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Embodied Conversational Agents (i.e., avatars; ECAs) are appearing in increasingly many everyday contexts, such as e-commerce, occupational training, and airport security. Also common to a typical person's daily life is persuasion. Whether being persuaded or persuading, the ability to change another person's attitude or behavior is a thoroughly researched topic. However, little is known about ECAs' ability to persuade and whether basic persuasion principles from human-human interactions will hold in human-ECA interactions. This work investigates this question. First, a broad review of persuasion literature, which serves as an inventory of manipulations to test in ECA contexts, is presented. This literature review serves an inventory to guide future Persuasive ECA work. The ECA literature is then reviewed. Two preliminary studies exploring the effects of physical attractiveness, voice quality, argument quality, common ground, authority, and facial similarity are presented. Finally, the culminating study testing the effectiveness of ECAs to elicit self-disclosure in automated interviewing is presented and discussed. The findings of that automated interviewing study suggest that ECAs may replace humans in automated interviewing contexts. The findings also suggest that ECAs that are manipulated to look like their interviewees are able to induce greater likeability, establish more rapport, and elicited more self-referencing language than ECAs that do not look like the interviewees.

Le sentiment de présence, but ultime de la réalité virtuelle, peut être atteint en stimulant ces quatre "piliers" que sont l'immersion, l'interaction, le maintien de la boucle action-perception et les émotions. Notre objectif est de proposer des méthodes visant à améliorer ce sentiment en s'intéressant plus particulièrement à la perception visuelle. Dans cette optique, nous proposons tout d'abord une solution appliquant le rendu stéréoscopique sur carte graphique. Traditionnellement effectué en deux passes, ce rendu se fait maintenant en une passe, grâce aux shaders et au regroupement de certaines phases de calculs. Nous étendons ce processus de rendu aux tout récents écrans auto-stéréoscopiques nécessitant plus de deux vues, améliorant d'autant plus les temps de calcul. Pour assurer l'immersion et l'interaction, voire l'émotion, nous avons aussi cherché à diminuer la fatigue oculaire induite par les images stéréoscopiques, en ajoutant un flou de profondeur de champ. Ce flou, obtenu en temps réel grâce aux shaders, permet également d'inviter l'observateur à focaliser son attention sur des objets précis au lieu de laisser son regard errer. Enfin, un objectif pour obtenir le sentiment de présence est de faire croire à l'utilisateur qu'il existe dans la scène virtuelle. Notre contribution à ce but, est d'intégrer de manière naturelle une représentation virtuelle de l'utilisateur. Pour cela, nous créons par visual hulls un avatar à l'aide de caméras. Finalement, cet avatar est employé pour illustrer la présence de l'utilisateur au travers de surfaces réfléchissantes virtuelles ou de la projection de son ombre

In this thesis I cover the theoretical framework and the practice based implications of bringing the fundamental principles of a cybernetic art educational strategy, the Groundcourse, which was developed and taught during the 1960’s in England by Roy Ascott, into the virtual, three dimensional builder’s world of the metaverse; to be implemented there as a non-institutional, voluntary, self-directed, adult oriented learning system for avatars – one which is expected to be taught by avatar instructors who will formulate the specifics of their curriculum and their methods based upon the cardinal tenets of the Groundcourse, which have been summarized by Roy Ascott as a flexible structure, “within which everything can find its place, and every individual his way,” which would give dimension and substance to the will to create and to change. In order to be able to set the groundwork for the adaptation of the Groundcourse’s principles to my model I have conducted literature reviews in experiential learning theories, with an emphasis on self-directed learning; as well as cybernetic learning. These I have combined with a survey of play theory and virtual world studies, particularly those focusing upon the avatar and metaverse creativity. From all of these I have woven together a foundation which I have combined with a visual documentation which may serve as case studies for my proposal. The new knowledge embodied through this thesis is a learning system for the creative fields that is designed specifically for the residents of online virtual worlds, and yet has its foundations in an earlier, well established and well regarded model.

