Transformative conversations. Questioning collaboration in digitally mediated interactions

Given the innovative, technological and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) environment in which we live, it would be essential to understand which role humans can take on in it, as well as the empowerment provided to human beings by this complex context. This paper constitutes a focus on these possibilities through the investigation of the dynamics of collaboration in Mixed-Reality (MR) environments (PC-HoloLens), paying particular attention to the role of nudges in eliciting (optimal) shared experiences among team members. This study, therefore, intends to investigate the interactive and emotional outcomes related to a mediated communication based on different nudges (three experimental conditions: nudge for empathy, nudge for awareness, and no nudge). We hypothesized that these nudges could also modulate the emergence of optimal shared experiences, such as the one of group flow and of social presence. Through the quantitative analysis of psychometrical measures and the qualitative analysis of the dialogue within one dyad, we detected featured elements and patterns that can be used as starting points to question collaborative processes in digitally mediated interactions. © 2020, Interactive Media Institute. All rights reserved.