Human & Machine: Microanalysis - The Key to Balancing Human & Machine?
A short reflection
Janet Bavelas's revolutionary microanalysis research reveals the true nature of communication - not as linear information transfer but as a living, co-constructed dance. Through meticulous analysis of actual conversations, she demonstrated how meaning is created millisecond by millisecond between people, fundamentally contradicting mechanical communication models.
This perspective illuminates a central tension in today's welfare systems. When professionals' daily work is structured by standardized methods and documentation requirements, we risk losing the living character of dialogue. The social worker who, pressured by systems, begins to see clients as data sources rather than fellow humans, transforms into a machine within a system designed for machine logic.
Paradoxically, artificial intelligence may offer a way forward. Imagine if AI could transcribe and analyze communication in real-time, identifying patterns and moments of change? Suddenly, social workers are freed from documentation burdens to be fully present. We would gain access to a goldmine of knowledge about what actually creates change in human encounters, without sacrificing presence in the moment.
In this vision, AI doesn't become a tool that forces human communication into mechanical models. Instead, it becomes a partner that helps us rediscover and deepen the human core of dialogue. It analyzes what we do when we're at our most human, and helps us become even better at it.
The challenge of the future will be to develop systems based on real human interaction. With the insights from microanalysis, we can create technology that actually enhances our capacity for genuine dialogue - where machines handle the routine while we humans deepen our understanding of the subtle, relational interplay that has always been at the heart of effective social work.
A short reflection on microcommunication