New technology in vehicles is transforming the way people move around as well as what they do in their vehicles. How does one communicate with an in-car speech system and how does this vary by language or cultural community? This book explores this process by focusing on the communication practices that people engage in when using their in-car systems and when talking about their vehicles with co-passengers. Chapters present a robust theory and methodology for studying communication in cars, how tasks are begun and ended, how people switch between tasks, how non-task talk appears, what ways and styles of communication drivers prefer, and how they expect the system voice to respond, among other things. Particular attention is given to cultural preferences as they are evident in this communication; these preferences are found to ground various trajectories in the use and meaning of in-car communication practices. The book explores these matters with a focus on the United States and Mainland China. Implications are drawn for the design and utilization of in-car communication systems.

Communicating User Experience: Applying Local Strategies Research to Digital Media Design examines how Local Strategies Research (LSR) helps investigate user experiences with digital media. This edited collection uses case studies to examine the way we communicate in the digital age whether between individuals and digital interfaces (such those installed in cars), dyads via mobile phones and online interfaces, or members of a group through a video conference. Milburn and her contributors consider the cultural norms that both inform and are used during interaction to provide a useful methodology that shifts design (particularly HCI) research from a focus on emotional, subjective user experiences to the everyday practices involved in interacting with one another in and through digital devices and interfaces. Communicating User Experience will be a valuable resource for designers and scholars of communication and new media.