Virtual Meeting Rooms: From Observation to Simulation

Much working time is spent in meetings and, as a consequence, meetings have become the subject of multidisciplinary research. Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs) are 3D virtual replicas of meeting rooms, where various modalities such as speech, gaze, distance, gestures and facial expressions can be controlled. This allows VMRs to be used to improve remote meeting participation, to visualize multimedia data and as an instrument for research into social interaction in meetings. This paper describes how these three uses can be realized in a VMR. We describe the process from observation through annotation to simulation and a model that describes the relations between the annotated features of verbal and non-verbal conversational behavior.\ud As an example of social perception research in the VMR, we describe an experiment to assess human observers’ accuracy for head orientation

The Virtual University and Avatar Technology: E-learning Through Future Technology

E-learning gains increasingly importance in academic education. Beyond present distance learning technologies a new opportunity emerges by the use of advanced avatar technology. Virtual robots acting in an environment of a virtual campus offer opportunities of advanced learning experiences. Human Machine Interaction (HMI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bridge time zones and ease professional constraints of mature students. Undergraduate students may use such technology to build up topics of their studies beyond taught lectures. Objectives of the paper are to research the options, extent and limitations of avatar technology for academic studies in under- and postgraduate courses and to discuss students' potential acceptance or rejection of interaction with AI. The research method is a case study based on Sir Tony Dyson's avatar technology iBot2000. Sir Tony is a worldwide acknowledged robot specialist, creator of Star Wars' R2D2, who developed in recent years the iBot2000 technology, intelligent avatars adaptable to different environments with the availability to speak up to eight different languages and capable to provide logic answers to questions asked. This technology underwent many prototypes with the latest specific goal to offer blended E-learning entering the field of the virtual 3-D university extending Web2.0 to Web3.0 (Dyson. 2009). Sir Tony included his vast experiences gained in his personal (teaching) work with children for which he received his knighthood. The data was mainly collected through interviews with Sir Tony Dyson, which helps discover the inventor’s view on why such technology is of advantage for academic studies. Based on interviews with Sir Tony, this research critically analyses the options, richness and restrictions, which avatar (iBot2000) technology may add to academic studies. The conclusion will discuss the opportunities, which avatar technology may be able to bring to learning and teaching activities, and the foreseeable limitations – the amount of resources required and the complexity to build a fully integrated virtual 3-D campus. Key Words: virtual learning, avatar technology, iBot2000, virtual universit

Developing misinformation immunity:How to reason-check fallacious news in a human–computer interaction environment

To counter the fake news phenomenon, the scholarly community has attempted to debunk and prebunk disinformation. However, misinformation still constitutes a major challenge due to the variety of misleading techniques and their continuous updates which call for the exercise of critical thinking to build resilience. In this study we present two open access chatbots, the Fake News Immunity Chatbot and the Vaccinating News Chatbot, which combine Fallacy Theory and Human–Computer Interaction to inoculate citizens and communication gatekeepers against misinformation. These chatbots differ from existing tools both in function and form. First, they target misinformation and enhance the identification of fallacious arguments; and second, they are multiagent and leverage discourse theories of persuasion in their conversational design. After having described both their backend and their frontend design, we report on the evaluation of the user interface and impact on users’ critical thinking skills through a questionnaire, a crowdsourced survey, and a pilot qualitative experiment. The results shed light on the best practices to design user-friendly active inoculation tools and reveal that the two chatbots are perceived as increasing critical thinking skills in the current misinformation ecosystem

The Jiminy Advisor: Moral Agreements Among Stakeholders Based on Norms and Argumentation

An autonomous system is constructed by a manufacturer, operates in a society subject to norms and laws, and is interacting with end users. All of these actors are stakeholders affected by the behavior of the autonomous system. We address the challenge of how the ethical views of such stakeholders can be integrated in the behavior of the autonomous system. We propose an ethical recommendation component, which we call Jiminy, that uses techniques from normative systems and formal argumentation to reach moral agreements among stakeholders. Jiminy represents the ethical views of each stakeholder by using normative systems, and has three ways of resolving moral dilemmas involving the opinions of the stakeholders. First, Jiminy considers how the arguments of the stakeholders relate to one another, which may already resolve the dilemma. Secondly, Jiminy combines the normative systems of the stakeholders such that the combined expertise of the stakeholders may resolve the dilemma. Thirdly, and only if these two other methods have failed, Jiminy uses context-sensitive rules to decide which of the stakeholders take preference. At the abstract level, these three methods are characterized by the addition of arguments, the addition of attacks among arguments, and the removal of attacks among arguments. We show how Jiminy can be used not only for ethical reasoning and collaborative decision making, but also for providing explanations about ethical behavior

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

New Tools in Social Practice: Learning, Medical Education and 3D Environments

Learning with different kinds of ICT-based tools is an important issue in today's society. In this article we focus on how design of technology rich environments based on state of the art learning principles can give us new insights about how learning occur, and how we can develop new types of learning environments. Medical education constitutes the subject domain. There has been a considerable effort to develop 3D technologies in this field, and the article provides a careful review of how these technologies are applied. There is, however, a substantial gap between these advances and the use of technologies in medical education. Related work proposes individualistic assumptions or metaphors that do not focus explicitly on learning and technology mediation. Based on theoretical analysis of previous literature in the field we argue that there is a need for a new unit of analysis that includes the relationship between individual and collective activity and the role of technology herein. The socio-cultural and especially activity theory is taken as the perspective which gives the possibility to develop the argumentation about the unit of analysis. The unit of analysis also has implications for design of 3D environments. The design principles are elaborated upon and examples are given in relation to an application called Matador (Medical Advanced Training in an Artificial Distributed Environment). Matador is aimed at developing a simulation environment for training in emergency medicine

Modelling the Metaverse: A Theoretical Model of Effective Team Collaboration in 3D Virtual Environments

In this paper, a theoretical model of effective team collaboration in 3D virtual environments is presented. The aim of this model is to enhance our understanding of the capabilities exerting influence on effective 3D virtual team collaboration. The model identifies a number of specific capabilities of 3D virtual worlds that can contribute to this team effectiveness. Compared to "traditional" computer-mediated collaboration technologies, 3D virtual environments support team collaboration primarily through (a) the shared virtual environment, and (b) avatar-based interaction. Through the shared virtual environment, users experience higher levels of presence (a feeling of actually "being there"), realism and interactivity. These capabilities increase the users' level of information processing.  Avatar-based interaction induces greater feelings of social presence (being with others) and control over  self-presentation (how one wants to be perceived by others), thus increasing the level of communication support in the 3D environment. Through greater levels of information and communication support, a higher level of shared understanding is reached, which in turn positively influences team performance. Our paper concludes by presenting several propositions which allow further empirical testing, implications for research and practice, and suggestions for future research. The insights obtained from this paper can help developers of these virtual worlds to design standards for the capabilities that influence effective team collaboration in 3D virtual environments.