Le sentiment de présence, but ultime de la réalité virtuelle, peut être atteint en stimulant ces quatre "piliers" que sont l'immersion, l'interaction, le maintien de la boucle action-perception et les émotions. Notre objectif est de proposer des méthodes visant à améliorer ce sentiment en s'intéressant plus particulièrement à la perception visuelle. Dans cette optique, nous proposons tout d'abord une solution appliquant le rendu stéréoscopique sur carte graphique. Traditionnellement effectué en deux passes, ce rendu se fait maintenant en une passe, grâce aux shaders et au regroupement de certaines phases de calculs. Nous étendons ce processus de rendu aux tout récents écrans auto-stéréoscopiques nécessitant plus de deux vues, améliorant d'autant plus les temps de calcul. Pour assurer l'immersion et l'interaction, voire l'émotion, nous avons aussi cherché à diminuer la fatigue oculaire induite par les images stéréoscopiques, en ajoutant un flou de profondeur de champ. Ce flou, obtenu en temps réel grâce aux shaders, permet également d'inviter l'observateur à focaliser son attention sur des objets précis au lieu de laisser son regard errer. Enfin, un objectif pour obtenir le sentiment de présence est de faire croire à l'utilisateur qu'il existe dans la scène virtuelle. Notre contribution à ce but, est d'intégrer de manière naturelle une représentation virtuelle de l'utilisateur. Pour cela, nous créons par visual hulls un avatar à l'aide de caméras. Finalement, cet avatar est employé pour illustrer la présence de l'utilisateur au travers de surfaces réfléchissantes virtuelles ou de la projection de son ombre / The feeling of presence is the ultimate goal of a virtual reality system. It can be achieved by stimulating its four pillars that are immersion, interaction, consistency of the action-perception loop and emotions. Our objective is submit methods which could increase this feeling of presence. We will especially focus on visual perception. First, we present a solution applying the stereoscopic rendering on GPU. Using the latest shaders extensions, we join the traditional two passes to a single that reduce redundant computation. Our method can also be applied on recent autostereoscopic screens which need about ten different view points. The second contribution refers to eyestrain caused when a user watches stereoscopic images during a long time. We propose to use the graphic cards to render, in real time, a blur on problematic areas thus the user will focus on the others. We also use blur to point out some objects of the virtual scene that we considerate as important and avoid to let user's eye wander. Finally, we propose a method to increase the presence of the user into the virtual environment. An avatar, based on images taken from several cameras and visual hull method, is first build. In a second stage, the avatar is integrated into the virtual scene so it seems natural to the user. Thus we use reflective surfaces like mirrors or virtual lights interactions like shadows

This thesis investigated the use of novel combinations of multimodal metaphors in the presentation of learning information to evaluate the effect of these combinations on the usability of e-learning interfaces and on the users' learning performance. The empirical research described in this thesis comprised three experimental phases. In the first phase, an initial experiment was carried out with 30 users to explore and compare the usability and learning performance of facially animated expressive avatars with earcons and speech, and text with graphics metaphors. The second experimental phase involved an experiment conducted with 48 users to investigate their perception of avatar's facial expressions and body gestures when presented in both the absence and presence of interactive e-learning context. In addition, the experiment aimed at evaluating the role that an avatar could play as virtual lecturer in e-learning interfaces by comparing the usability and learning performance of three different modes of interaction: speaking facially expressive virtual lecturer, speaking facially expressive full-body animated virtual lecturer, and two speaking facially expressive virtual lecturers. In the third phase, a total of 24 users experimentally examined a novel approach for the use of earcons and auditory icons in e-learning interfaces to support an animated facially expressive avatar with body gestures during the presentation of the learning material. The obtained results demonstrated the usefulness of the tested metaphors to enhance e-learning usability and to enable users to attain better learning performance. These results provided a set of empirically derived innovative guidelines for the design and use of these metaphors to generate more usable e-learning interfaces. For example, when designing avatars as animated virtual lecturers in e-learning interfaces, specific facial expression and body gestures should be incorporated due to its positive influence in enhancing learners' attitude towards the learning process.

