Clifford Nass
Clifford Nass | |
|---|---|
| File:Clifford Nass at Stanford.jpg Nass at Stanford in 2013 | |
| Born | Template:Birth date Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | November 2, 2013 (aged 55) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Princeton University B.A., M.A., Ph.D. |
| Occupation(s) | Professor, Stanford University |
Clifford Ivar Nass (April 3, 1958 – November 2, 2013) served as a communications professor at Stanford University and was a pioneering figure in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). He co-developed the influential The Media Equation theory and was renowned for his investigations into media multitasking and its consequences. Nass held the Thomas M. Storke Professorship and had additional appointments in Computer Science, Education, Law, and Sociology. His academic involvement extended to Stanford’s Symbolic Systems and Science, Technology, and Society programs.
He led the Communication between Humans and Interactive Media (CHIMe) Lab, co-led the Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory (KGC) including its Real-time Venture Design Laboratory (ReVeL), and was a co-founder of TeachAids.
Early life and education
Nass was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and grew up in Teaneck as the son of Florence and Jules Nass. Following the tragic loss of his brother due to a drunk driving incident, his parents established New Jersey’s inaugural chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
He earned his A.B. in mathematics from Princeton University in 1981, graduating cum laude with a senior thesis on computer graphics supervised by Arthur Appel. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, Nass worked at IBM and Intel focusing on computer graphics, data structures, and database architecture. Returning to Princeton for advanced education, he completed his Ph.D. in sociology in 1986 with a dissertation entitled "Society as computer: the structure and skill of information work in the United States, 1900-1980." He then joined the faculty at Stanford.
Nass passed away from a heart attack at the age of 55 in November 2013.
Research and Books
His authorship includes three significant books: The Media Equation, Wired for Speech, and The Man Who Lied to His Laptop. Over his career, Nass contributed more than 150 scholarly articles covering human-computer interaction, statistical methods, and organizational theory. He originated the Computers are social actors (CASA) framework. Additionally, Nass provided design consultation for over 250 media products for major corporations such as Microsoft, Toyota, Philips, BMW, Hewlett-Packard, AOL, Sony, and Dell.
Early HCI Work
Nass’s initial investigations revealed that individuals engage with computers in inherently social manners. He established that people attribute “agency” to computers, reacting to them similarly to how they would interact with other humans. For instance, users exhibit “politeness norms” by prioritizing the first application when interrupted by another interface element like a pop-up window. He also discovered that users’ responses vary depending on the computer’s perceived gender, showing preferences such as valuing praise from male voices or guidance from female voices. His 1994 SIGCHI presentation titled “Computers are Social Actors” formalized these findings and laid the foundation for the CASA paradigm.
Mid-Career Contributions to HCI
Expanding on the foundation laid by CASA, Nass explored voice-based interfaces and the social norms governing human-computer interaction, demonstrating that concepts like reciprocity, politeness, and praise function similarly in both human and computer interactions. This body of work culminated in his publication Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship. While serving as a resident advisor in a Stanford dormitory in 2007, Nass observed students engaging heavily in multitasking across multiple devices. He conducted research into the cognitive effects of multitasking, revealing that individuals who multitask frequently tend to perform worse because their ability to filter out irrelevant information is compromised. In a 2010 interview with Frontline, he emphasized that multitaskers face difficulties in ignoring distractions, organizing information effectively, and transitioning between tasks smoothly. These insights attracted widespread media coverage and led to his TEDx presentation at Stanford titled “Are you multitasking your life away?”
Late-Career Research in HCI
In his 2010 book The Man Who Lied to His Laptop, Nass consolidates extensive findings from human-computer interaction studies, focusing on human behavior and social dynamics. The book addresses themes such as praise, criticism, personality traits, team dynamics, emotional responses, and persuasive communication.
Subsequently, Nass collaborated with Roy Pea on research examining the adverse effects of media multitasking on the social well-being of girls aged 8 to 12. This study introduced an enhanced approach for quantifying media multitasking, building upon earlier work Nass conducted with Eyal Ophir in 2009. The refined measurement technique enabled correlations with factors like self-esteem and overall happiness.
Nass also investigated voice user interfaces (VUIs) within autonomous vehicle contexts. His research demonstrated that VUIs which positively reinterpret challenging driving conditions contribute to better emotional regulation among drivers and enhance their driving performance. Furthermore, providing explanations about autonomous vehicle decisions by clarifying both the “why” and “how” aspects increased driver trust, perceived safety, and overall effectiveness behind the wheel.
Published Works
- The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships. Penguin Group, 2010. Co-authored with Corina Yen.
- Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship. MIT Press, 2005. Co-authored with Scott Brave.
- The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places. Cambridge University Press, 1996. Co-authored with Byron Reeves.
External links
- Profile at Stanford Department of Communication
- Video Lectures by Clifford Nass (Academic Earth)
- New Paradigms for Using Computers (Audio lecture at IBM Almaden Research Center, 1996)
- Wired for Speech: Voice Interactions with People and Computers (Stanford University Office of Science Outreach, Summer Science Lecture Series, 2008)