The systemics of dialogism: On the prevalence of the self in HCI design

Since simulating human communication is dependant on the evolution of this very activity, all efforts in the field of Human‐Computer Interaction (HCI) are intuitively bound to be too late. Little sign of this fact is reflected in the literature. In stride with the foresight of French philosopher Francis Jacques, the present work explores the systemological approach of dialogism as a new way of couching the problem of person‐machine “dialogue.” The difficulties encountered in the “heat of design” are only indirectly addressed; shedding light upon standard new interface = new solution philosophies implicit in current bipolar metaphors for human‐computer relationships is the major motivation. The posture taken differs from current HCI stances insofar as a machine is taken to be only part of the solution, and works towards establishing a viewpoint from which HCI technology—a chapter of the new Cognitive Science Order—is seen to evolve with the ever‐changing demands of users: Dialogism contains no individuality. Popular stances are qualified as monological since two separate incompatible information processing systems are therein put forth, the “Self” and the “Other.” But the particularity of this “communication” does not lie in the chain of emission, transmission, and reception states of which it is made, but in the relevance that such behavior acquires in sustaining the biological circularity of Man. Thus as humans developing designership skills, accepting that our subjectivity moderates this process becomes paramount. The author's conviction is that an HCI community reflecting upon the future of interface will gain bona fide self‐awareness from conceptualizing the Machine as a component of society, rather than an entity separate from it. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.