Theoretical Importance of Contingency in Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

A critical determinant of message interactivity is the presence of contingency, that is, the messages we receive are contingent upon the messages we send, leading to a threaded loop of interdependent messages. While this “conversational ideal” is easily achieved in face-to-face and computer-mediated communications (CMC), imbuing contingency in human-computer interaction (HCI) is a challenge. We propose two interface features—interaction history and synchronous chat—for increasing perceptions of contingency, and therefore user engagement. We test it with a five-condition, between-participants experiment ( N = 110) on a movie search site. Data suggest that interaction history can indeed heighten perceptions of contingency and dialogue, but is perceived as less interactive than chatting. However, the chat function does not appreciably increase perceived contingency or user engagement, both of which are shown to mediate the effects of message interactivity on attitudes toward the site. Theoretical implications for interactivity research and practical implications for interaction design are discussed.

Youth Online Political Participation: The Role of Facebook Use, Interactivity, Quality Information and Political Interest

“…Studies have reveals that people use a particular channel of communication because of both external and internal factors for instance, the strength and quality of the information, the credibility of source of the information, easy accessibility and understanding of the information, its timeliness, the organization and arrangement of the information and also the completeness and reliability of the information [23]. Similarly, individual personal purpose or intention of having good and reliable information can motivate people to select and use a specific media, therefore this can help in ascertain and justifying Facebook information quality as a motivating factor for youth unparticular for using Facebook for online political participation.…”

Talking Health With a Machine: How Does Message Interactivity Affect Attitudes and Cognitions?

“…The scale for measuring power usage contained 12 items adapted from Sundar and Marathe (2010) and Sundar, Xu, Bellur, Oh, and Jia (2011). Four variables-perceived contingency (Sundar, Bellur, Oh, Jia, et al, 2016), perceived interactivity (Liu, 2003;McMillan & Hwang, 2002), perceived warmth (Kim & Sundar, 2012;Powers & Kiesler, 2006), and perceived relevance (Thorson & Zhao, 1997;Wells, 1989)-were hypothesized as the mediating variables in this study. Prior to participants' exposure to the study stimulus, a pretest questionnaire gathered information on demographic variables and power usage.…”

“…Attitude toward the health Q&A content was measured with three factors-content quality, content enjoyment, and information value. Both sets of attitudinal measures were adapted from Sundar (2000) and Sundar et al (2011), Sundar, Bellur, Oh, Jia, et al (2016.…”

“…The findings showed that contingent face-to-face interaction promoted a sense of mutuality and connectedness with the communication partner. Sundar, Bellur, Oh, Jia, and Kim (2016) adopted a visual approach of graphically displaying the interaction between the user and the system, labeled interaction history, in order to operationalize contingency on a movie search engine. The results of the study indicated that the presence of interaction history did indeed promote greater perceptions of contingency in users' minds, which in turn influenced users' attitudes and engagement toward a website.…”

“…This state is characterized by increased attentional focus toward and involvement with the content of the interaction (Webster & Ho, 1997). Studies operationalizing user engagement as the extent of self-reported absorption and immersion in the interaction (Agarwal & Karahanna, 2000) have empirically demonstrated that it mediates the effects of message interactivity (Sundar, Bellur, Oh, Jia, et al, 2016). Engagement, as mental elaboration, is also known to mediate the effect of message interactivity on persuasiveness of health advocacy messages .…”