Microsoft is trying to eliminate one of the biggest video conferencing problems…with science
Microsoft is delving into the ‘science behind interruptions’
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Microsoftis exploring a new avenue of research that could help address one of the most commonvideo conferencingissues: interruptions and pauses.
As explained in a newblog post, researchers at Microsoft recently trialled a new method for charting interruptions over the course of a meeting, by analyzing anonymized versions of call transcripts.
To help identify useful patterns, the team mapped data points like speech duration, number of words spoken and frequency of interjection onto a timeline. According to Sean Rintel, one of the Microsoft scientists, “you could clearly find patterns of people taking longer turns or interrupting on a regular basis.”
Hybrid meeting headaches
Microsoft has long been aware of the problems unique to the digital meeting format. Alongside attendees forgetting to unmute themselves, the difficulty of interjecting in a seamless and polite way is among the most common issues, only made worse by the shift tohybrid working.
“If you are in a lot of hybrid meetings, you’re familiar with the awkward overlaps and pauses that can riddle those digital interactions,” wrote Microsoft. “The chat thread and the hand-raise function help, but as (some) people return to work together in person, side conversations in the on-site conference room and office setups that aren’t equipped for a hybrid experience add to the complexity.”
The hope is that studies like the one recently conducted by Microsoft will go some way to resolving these complexities and helping hybrid meetings flow more naturally.
Microsoft Teams is getting an under-the-hood upgrade to boost performance>Our list of the best collaboration software out there>This simple Microsoft Teams update could save you a ton of hassle
By mapping out interactions overMicrosoft Teamscalls, for example, it may be possible to determine the optimal size of meeting for maximal inclusivity. Data on the kinds of employee most likely to dominate conversations or interrupt others could also be used to inform training sessions on meeting etiquette.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
Although Microsoft was careful to acknowledge that this strand of research is still “in its infancy”, the company believes customers could benefit from data dashboards that help analyse the level of inclusivity of digital meetings “in the not-too-distant future”.
“Ultimately what would be really interesting here is giving companies, teams, and organizations the opportunity to run experiments themselves, helping teams understand their own processes so they can work better in ways we can never anticipate,” said Rintel.
Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro, covering cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage and computing. He’s responsible for curating our news content, as well as commissioning and producing features on the technologies that are transforming the way the world does business.
7 myths about email security everyone should stop believing
Best Usenet client of 2024
Another reason to avoid edge-lit 4K TVs: they may fail faster than others, according to this report