A proposta desta dissertação aborda o consumo de videogame entre os sexos e como essa relação, tipicamente econômica, perpassa padrões de gosto individuais e afeta a formação de uma relação simbólica: a identidade gamer. A grande área que permeia este estudo está no mundo virtual dos games, principalmente ao elaborar a caracterização e a tipologia dos avatares. Esta dissertação surgiu durante a leitura de material da sociologia britânica, no qual o sociólogo Garry Crawford destacou que existe uma diferenciação no consumo dos games entre homens e mulheres, e esta diferenciação ocorre pelo avatar. Destaca-se que este trabalho se compreende como um estudo interdisciplinar com foco sociológico e nele está presente literatura do game designer, filosofia, antropologia, educação, entre outras áreas que debatem e que teorizam o videogame. Utilizou-se de metodologia mista, quantitativa e qualitativa, para realizar a análise dos personagens e das entrevistas dos jogadores; por conseguinte, destaca-se um capítulo somente para a abordagem metodológica. Ressalta-se que, dos resultados encontrados, sobressaíram-se três caracterizações de avatares (uma inesperada), além da respectiva tipologia; bem como, das entrevistas, aponta-se para uma convergência no consumo dos videogames. Pode-se afirmar, categoricamente, que, na cidade de Porto Alegre, não há uma extensa diferenciação no consumo de games. / The proposal of this dissertation addresses the consumption of video game between the sexes, and this typically economic relation permeates individual patterns of taste and affects the formation of a symbolic relationship, the gamer identity. The great area that permeates this study is in the virtual world of games, especially when elaborating the characterization and typology of the avatars. This dissertation arose during the reading of material from British sociology, where the sociologist Garry Crawford, pointed out that there is a differentiation in the consumption of games between men and women; and this differentiation occurs by the avatar. It should be noted that this work is understood in an interdisciplinary study with a sociological focus, but there has literature of the designer game, philosophy, anthropology, education, among other areas that debate and theorize the video game. It was used the mixed methodology, quantitative and qualitative, of the analysis of the characters and interviews of the players; therefore, a chapter is only highlighted for the methodological approach. It should be emphasized that three avatars characterizations emerged from the results, an unexpected, besides the respective typology. As well as, from the interviews, one points to convergence in the consumption of video games. It can be affirmed, categorically, that in the city of Porto Alegre there is not an extensive differentiation in the consumption of games.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:10:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gustavo Augusto Tavares Cavalheiro.pdf: 1998955 bytes, checksum: 08e4882e5f83d251d445152ccc759d12 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Based on the analisys of the historical and cultural relationship that, in the literary heteronomy, is developed by the current propensity to the digital alterity, this study points out the similarities, differences and similitudes between the civil person, the cybercultural spectrum and images of "self-other". The presentation of the subject and the problem focus on questioning the construction and acceptance of the real/true in his overlaps of forged identification, which can be widely discussed in the pre-cybercultural period. Bringing to the comunication, the elements and concepts of being (far/close) yourself as much as the mediatic structures builds and/or translates the civil society as an imagery (re/a)presentation of yourself; is it studied the expansion of yourself in the digital space in a digital nets new time-untimed, from the image to the formation of an "other" (or personaskilled) and its seduction built under the logic of appearance design construction /management/power of an Avatar / Ante a análise da relação histórico-cultural que, situada na heteronímia literária, se desenvolve até a atual propensão à alteridade digital, o trabalho aponta as semelhanças, diferenças e similitudes, entre a persona civil, o espectro cibercultural e as imagens de um eu-outro . A apresentação do tema e do problema tem sob foco o questionamento da construção e aceitação cotidiana do real/verdadeiro no seu confronto com outras identificações forjadas, que podem ser amplamente encontradas e analisadas desde o período pré-cibercultural. Trazendo para a comunicação, elementos e conceitos de (di/e)star-se sobre a forma como as estruturas mediáticas constróem e/ou traduzem a sociedade civil em (re/a)presentações imagéticas de si, estuda-se sua expansão no espaço digital do novo tempodestemporializado das redes digitais, até a formação da imagem de um eu-outro (ou persona-hábil) e sua sedução, construídas sob a lógica do design da aparência/gestão/poder de um Avatar

