While our cross-cultural IT research continuously strives to contribute towards the development o... more While our cross-cultural IT research continuously strives to contribute towards the development of HCI appropriate cross-cultural models and best practices, we are aware of the specificity of each development context and the influence of each participant. Uncovering the complexity within our current project as an international team with experiences from three different continents reveals a set of challenges and opportunities for growing global design communities.
Abstract Our gestural habits convey a multitude of information on different levels of granularity... more Abstract Our gestural habits convey a multitude of information on different levels of granularity that can be exploited for human computer interaction. Gestures can provide additional or redundant information accompanying a verbal utterance, they can have a meaning in themselves, or they can provide the addressee with even more subtle clues for instance about our personality or cultural backgrounds.
Empirical findings of cross-linguistic studies reveal three different frames of spatial reference... more Empirical findings of cross-linguistic studies reveal three different frames of spatial reference: intrinsic, relative, and absolute. Of special interest are relative and absolute systems because they have antagonistic logical implications concerning the dependence on standpoint and orientation of the speaker/hearer. On the background of these findings it becomes crucial to show how an agent can form such language-specific spatial representations.
ABSTRACT Integrating culture as a parameter into the behavioral models of virtual characters to s... more ABSTRACT Integrating culture as a parameter into the behavioral models of virtual characters to simulate cultural differences is becoming more and more popular. But do these differences affect the user's perception? In the work described in this paper, we integrated aspects of non-verbal behavior as well as communication management behavior into the behavioral models of virtual characters for the two cultures of Germany and Japan in order to find out which of these aspects affect human observers of the target cultures.
Abstract Cultural heuristics determine acceptable verbal and non-verbal behavior in interpersonal... more Abstract Cultural heuristics determine acceptable verbal and non-verbal behavior in interpersonal encounters and are often the main reason for problems in intercultural communication. In this article, we present an approach to intercultural training of non-verbal behaviors that makes use of enculturated virtual agents, ie interactive systems that take cultural heuristics for interpreting and generating behavior into account.
Abstract The paper investigates human agent interactions in virtual environments like Second Life... more Abstract The paper investigates human agent interactions in virtual environments like Second Life. As interactions in such environments are inherently social, the agent should be able to participate in social interaction rituals like getting acquainted when meeting someone for the first time. The differences between these rituals in real life and in Second Life are analyzed. Different rule sets for each version of the ritual have been developed and the performance of the different sets is compared in interactions with users in Second Life.
Abstract We present a concept of a fitness game that can be installed in public places and encour... more Abstract We present a concept of a fitness game that can be installed in public places and encourage passers-by to participate in a short play. The game is controlled by players' body motions and thus provokes physical exercises. Moreover, the game encourages social interactions between players, if played in multi-user mode. To play the game a person needs a mobile phone with accelerometer. We describe the game design based on engagement theories and the first evaluation results.
Small talk can be used in order to build a positive relationship towards a virtual character. How... more Small talk can be used in order to build a positive relationship towards a virtual character. However the choice of topics in a conversation can be dependent on social background. In this paper, we explore culture-related differences in small talk for the German and Japanese cultures. Based on findings from the literature and verified by a corpus analysis, we integrated prototypical German and Japanese small talk conversations into a multiagent system.
Abstract In this paper we describe a research project that aims at providing a learning environme... more Abstract In this paper we describe a research project that aims at providing a learning environment with virtual characters to train culture-specific nonverbal behavior in order to avoid unnecessary irritations in cross-cultural communication. It is shown that the use of virtual characters in the form of embodied conversational agents is beneficial for such an application. After a general description of the conceptual underpinnings of such a learning environment, a first prototype is presented that addresses the main challenges.
The goal of this paper is to integrate culture and social relationship as a computational term in... more The goal of this paper is to integrate culture and social relationship as a computational term in an embodied conversational agent system by employing empirical and theoretical approach. We propose a parameter-based model that predicts nonverbal expressions appropriate for specific cultures in different social relationship. So, first, we introduce the theories of social and cultural characteristics.
Abstract To reach a good user-friendliness, knowledge about user requirements is crucial in the d... more Abstract To reach a good user-friendliness, knowledge about user requirements is crucial in the development process of a product. The sooner the knowledge is achieved via user evaluations, the more money and time can be saved. In this paper we investigate an approach called hybrid simulation for the early stages evaluation of mobile applications where real mobile phones are used as interaction devices to a virtualised simulation of a pervasive environment.
Zusammenfassung Mit dem System RoAD Robot Action Descrip-tion wird gezeigt, wie die Verkn upfung ... more Zusammenfassung Mit dem System RoAD Robot Action Descrip-tion wird gezeigt, wie die Verkn upfung sprachlicher Kompetenz mit anderen F ahigkeiten eines handelnden Systems geleistet werden kann. RoAD ist zur Zeit mit CoRA Communicating Reactive Agent 1 verbunden, der reaktiven Steuerungskomponente eines simulierten Montageroboters, der Holzbauteile manipuliert, siehe zB Milde, Strippgen & Peters, 1997.
