla makinelerin etkileşime girdikleri teknolojilerin yaygınlık kazandığı bir çağda yaşamaktayız. İnsanlarla etkileşim kurarak toplumsal özellikler kazanan bu tür yapay zekâ teknolojilerinde görülen gelişmeler, iletişimi yalnızca insanlar arasında anlam aktarımı olarak tanımlayan temel iletişim paradigmasında da bir dönüşüme ve kırılmaya işaret etmektedir. İletişimin uzun zamandır makineler aracılığıyla gerçekleştirilen bir insan süreci olarak kavramsallaştırıldığı iletişim bilimleri alanında; makinelerin aracı/araç rolünü aşarak iletişimci haline gelmesinin ne anlama geldiği ve iletişim çalışmalarına potansiyel olarak ne getirdiği incelemeye değer bir konudur. Bu kapsamda, bu araştırma insan-makine iletişiminin iletişim bilimleri disiplini içindeki yükselen konumuna odaklanarak; temel iletişim paradigmasını nasıl dönüşüme uğrattığını sorgulamaktadır. İletişim bilimleri içinde hem bir kavram hem de araştırma alanı olarak insan-makine iletişimi (İMİ), insanlar ile teknoloji arasındaki etkileşimin bireyler, toplum ve insanlık üzerindeki etkilerini incelemektedir. Bu araştırma ise, yeni bir çalışma alanı olarak insan-makine iletişimini merkeze alarak, alanda gerçekleştirilen az sayıdaki öncü akademik çalışmayı “Bilgisayarlar Toplumsal Aktörlerdir”, “Algılanan Anlaşılma Çerçevesi”, “Açıklama İşleme Çerçevesi” ve “Söylemsel/Anlatısal/Dilsel Yaklaşımlar” başlıkları altında kategorileştirip serimleyerek tartışmaya açmaktadır. Çalışma kapsamında kategorize edilip incelenen yaklaşımların, insan-makine iletişimi alanda yapılacak yeni araştırmalara kuramsal ve metodolojik bir temel oluşturması umulmaktadır.

Keywords

İnsan-makine iletişimi, Algoritmalar, sosyal bot, Yapay Zekâ, İletişim Bilimleri

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