METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SIMULATING A CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION DYNAMIC

• US 20110087480A1
• Filed: 10/09/2009
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Matters, LLC
• Original Assignee: Global Matters, LLC
• Inventors: Neeley, Tsedal Beyene
• Granted Patent: US 8,352,275 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30

Abstract

One embodiment of the invention is a method for simulating a cross cultural communication dynamic between participants. The simulation includes the steps of distributing unique subsets of the information set to the participants, assigning the participants to a first communication group that represents people for whom a lingua franca is a first language and to a second communication group that represents people for whom the lingua franca is a second language, providing a communication platform that facilitates communication between the participants of the simulation to assemble the unique subsets of the information set, and selectively disadvantaging the communication through the communication platform between a subset of participants.

Claims

1. A method for simulating a cross cultural communication dynamic between participants comprising the steps of:

distributing unique subsets of an information set to the participants;

assigning the participants to a first communication group that represents people for whom a lingua franca is a first language and to a second communication group that represents people for whom the lingua franca is a second language;

providing a communication platform that facilitates communication between the participants to assemble the unique subsets of the information set; and

selectively disadvantaging the communication through the communication platform between a subset of participants.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning the participants to a first communication group and to a second communication group includes the step of assigning each participant to one of the first and second communication groups.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of assigning a first participant of the first communication group with the task of assembling the unique information from the other participants.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of assigning a participant from the first communication group with the task of collecting the unique information from the other participants includes the step of implementing a time constraint to collect the unique information from the other participants.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the time constraint is 15 minutes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of distributing unique subsets of the information set includes the step of including contradictory information into the subsets of information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selectively disadvantaging the communication between a subset of participants includes selectively manipulating the communication between a subset of participants.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of selectively manipulating the communication between a subset of participants includes a step selected from the group consisting of:

selectively scrambling at least a portion of the communication between a subset of participants, selectively replacing at least a portion of the communication between a subset of participants, selectively manipulating the speed of at least a portion of the communication between a subset of participants, and selectively obscuring at least a portion of the communication between a subset of participants.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform facilitates text based communication between the participants and wherein the step of selectively disadvantaging the communication between a subset of participants includes a step selected from the group consisting of:

selectively replacing individual letters of the textual communication to a subset of participants, selectively switching the letters of a word within the textual communication to a subset of participants, selectively shifting the letters of a word within the textual communication to a subset of participants, selectively deleting at least a portion of the textual communication, selectively switching the words within the textual communication to a subset of participants, and selectively decreasing the speed of transmission of the textual communication between a subset of participants.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform facilitates audio based communication between the participants and wherein the step of selectively disadvantaging the communication between a subset of participants includes a step selected from the group consisting of:

selectively decreasing the speed of at least a portion of the audio communication to a subset of participants, selectively increasing the speed of at least a portion of the audio communication to a subset of participants, selectively scrambling at least a portion of the audio communication to a subset of participants, selectively switching at least two portions of the audio communication to a subset of participants, selectively decreasing the volume of at least a portion of the audio communication to a subset of participants, and selectively introducing noise to at least a portion of the audio communication to a subset of participants.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform facilitates visual based communication between the participants and wherein the step of selectively disadvantaging the communication between a subset of participants includes a step selected from the group consisting of:

selectively obscuring at least a portion of the visual communication, selectively replacing at least a portion of the visual communication, selectively distorting at least a portion of the visual communication, selectively manipulating the speed of at least a portion of the visual communication, and selectively switching at least two portions of the visual communication.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second communication group also represents people that speak a common language that is not the lingua franca.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein assigning the participants to the first and second communication groups includes assigning a first participant to the first communication group and assigning a second and a third participant to the second communication group.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of selectively disadvantaging the communication between a subset of participants includes the steps of:

disadvantaging communication from participants in the first communication group to participants in the second communication group to a first degree of disadvantage; and

disadvantaging communication from participants in the second communication group to the first communication group to a second degree of disadvantage, which is different than the first degree.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of providing an alternative communication mode to the participants of the second communication group, wherein the alternative communication mode includes allowing the participants of the second communication group to communicate in the common language that is not the lingua franca to the other participants.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the alternative communication mode further includes the step of disadvantaging the communication from a participant in the second communication group to be substantially unintelligible by the first communication group and substantially intelligible by other participants within the second communication group.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform is a system selected from the group consisting of a computer, a headset, a display, and a handset.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform facilitates communication selected from the group consisting of:

textual communication, speech communication, visual communication, and tactile communication.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of relating the disadvantaged communication to communication difficulties experienced by people during communication utilizing a lingua franca that is not their native language.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of relating the disadvantaged communication to communication difficulties experienced by people during communication utilizing a lingua franca that is not their native language includes the step of providing the participants with a comparison of the original information set and the assembled information set.

21. A method for simulating a cross cultural communication dynamic between participants, wherein unique subsets of an information set are distributed to the participants, the method comprising the steps of:

assigning the participants to a first communication group that represents people for whom a lingua franca is a first language and to a second communication group that represents people for whom the lingua franca is a second language;

providing a communication platform that facilitates communication between the participants to assemble the unique subsets of the information set; and

selectively disadvantaging the communication through the communication platform between a subset of participants.