Mixing metaphors in mobile remote presence

Metaphors for making sense of new communication technologies are important for setting user expectations about appropriate use of the technologies. When users do not share a common metaphorical model for using these technologies, interpersonal communication breakdowns can occur. Through a set of three 8-week-long field deployments and one ongoing observation in-house, we conducted contextual inquiries around the uses of a relatively new communication technology, a mobile remote presence (MRP) system. We observed many nonhuman-like metaphors (e.g., orienting toward the system as a robot, an object) and human-like metaphors (e.g., a person, or a person with disabilities). These metaphors influence people's expectations about social norms in using the systems. We found that there is a serious risk of creating interpersonal conflict when the metaphors are mismatched between people (e.g., locals use nonhuman-like metaphors when remote pilots use human-like metaphors). We explore the implications for understanding remote pilots' rights and responsibilities and present design guidelines for MRP systems that support geographically distributed groups.