What Is Conversation Design?

 

What Is Conversation Design?

Simply put, a conversation design is the act of enabling a complex interaction between a human and a machine. Presently, we are able to get a few tasks performed by machines through voice recognition. However, we are still left with a lot to accomplish in ‘chatting’ with these machines. 

Imagine having a desk conversation with your phone or voice assistant. That’s how far conversation design can go. In other words, instead of just passing a single command and having that fulfilled, we can provide a series of commands and receive responses to those through effective conversation design. 

How can one become a conversation designer? 

Unlike so many other forms of technology, the world of conversation design has no single path for one to succeed. You can have a background in engineering, linguistics, or even human resources and still be a conversation designer. 

There are primarily two qualities that you must possess 

A generous amount of curiosity for the art of human communication. In other words, you must always be inquisitive about how we communicate with each other and how our conversations can flow depending on how we speak or don’t speak. 

In terms of technical know-how, it is helpful to understand how speech recognition and natural language understanding have their own limitations. 

Helpful resources from conversation experts 

There are very many ways to get started. Podcasts and videos are effective tools because they are usually given by conversation expert. So, you get a good idea of how to go about work. 

In addition, you can read a few good books, articles on conversation design. You can also follow experts, network with new ones at conversation design conferences and seminars. 

When you are starting off, it also helps to read through best practices, like Google’s conversation design guidelines. 

Though it is in the nascent stages, with a good amount of effort and an even greater ounce of curiosity, you can have a good understanding of this world!