Seite - 45 - in Coaching im digitalen Wandel

Digital coaching: A conceptually distinct form of coaching? 45 focus on the computer, what they actually »see« is the virtual world that the technology transfers them to. Arguably, the more embodied a technology is, the more seamless the experience has the potential to be, in a way that we hardly notice the technology. For instance, a Head Mounted Display might become more perceptually transparent and might allow a more immersive experience than when looking at the virtual world on a flat computer screen. In this sense, a Head Mounted Display amplifies the experience of a virtual environment. There is an obvious embodiment relation between the coaching client and the avatar, particularly in immersive Virtual Reality technology where the client embodies an avatar (first-person perspective) to explore and interact with a virtual world. The human client’s physical head and hand movements are represented with- out time lag in the virtual environment, creating an illusion of »being« there. The perceptual transparency of media, however, may be affected by their tech- nical quality and ease of use. The higher the technical quality and user-friendli- ness of the medium, the more transparent the experience of the medium is likely to become, whilst technical limitations or complex use can make us perceptu- ally aware of the medium. Poor image quality or a technical disruption due to a poor Internet connection during a Skype video call, or a Head Mounted Dis- play feeling heavy and uncomfortable or causing nausea, or the learning curve involved in mastering the right finger taps in the Microsoft Hololens are all examples where the »symbiosis« of human and technology may be disturbed. Hermeneutic relations: A hermeneutic relation according to Ihde (1979) involves reading and interpreting the technology, which represents informa- tion about the world before we can apply the information, as for instance, a thermometer or a compass. Coaching tools that involve hermeneutic relations include visualisations, such as graphs, drawings and progress charts, as well as text-based contents, all of which represent information. For instance, in using a journaling software, the coaching client’s journal entry requires interpretation by the coach to obtain insights into the client’s emotional states and thought pro- cesses. The coach’s relation to the medium is a hermeneutic one, as it involves reading the information that represents the client’s world. Text media reduce the coaching experience to the written word. The client/coach is disembodied when using text-based media, as neither the body and face of the communica- tion partner are visible, nor the voice can be used to convey meaning. On the other hand, the disembodiment that the client/coach experiences allows dis- tance and thereby space to reflect and articulate thoughts. The hermeneutic human-technology relation in the context of coaching emphasises the importance of clarity, methodical use and structure of coach- ing media. What becomes important, for instance, when text-based question Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND 4.0