Controlling the Gaze of Conversational Agents

We report on a pilot experiment that investigated the effects of different eye gaze behaviours of a cartoon-like talking face on the quality of human-agent dialogues. We compared a version of the talking face that roughly implements some patterns of human-like behaviour with\ud two other versions. In one of the other versions the shifts in gaze were kept minimal and in the other version the shifts would occur randomly. The talking face has a number of restrictions. There is no speech recognition, so questions and replies have to be typed in by the users\ud of the systems. Despite this restriction we found that participants that conversed with the agent that behaved according to the human-like patterns appreciated the agent better than participants that conversed with the other agents. Conversations with the optimal version also\ud proceeded more efficiently. Participants needed less time to complete their task

Experimenting with the Gaze of a Conversational Agent

We have carried out a pilot experiment to investigate the effects of different eye gaze behaviors of a cartoon-like talking face on the quality of human-agent dialogues. We compared a version of the talking face that roughly implements some patterns of humanlike behavior with two other versions. We called this the optimal version. In one of the other versions the shifts in gaze were kept minimal and in the other version the shifts would occur randomly. The talking face has a number of restrictions. There is no speech recognition, so questions and replies have to\ud be typed in by the users of the systems. Despite this restriction we found that participants that conversed with the optimal agent appreciated the agent more than participants that conversed with the other agents. Conversations with the optimal version proceeded more efficiently. Participants needed less time to complete their task

Embodied in a metaverse: "anatomia" and "body parts"

In this paper, the artist/author wishes to examine corporeality in the virtual realm, through the usage of the (non)-physical body of the avatar. Two sister art installations created in the virtual world of Second Life®, both of which are meant to be accessed with site specific avatars, will provide the creative platform whereby this investigation is undertaken. While the installation “Anatomia” wishes to propel the visitor towards reflections of an introverted nature, involving the fragility of the physical self; “body parts” seeks to challenge the residents of virtual environments into connecting with the virtual manifestations, i.e., avatars, of others in an emotionally expressive/intimate manner

Body parts

In this project, the artist wishes to examine corporeality in the virtual realm, through the usage of the (non)-physical body of the avatar. An art installation created in the virtual world of Second Life®, which is meant to be accessed with site specific avatars, will provide the creative platform whereby this investigation is undertaken. Thus, “body parts” seeks to challenge the residents of virtual environments into connecting with the virtual manifestations, i.e., avatars of others in an emotionally expressive/intimate manner

Designing friends

Embodied Conversational Agents are virtual humans that can interact with humans using verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. In most cases, they have been designed for short interactions. This paper asks the question how one would start to design synthetic characters that can become your friends. We look at insights from social psychology and propose a methodology for designing friends

Digital Human Representations for Health Behavior Change: A Structured Literature Review

Organizations have increasingly begun using digital human representations (DHRs), such as avatars and embodied agents, to deliver health behavior change interventions (BCIs) that target modifiable risk factors in the smoking, nutrition, alcohol overconsumption, and physical inactivity (SNAP) domain. We conducted a structured literature review of 60 papers from the computing, health, and psychology literatures to investigate how DHRs’ social design affects whether BCIs succeed. Specifically, we analyzed how differences in social cues that DHRs use affect user psychology and how this can support or hinder different intervention functions. Building on established frameworks from the human-computer interaction and BCI literatures, we structure extant knowledge that can guide efforts to design future DHR-delivered BCIs. We conclude that we need more field studies to better understand the temporal dynamics and the mid-term and long-term effects of DHR social design on user perception and intervention outcomes

Because I am Not Here, Selected Second Life-Based Art Case Studies. Subjectivity, Autoempathy and Virtual World Aesthetics

