Animal-Computer Interaction: a Manifesto (2011) and sections from Towards an Animal-Centred Ethics for Animal-Computer Interaction (2016)

Reprint of journal article "Animal-Computer Interaction: a Manifesto" (2011) and of sections of journal article "Towards an Animal-Centred Ethics for Animal-Computer Interaction" (2016

Who am I talking with? A face memory for social robots

In order to provide personalized services and to develop human-like interaction capabilities robots need to rec- ognize their human partner. Face recognition has been studied in the past decade exhaustively in the context of security systems and with significant progress on huge datasets. However, these capabilities are not in focus when it comes to social interaction situations. Humans are able to remember people seen for a short moment in time and apply this knowledge directly in their engagement in conversation. In order to equip a robot with capabilities to recall human interlocutors and to provide user- aware services, we adopt human-human interaction schemes to propose a face memory on the basis of active appearance models integrated with the active memory architecture. This paper presents the concept of the interactive face memory, the applied recognition algorithms, and their embedding into the robot’s system architecture. Performance measures are discussed for general face databases as well as scenario-specific datasets

A review of the empirical studies of computer supported human-to-human communication

This paper presents a review of the empirical studies of human-to-human communication which have been carried out over the last three decades. Although this review is primarily concerned with the empirical studies of computer supported human-to-human communication, a number of studies dealing with group work in non-computer-based collaborative environments, which form the basis of many of the empirical studies of the recent years in the area of CSCW, are also discussed. The concept of person and task spaces is introduced and then subsequently used to categorise the large volume of studies reported in this review. This paper also gives a comparative analysis of the findings of these studies, and draws a number of general conclusions to guide the design and evaluation of future CSCW systems

A virtual diary companion

Chatbots and embodied conversational agents show turn based conversation behaviour. In current research we almost always assume that each utterance of a human conversational partner should be followed by an intelligent and/or empathetic reaction of chatbot or embodied agent. They are assumed to be alert, trying to please the user. There are other applications which have not yet received much attention and which require a more patient or relaxed attitude, waiting for the right moment to provide feedback to the human partner. Being able and willing to listen is one of the conditions for being successful. In this paper we have some observations on listening behaviour research and introduce one of our applications, the virtual diary companion

Emotional Biosensing: Exploring Critical Alternatives

Emotional biosensing is rising in daily life: Data and categories claim to know how people feel and suggest what they should do about it, while CSCW explores new biosensing possibilities. Prevalent approaches to emotional biosensing are too limited, focusing on the individual, optimization, and normative categorization. Conceptual shifts can help explore alternatives: toward materiality, from representation toward performativity, inter-action to intra-action, shifting biopolitics, and shifting affect/desire. We contribute (1) synthesizing wide-ranging conceptual lenses, providing analysis connecting them to emotional biosensing design, (2) analyzing selected design exemplars to apply these lenses to design research, and (3) offering our own recommendations for designers and design researchers. In particular we suggest humility in knowledge claims with emotional biosensing, prioritizing care and affirmation over self- improvement, and exploring alternative desires. We call for critically questioning and generatively re- imagining the role of data in configuring sensing, feeling, ‘the good life,’ and everyday experience

Robotic Rabbit Companions: amusing or a nuisance?

Most of the studies in human-robot interaction involve controlled experiments in a laboratory and only a limited number of studies have put robotic companions into people’s home. Introducing robots into a real-life environment does not only pose many technical challenges but also raises several methodological issues. And even though there might be a gain in ecological validity of the findings, there are other drawbacks that limit the validity of the results. In this paper we reflect on some of these issues based on the experience we gained in the SERA project where a robotic companion was put in the homes of a few people for ten days. We try to draw some general lessons from this experience