Keywords

We would like to make a few remarks about the scope and usage of this book:

FormalPara This Work Does Not Intend to

  • list all observable features of certain recognizable social relationships in the context of social appropriateness (in the terminology introduced in Sect. 1.2: we do not intend to list all observables of specific factor criteria of social appropriateness),

  • explain why or how specifically observable features (observables) indicate certain social relationships in the context of social appropriateness (factor criteria of social appropriateness),

  • indicate which concrete behaviours are socially appropriate in specific interaction situations or which properties must concretely be implemented on a technical level to enable a technical system currently being designed to be capable of interacting in a socially appropriate manner.

Therefore, despite some references to empirical research, this work does not, for example, specify what particular speed a robot should choose when approaching a human or what specific greeting sequence would be appropriate in a formal greeting situation. Regarding social appropriateness, specific action indications like these cannot simply be derived from general rules in an interpersonal context, and a universally applicable ruleset for interactions with artificial assistants does not make sense in the context of human–machine interactions.

FormalPara This Work Does Intend to

  • based on the FASA model, provide orientation guidelines about which features (observables) could indicate certain social relationships in the context of social appropriateness (factor criteria of social appropriateness) and what factors and factor criteria of social appropriateness should be considered in concrete interaction situations.

  • initiate reflection on socially appropriate behaviour. In other words, the book at hand intends to exemplify which observables (could) indicate certain social relationships in the context of social appropriateness (factor criteria of social appropriateness) and what behaviour within the framework of the factor criteria and in idealized contexts could potentially be regarded as socially appropriate or inappropriate, without making any claims of exhaustiveness or exclusivity.

This allows the FASA model to be used as a heuristic checklist for many application contexts and interaction situations to see which social relations are relevant in the context of social appropriateness (i.e., the individual factor criteria can be used to check whether a factor or a criterion tends to be relevant or negligible in a specific intended interaction situation or general application context). Additionally, it gives a first look at what features (observables) artificial assistants designed to detect and possibly execute socially appropriate behaviour in specific application contexts or interaction situations—in other words, systems designed to be sociosensitive or socioactive—might need to detect and process on a technical level. The application examples discussed in this book are intended to serve as prompts for interpretation and should explicitly not be misunderstood as a blueprint for questions of social appropriateness—even when discussing specific application contexts or interaction situations.

In which contexts, situations, instances of human–computer interaction, etc. it would be beneficial to incorporate the dimension of social appropriateness to guide the designs of systems and interactions, and under which circumstances it might be better to choose to avoid designing technology sociosensitively let alone socioactively are questions that are not answered here, while the urgency to ask them is strongly emphasized. This book also lays foundations to formulate answers to these questions to a fitting level of complexity; it raises key questions about the design, regulation, and use of systems that intervene in social spaces and prepares the way for answers. With regard to the example of an approaching robot’s speed or the type of greeting chosen, while this work cannot provide exact or even vaguely normative suggestions on how to make concrete decisions, this work can give hints as to when, why, and where the speed of an approaching robot or the performance of a greeting could have an impact on the perceived social appropriateness of an agent’s behaviour.

Another approach to the phenomenon of social appropriateness is given by social appropriateness tree structures (Chap. 5). In these structures, the observables/indicators listed as examples in Chap. 4 can be tentatively assigned to the factor criteria of specific factors. This gives us graphs that offer quick access to social appropriateness: for example, given a few observables/indicators—technically processed by a sociosensitive/socioactive system—the graphs can be used to check for which dimensions of social appropriateness these observables/indicators might be relevant. Conversely, given parameters of factors and factor criteria of social appropriateness, the graphs can be used to check which observables/indicators are relevant to social appropriateness and might therefore need to be processed by a sociosensitive/socioactive system in each case. The tree structures portray graphically how both of the ‹time› and ‹intention› factor criteria are associated with two different factors—‹time› is associated with the two factors «Situational Context» and «Type of Action, Conduct, Behaviour, or Task» and ‹intention› is associated with the two factors «Type of Action, Conduct, Behaviour, or Task» and «Relations between Interacting Agents». Thus, the graphs illustrate the interconnections between factor criteria and factors, and therefore ultimately between the factors themselves.

FormalPara About the Structure of the Content of This Book

  • In Chap. 3, ‘What is social appropriateness? Voices from 90 years of research’, the phenomenon of social appropriateness is illuminated with a selection of perspectives to establish a preliminary understanding of what is actually meant by ‘social appropriateness’ and what forms its investigation can take.

  • In Chap. 4 the FASA model is explicated using its factors and references to theoretical approaches in the literature.

  • Chap. 5 presents social appropriateness tree structures as an alternative heuristic approach: here, the factors, their criteria, and any prominently associated observables/indicators of social appropriateness presented in the model explication are graphically arranged and interrelated.

  • In Chap. 6 to further illustrate the FASA model in the context of technical systems, the model is applied to examples of technical systems using various case studies and a thought experiment.

  • In Chap. 7 reflections about the potential and the limitations of the model are presented. Without claiming to be exhaustive, these reflections raise a few critical and ethical considerations about sociosensitive and socioactive technology. They can also be understood as self-reflection on our own research activities.

  • Book Backmatter consists of a glossary of terminology and a bibliography that merely represents an excerpt of the three-year literature search. A comprehensive database of the research results is available at www.polite-data.netzweber.de.

Finally, to improve the visual readability of the book, some illustrations from the literature have been modified, as indicated in the corresponding captions.