songmu I’ve been having trouble with self-introduction lately, so I say “I’m Songmu, a software engineer,” but when I’m having a conversation with multiple people I think there is an information gap between people who know me and people who don’t, and people who don’t have information feel a lack of context and feel uncomfortable.

songmu I don’t want to introduce myself too pompously, and I don’t want them to feel defensive, so I introduce myself moderately, but it’s difficult to find the appropriate level of self- disclosure level is difficult.

nishio This “people who already know me are not assumed users of self-introductions” and “it’s practically impossible to tell everything about myself in a limited amount of time, so I don’t have to aim for it in the first place” kind of feeling.

nishio If you give your first move “I’m a researcher at a software company” and get back “What kind of research do you do?”, you can say “It’s hard to explain in a few words.” If you preface with “I’m a researcher at a software company,” and then talk about the difficulties, most “I think etiquette is to pose an interest in the other person” types will choose “I don’t know” and you will get 1 bit of information.

nishio I would like to identify early on whether you are “someone pretending to be interested when you are not” or “someone who is really interested”. If I spend time explaining something to the former, it will not make either of us happy.


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