Propiciar uma boa experiência de imersão ao usuário, quando este interage com conteúdos ou ambientes virtuais, é um dos principais desafios dos desenvolvedores e pesquisadores de tecnologias interativas, com destaque para realidade virtual e aumentada. Em especial nas áreas de educação e entretenimento, nas quais o engajamento do usuário e a significância dos conteúdos são cruciais para o sucesso da aplicação, é comum a busca por uma experiência que se aproxime de uma imersão total do participante. Quando as atividades envolvem interações a distância, um possível meio de se obter maior imersão são os chamados sistemas de telecomunicação imersiva. Tais sistemas oferecem compartilhamento de um ambiente virtual e troca de informações entre participantes remotos, além da interação desses com o ambiente. Um componente importante desses sistemas é o vídeo-avatar, uma representação visual do participante dentro do ambiente, baseado em sua captura de vídeo em tempo-real. Este trabalho apresenta novas propostas de reconstrução geométrica e renderização para a geração e apresentação de um vídeo-avatar. Inicialmente, um modelo teórico para se modularizar as técnicas de reconstrução e renderização existentes foi proposto. Por meio desse modelo foi criada uma nova técnica de reconstrução geométrica e renderização, denominada Video-based Microfacet Billboarding. Essa técnica emprega uma reconstrução e renderização em tempo-real que possibilita a representação de detalhes e melhora a percepção de integração com o ambiente. É também proposta neste trabalho o conceito de non-photorealistic video-avatar, que visa aplicar um estilo não fotorrealístico único sobre toda a cena, afim de melhorar a integração do avatar com o ambiente e, por sua vez, aumentar a imersão do usuário. Os resultados obtidos através da implementação do vídeo-avatar com essas técnicas e testes preliminares com usuários dão fortes indícios de que é possível a geração de uma representação visual que possua todos os requisitos do sistema iLive, sistema de telecomunicação imersiva voltado a educação e jogos eletrônicos em desenvolvimento pelo Laboratório de Tecnologias Interativas (Interlab) da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo. / Providing good immersion experiences for users interacting with virtual contents or an environment is one of the main challenges for developers and researchers in interactive technologies, mainly virtual and augmented reality. Especially in areas of education and entertainment, in which the engagement of the user and the significance of content are of crucial importance for the success of the application, the search for experiences that approximate to one of a total immersion of the participant is common practice. When interaction at distance is necessary, one way to provide better immersion experiences is the use of a solution called Immersive Telecommunication System. This kind of system can provide the sharing of the virtual environment among participants, information exchange among them, and also their interaction with the virtual environment. One of the most important component of these systems is the video-avatar, the representation of the participant in the virtual environment based on a video of the participant captured in real-time. This work presents new approaches of geometric reconstruction and rendering for the creation of a video-avatar. First, a theoretical model to modularize the existing reconstruction and rendering approaches was proposed. Based on this model, a new approach of geometric reconstruction and rendering, called Video-based Microfacet Billboarding, was conceived. This approach uses a technique of real-time reconstruction and rendering that enables the representation of the object details and improves the integration of the avatar in the virtual environment. In this work, it is also proposed the concept of non-photorealistic video-avatar, that aims to apply a non-photorealistic style over all the scene to improve the avatar integration with the environment, and with this, to enhance the user\'s immersion. The results obtained by the implementation of a video-avatar with these approaches, as well as preliminary users tests, gives us strong evidences that we could create a user representation that attends all the requisites of the iLive system, an immersive telecommunication system for education and gaming purposes, in development by the Interactive Technologies Laboratory (Interlab) of Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo.

