science

Language/action perspective

Language/action perspective is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Language/action perspective rather than just read about it. In short: The language/action perspective "takes language as the primary dimension of human cooperative activity," applied not just in person-to-person direct (face-to-face) interactions, but also in the design of systems mediated by information and communication technology. The perspective was developed in the joint authorship of Understanding Computers and Cognition by Fernando Flores and Terry Winograd in 1987.

Key takeaways

Language/action perspective belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Language/action perspective to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Language/action perspective from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The language/action perspective "takes language as the primary dimension of human cooperative activity," applied not just in person-to-person direct (face-to-face) interactions, but also in the design of systems mediated by information and communication technology. The perspective was developed in the joint authorship of Understanding Computers and Cognition by Fernando Flores and Terry Winograd in 1987.

Overview As part of a reflection published in 2006, Terry Winograd describes the language-action perspective as resting on two key orienting principles:

The first is its focus on linguistic communication as the basis for understanding what occurs in information systems. Ultimately all information is communication: not an abstract system of bits and bytes but a means by which people interact. The second principle is that language is action. Through their linguistic acts people effect change in the world. In imposing a language-action framework on information technology, we emphasize the action dimension over the more traditional dimension of information content. Language is action argues that speech isn't simply composed of assertions about the situation: utterances may also create a situation, such as, "Let's go to the park." That utterance may be subject to interpretation but is not verifiable via the state of the world. This principle is closely linked to the ideas from phenomenology. Furthermore, language is not the transmission of information, which simply correspond to the state of the world. By creating a situation, language forms a consensual domain to further encourage more action through language. These speech acts may often take the form of commitment to other actions. In the design of information systems, the perspective is based upon the notion as proposed by Terry Winograd that information technology may be limited in its ability to improve human communication. "Expert behavior requires an exquisite sensitivity to context and an ability to know what to commit to. Computing machines, which are purposely designed to process symbols independent of their context, have no hope of becoming experts.". That sensitivity to context is thus more in the realm of the human than in that of the artificial.

History Research on LAP was done in the Advanced Technology Group (ATG) at Apple Computer in the late 1980s. Winograd was invited to present the basic concepts in a seminar at Apple in the winter of 1988. Some Apple ATG researchers, notably Tom Pittard and Brad Hartfield, saw potential for enhancing the user experience of network based computer interactions if LAP was included in the mix of basic design considerations. Research on the application of LAP to business process modelling was done in the System Modelling Research Group, Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of the West of England in the early 2000s.

Applications Insights from related work have been applied over the past two decades. At the LAP 2004 - Conference, Kalle Lyytinen discussed the academic/theoretic success of LAP. Yet, these LAP successes have not found entry into the wider stream of applications. In a sense, LAP is now peripheral to computer science, however there may be a need for a deeper look at this viewpoint. LAP played a role in the second AI Winter. At the time, symbolic AI tried to represent intelligence using a growing knowledge base represented as facts in language. The LAP argued that language was not simply a correspondence with facts but instead depended upon the contextual domain and could not be rigidly defined. Even Winograd's SHRDLU, an exemplar of language understanding in AI, was incapable of broadening its understanding beyond the blocks world.

See also Artificial general intelligence Design & Engineering Methodology for Organizations (DEMO) End-user computing Information science

References

Further reading Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores (1987) Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

External links Project Theory Gravitates towards the Language Action Perspective A Language/Action Perspective on the Design of Cooperative Work LAP 2005 - Conference Language/Action Perspective summary in the Association for Information Systems (AIS) theory repository "Conversations for action, commitment management protocol" details the Flores and Winograd linkages between language and action

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Language/action perspective

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Language/action perspective claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Language/action perspective before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Language/action perspective ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Language/action perspective

In research: Language/action perspective appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Language/action perspective in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Language/action perspective is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Artificial intelligence, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Language/action perspective outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Language/action perspective in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Language/action perspective means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Language/action perspective out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Language/action perspective in simple terms?

Why does Language/action perspective matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Language/action perspective?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Language/action perspective.