We present our prototype 3D visualization that enables people to place video recordings of their ... more We present our prototype 3D visualization that enables people to place video recordings of their traditional knowledge. We demonstrate the process of developing and evaluating the prototype. We show how our prototype might combat a cultural gap between youths and elders and also hope to ignite ideas about how such a system can be used rurally and how further testing can be optimized to avoid a cultural gap in the test methods.
Abstract In this paper, we investigate the mutual-complementary functionality of accelerometer (A... more Abstract In this paper, we investigate the mutual-complementary functionality of accelerometer (ACC) and electromyogram (EMG) for recognizing seven word-level sign vocabularies in German sign language (GSL). Results are discussed for the single channels and for feature-level fusion for the bichannel sensor data. For the subject-dependent condition, this fusion method proves to be effective.
Abstract An approach to intercultural training of nonverbal behavior is presented that draws from... more Abstract An approach to intercultural training of nonverbal behavior is presented that draws from research on role-plays with virtual agents and ideas from situated learning. To this end, a mobile serious game is realized where the user acquires knowledge about German emblematic gestures and tries them out in role-plays with virtual agents. Gesture performance is evaluated making use of build-in acceleration sensors of smart phones.
There are several factors that influence communicative behavior, such as gender, personality or c... more There are several factors that influence communicative behavior, such as gender, personality or culture. As virtual agents interact in a more and more human-like manner, their behavior should be dependent on social factors as well. Culture is a phenomenon that affects one's behavior without one realizing it. Behavior is thus sometimes perceived as inappropriate because there is no awareness of the cultural gap.
In this article, we present Gamble, a small game of dice that is played by two users and an embod... more In this article, we present Gamble, a small game of dice that is played by two users and an embodied conversational agent (ECA). By its abilities to communicate and collaborate, an ECA is well suited for engaging users in entertaining social interactions. Gamble is used as a test bed for such multiuser interactions. The description of the system's components and a thorough analysis of the agent's behavior control mechanisms is followed by insights gained from a first user study.
Abstract: Diese Dissertation nähert sich dem Problem der konzeptuellen Entwicklung und hier insbe... more Abstract: Diese Dissertation nähert sich dem Problem der konzeptuellen Entwicklung und hier insbesondere des Spracherwerbs von einer technischen Perspektive mit Hilfe des agentenorientierten Simulationssystems LOKATOR. Die Implementierung setzt dabei auf einem an der Universität Bielefeld entwickelten Simulationssystem für situierte Agenten auf.
Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a loss of valuable cultural knowledge, which has been a ... more Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a loss of valuable cultural knowledge, which has been a foundation for the coming generations' survival and cultural self-awareness. By transferring cultural knowledge contexts into 3D visualizations, we prototyped and evaluated a system to bridge the gap between elders and urban youth in Namibia. The findings from the field experiment indicate that designers together with rural elders and children can reach a shared design platform by communicating visually.
Designing interactions with technologies compatible with rural wisdom and skills can digitally en... more Designing interactions with technologies compatible with rural wisdom and skills can digitally enfranchise rural people and contribute to community cohesion in the face of Africa's urbanization. Oral information, contextualized in material settings, has sustained rural identity and livelihood for generations; but technology-use can inadvertently displace knowledge for communities with knowledge traditions that differ from those of technology-design. Devices which are sensitive to users' locations, combined with platforms for social networking and user-generated-content, offer intriguing opportunities for rural communities to extend their knowledge practices digitally. We present insights on the way rural people, of the Herero tribe, manage information, spatially and temporally, within our design endeavors in Namibia. Rural participants had not depicted their wisdom graphically, by photography or video before, rarely use writing materials and some cannot read. We reflect on a year of Ethnographic Action Research in which participants created or interpreted video recordings about their knowledge. We discuss themes distilled from ethnography and detailed analysis of 30 hours of observer- and participant- recorded video and participants' interpretations and interactions with thumbnail photos from video, photography and writing materials. These themes use some classical anthropological 'tropes' and describe verbal and bodily interactions, relationships between bodies, artifacts and settings and concepts about personhood, community and place. We adopt a critical attitude towards assumptions about spatial, temporal and social logics and literacies to promote a design sensitivity to local experiences of locations. This motivates us to emphasize connections, not points, and the bodily absorption of location and social relations. We discuss designs that emulate the way participants identify social convergence to orient information and use voice, gesture and movement to push locations into this dialogic. Representations must coalesce socialrelational and topokinetic, rather than topographic, spaces. We hope our reflections will inspire others to examine the spatial, temporal and social affordances of technologies within the bonds of rural communities in digitally-sparse 'under-developed' settings.