Propiciar uma boa experiência de imersão ao usuário, quando este interage com conteúdos ou ambientes virtuais, é um dos principais desafios dos desenvolvedores e pesquisadores de tecnologias interativas, com destaque para realidade virtual e aumentada. Em especial nas áreas de educação e entretenimento, nas quais o engajamento do usuário e a significância dos conteúdos são cruciais para o sucesso da aplicação, é comum a busca por uma experiência que se aproxime de uma imersão total do participante. Quando as atividades envolvem interações a distância, um possível meio de se obter maior imersão são os chamados sistemas de telecomunicação imersiva. Tais sistemas oferecem compartilhamento de um ambiente virtual e troca de informações entre participantes remotos, além da interação desses com o ambiente. Um componente importante desses sistemas é o vídeo-avatar, uma representação visual do participante dentro do ambiente, baseado em sua captura de vídeo em tempo-real. Este trabalho apresenta novas propostas de reconstrução geométrica e renderização para a geração e apresentação de um vídeo-avatar. Inicialmente, um modelo teórico para se modularizar as técnicas de reconstrução e renderização existentes foi proposto. Por meio desse modelo foi criada uma nova técnica de reconstrução geométrica e renderização, denominada Video-based Microfacet Billboarding. Essa técnica emprega uma reconstrução e renderização em tempo-real que possibilita a representação de detalhes e melhora a percepção de integração com o ambiente. É também proposta neste trabalho o conceito de non-photorealistic video-avatar, que visa aplicar um estilo não fotorrealístico único sobre toda a cena, afim de melhorar a integração do avatar com o ambiente e, por sua vez, aumentar a imersão do usuário. Os resultados obtidos através da implementação do vídeo-avatar com essas técnicas e testes preliminares com usuários dão fortes indícios de que é possível a geração de uma representação visual que possua todos os requisitos do sistema iLive, sistema de telecomunicação imersiva voltado a educação e jogos eletrônicos em desenvolvimento pelo Laboratório de Tecnologias Interativas (Interlab) da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo. / Providing good immersion experiences for users interacting with virtual contents or an environment is one of the main challenges for developers and researchers in interactive technologies, mainly virtual and augmented reality. Especially in areas of education and entertainment, in which the engagement of the user and the significance of content are of crucial importance for the success of the application, the search for experiences that approximate to one of a total immersion of the participant is common practice. When interaction at distance is necessary, one way to provide better immersion experiences is the use of a solution called Immersive Telecommunication System. This kind of system can provide the sharing of the virtual environment among participants, information exchange among them, and also their interaction with the virtual environment. One of the most important component of these systems is the video-avatar, the representation of the participant in the virtual environment based on a video of the participant captured in real-time. This work presents new approaches of geometric reconstruction and rendering for the creation of a video-avatar. First, a theoretical model to modularize the existing reconstruction and rendering approaches was proposed. Based on this model, a new approach of geometric reconstruction and rendering, called Video-based Microfacet Billboarding, was conceived. This approach uses a technique of real-time reconstruction and rendering that enables the representation of the object details and improves the integration of the avatar in the virtual environment. In this work, it is also proposed the concept of non-photorealistic video-avatar, that aims to apply a non-photorealistic style over all the scene to improve the avatar integration with the environment, and with this, to enhance the user\'s immersion. The results obtained by the implementation of a video-avatar with these approaches, as well as preliminary users tests, gives us strong evidences that we could create a user representation that attends all the requisites of the iLive system, an immersive telecommunication system for education and gaming purposes, in development by the Interactive Technologies Laboratory (Interlab) of Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo.