Context

When humans meet, they naturally use facial expressions to complement, regulate and emphasise what is being said. These non-verbal signals are important for creating relationships and understanding each other. In modern communication technologies such as email or instant messaging, these indicators are often lost and communication revolves around written text with little scope for non-verbal expression.

Emotion / Expression in Instant Messaging

We have developed an Instant Messaging tool called "Virtual Messenger" that allows two people to communicate over a distance. Each person is represented by a three-dimensional animated avatar, capable of displaying the "universal" facial expressions of emotion: happy, sad, surprised, angry, afraid and disgusted.

The Virtual Messenger takes advantage of the excellent human cognitive abilities that allow us to recognise emotions from few, distinctive clues. We have tested the Virtual Messenger and found that people used facial expressions in a similar way to how they would do in the real world. This included mimicking each other, emphasising written statements, or trying to overcome an awkward situation.

Our current work (with Salima Elzouki and David Moore) is concerned with using emotionally expressive avatars as training and teaching tools for people with autism. It is hoped that this technology will help them overcome some of their social impairments in a safe environment.

More Information:

Marc Fabri, Salima Y Awad Elzouki, David Moore (2007). "Emotionally Expressive Avatars for Chatting, Learning and Therapeutic Intervention." HCI 2007, Beijing (China), July 2007.

Marc Fabri, David Moore, D.J. Hobbs (2005). "Empathy and Enjoyment in Instant Messaging." In Lachlan McKonnon, Olav Bertelsen, Nick Bryan-Kinns (eds.) Proceedings of HCI 2005, BCS-HCI Group Conference, Edinburgh (UK), September 2005.

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