Going beyond “beyond being there”: An inquiry into the use of brain-computer interface technologies and intelligent machine agents to facilitate inconspicuous communication

In this paper, we present a discussion on the potential use of intelligent machine agents and brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies to help facilitate inconspicuous communication. Members of a university marching band participated in interviews and two focus groups to examine how a marching band needs to communicate during a live performance. Results showed the need for an inconspicuous communication channel that goes beyond the normal human communication modalities. Some insights regarding the use of BCI as a means of inconspicuous communication, such as how it can be used to facilitate both one-to-one and one-to-many communication nodes as well as the need for further research and education as to its use and potential were gleaned. In addition, how intelligent agents might be used as mediators of communication, and implications for the design and the future direction of research are also discussed.