Our observational work was watching a group of designers and developers on the UCSD campus brainstorm solutions to a flaw in their current data visualization application called Waitz. We wanted to focus on what types of verbal and nonverbal communication they used throughout the meeting, so we could get a better understanding of the types of communication that is necessary when working through problems. We believed that by seeing what types of communication is necessary, we would be able to take these behaviors and either mimic them or find a suitable alternative for a virtual space. Some of the most common nonverbal behaviors we noticed were: eye contact, gesturing, physical contact (usually a high five or a pat on the back), and body language such as body posture. We found that collaborators used different ways to communicate agreement or disagreement. Agreement was usually signified with a head nod or some form of contact with the other person. Furthermore, disagreement usually contained an explanation of why they disagreed, coupled with no eye contact. Eye contact was also used to signify that they were listening. Also, head nods were a way of signifying they were listening. It seemed as though both of these actions were the real worlds equivalent of a read receipt on Facebook.

 
A major breakdown we noticed during the meeting was that a lot of things had to be repeated, and some sentences were lost in translation. Sometimes, a poorly phrased sentence was not coupled with a nonverbal behavior which led to misunderstandings. We believe that this is a space where technology can come in to help out. For example, emojis are a great way to signify a feeling or belief without any verbal communication. Agreement can be shown with a thumbs up, disagreement with a thumbs down. There isn’t any need to say a word. This is a powerful tool that we will look to utilize in our prototype. 

​

To see all of our research, follow this Google Drive link.