Second Life is a virtual world accessible through the Internet in which users create objects and spaces, and interact socially through 3D avatars. Certain artists use the platform as a medium for art creation, using the aesthetic, spatial, temporal and technological features of SL as raw material. Code and scripts applied to animate and manipulate objects, avatars and spaces are important in this sense. These artists, their avatars and artwork in SL are at the centre of my research questions: what does virtual existence mean and what is its purpose when stemming from aesthetic exchange in SL? Through a qualitative research method mixing distribute aesthetics, digital art and media theories, the goal is to examine aesthetic exchange in the virtual: subjectivity and identity and their possible shifting patterns as reflected in avatar-artists. A theoretical and methodological emphasis from a media studies perspective is applied to digital media and networks, contributing to the reshaping of our epistemologies of these media, in contrast to the traditional emphasis on communicational aspects. Four case studies, discourse and text analysis, as well as interviews in-world and via email, plus observation while immersed in SL, are used in the collection of data, experiences, objects and narratives from avatars Eva and Franco Mattes, Gazira Babeli, Bryn Oh and China Tracy. The findings confirm the role that aesthetic exchange in virtual worlds has in the rearrangement of ideas and epistemologies on the virtual and networked self. This is reflected by the fact that the artists examined—whether in SL or AL—create and embody avatars from a liminal (ambiguous) modality of identity, subjectivity and interaction. Mythopoeia (narrative creation) and experiencing oneself as ‘another’ through multiplied identity and subjectivity are the outcomes of code performance and machinima (films created in-world). They constitute a modus operandi (syntax) in which episteme, techne and embodiment work in symbiosis with those of the machine, affected by the synthetic nature of code and liminality in SL. The combined perspective from media studies and distribute aesthetics proves to be an effective method for studying these subjects, contributing to the discussion of contemporary virtual worlds and art theories

The Effects of Instructor-Avatar Immediacy in Second Life, an Immersive and Interactive 3D Virtual Environment

Growing interest of educational institutions in desktop 3D graphic virtual environments for hybrid and distance education prompts questions on the efficacy of such tools. Virtual worlds, such as Second Life®, enable computer-mediated immersion and interactions encompassing multimodal communication channels including audio, video, and text-. These are enriched by avatar-mediated body language and physical manipulation of the environment. In this para-physical world, instructors and students alike employ avatars to establish their social presence in a wide variety of curricular and extra-curricular contexts. As a proxy for the human body in synthetic 3D environments, an avatar represents a \u27real\u27 human computer user and incorporates default behavior patterns (e.g., autonomous gestures such as changes in body orientation or movement of hands) as well as expressive movements directly controlled by the user through keyboard \u27shortcuts.\u27 Use of headset microphones and various stereophonic effects allows users to project their speech directly from the apparent location of their avatar. In addition, personalized information displays allow users to share graphical information, including text messages and hypertext links. These \u27channels\u27 of information constituted an integrated and dynamic framework for projecting avatar \u27immediacy\u27 behaviors (including gestures, intonation, and patterns of interaction with students), that may positively or negatively affect the degree to which other observers of the virtual world perceive the user represented by the avatar as \u27socially present\u27 in the virtual world. This study contributes to the nascent research on educational implementations of Second Life in higher education. Although education researchers have investigated the impact of instructor immediacy behaviors on student perception of instructor social presence, students\u27 satisfaction, motivation, and learning, few researchers have examined the effects of immediacy behaviors in a 3D virtual environment or the effects of immediacy behaviors manifested by avatars representing instructors. The study employed a two-factor experimental design to investigate the relationship between instructor avatars\u27 immediacy behaviors (high vs. low) and students\u27 perception of instructor immediacy, instructor social presence, student avatars co-presence and learning outcomes in Second Life. The study replicates and extends aspects of an earlier study conducted by Maria Schutt, Brock S. Allen, and Mark Laumakis, including components of the experimental treatments that manipulated the frequency of various types of immediacy behaviors identified by other researchers as potentially related to perception of social presence in face-to-face and mediated instruction. Participants were 281 students enrolled in an introductory psychology course at San Diego State University who were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Each group viewed a different version of the 28-minute teaching session in Second Life on current perspective in psychology. Data were gathered from student survey responses and tests on the lesson content. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences between the treatment groups (F (3,113) = 6.5,p = .000). Students who viewed the high immediacy machinimas (Group 1 HiHi and Group 2 HiLo) rated the immediacy behaviors of the instructor-avatar more highly than those who viewed the low-immediacy machinimas (Group 3 LoHi and Group 4 LoLo). Findings also demonstrate strong correlations between students\u27 perception of instructor avatar immediacy and instructor social presence (r = .769). These outcomes in the context of a 3D virtual world are consistent with findings on instructor immediacy and social presence literature in traditional and online classes. Results relative to learning showed that all groups tested higher after viewing the treatment, with no significant differences between groups. Recommendations for current and future practice of using instructor-avatars include paralanguage behaviors such as voice quality, emotion and prosodic features and nonverbal behaviors such as proxemics and gestures, facial expression, lip synchronization and eye contact