While our cross-cultural IT research continuously strives to contribute towards the development o... more While our cross-cultural IT research continuously strives to contribute towards the development of HCI appropriate cross-cultural models and best practices, we are aware of the specificity of each development context and the influence of each participant. Uncovering the complexity within our current project as an international team with experiences from three different continents reveals a set of challenges and opportunities for growing global design communities.
Abstract Our gestural habits convey a multitude of information on different levels of granularity... more Abstract Our gestural habits convey a multitude of information on different levels of granularity that can be exploited for human computer interaction. Gestures can provide additional or redundant information accompanying a verbal utterance, they can have a meaning in themselves, or they can provide the addressee with even more subtle clues for instance about our personality or cultural backgrounds.
Empirical findings of cross-linguistic studies reveal three different frames of spatial reference... more Empirical findings of cross-linguistic studies reveal three different frames of spatial reference: intrinsic, relative, and absolute. Of special interest are relative and absolute systems because they have antagonistic logical implications concerning the dependence on standpoint and orientation of the speaker/hearer. On the background of these findings it becomes crucial to show how an agent can form such language-specific spatial representations.
ABSTRACT Integrating culture as a parameter into the behavioral models of virtual characters to s... more ABSTRACT Integrating culture as a parameter into the behavioral models of virtual characters to simulate cultural differences is becoming more and more popular. But do these differences affect the user's perception? In the work described in this paper, we integrated aspects of non-verbal behavior as well as communication management behavior into the behavioral models of virtual characters for the two cultures of Germany and Japan in order to find out which of these aspects affect human observers of the target cultures.
Abstract Cultural heuristics determine acceptable verbal and non-verbal behavior in interpersonal... more Abstract Cultural heuristics determine acceptable verbal and non-verbal behavior in interpersonal encounters and are often the main reason for problems in intercultural communication. In this article, we present an approach to intercultural training of non-verbal behaviors that makes use of enculturated virtual agents, ie interactive systems that take cultural heuristics for interpreting and generating behavior into account.
Abstract The paper investigates human agent interactions in virtual environments like Second Life... more Abstract The paper investigates human agent interactions in virtual environments like Second Life. As interactions in such environments are inherently social, the agent should be able to participate in social interaction rituals like getting acquainted when meeting someone for the first time. The differences between these rituals in real life and in Second Life are analyzed. Different rule sets for each version of the ritual have been developed and the performance of the different sets is compared in interactions with users in Second Life.
Abstract We present a concept of a fitness game that can be installed in public places and encour... more Abstract We present a concept of a fitness game that can be installed in public places and encourage passers-by to participate in a short play. The game is controlled by players' body motions and thus provokes physical exercises. Moreover, the game encourages social interactions between players, if played in multi-user mode. To play the game a person needs a mobile phone with accelerometer. We describe the game design based on engagement theories and the first evaluation results.
Small talk can be used in order to build a positive relationship towards a virtual character. How... more Small talk can be used in order to build a positive relationship towards a virtual character. However the choice of topics in a conversation can be dependent on social background. In this paper, we explore culture-related differences in small talk for the German and Japanese cultures. Based on findings from the literature and verified by a corpus analysis, we integrated prototypical German and Japanese small talk conversations into a multiagent system.
Abstract In this paper we describe a research project that aims at providing a learning environme... more Abstract In this paper we describe a research project that aims at providing a learning environment with virtual characters to train culture-specific nonverbal behavior in order to avoid unnecessary irritations in cross-cultural communication. It is shown that the use of virtual characters in the form of embodied conversational agents is beneficial for such an application. After a general description of the conceptual underpinnings of such a learning environment, a first prototype is presented that addresses the main challenges.
The goal of this paper is to integrate culture and social relationship as a computational term in... more The goal of this paper is to integrate culture and social relationship as a computational term in an embodied conversational agent system by employing empirical and theoretical approach. We propose a parameter-based model that predicts nonverbal expressions appropriate for specific cultures in different social relationship. So, first, we introduce the theories of social and cultural characteristics.
Abstract To reach a good user-friendliness, knowledge about user requirements is crucial in the d... more Abstract To reach a good user-friendliness, knowledge about user requirements is crucial in the development process of a product. The sooner the knowledge is achieved via user evaluations, the more money and time can be saved. In this paper we investigate an approach called hybrid simulation for the early stages evaluation of mobile applications where real mobile phones are used as interaction devices to a virtualised simulation of a pervasive environment.
Zusammenfassung Mit dem System RoAD Robot Action Descrip-tion wird gezeigt, wie die Verkn upfung ... more Zusammenfassung Mit dem System RoAD Robot Action Descrip-tion wird gezeigt, wie die Verkn upfung sprachlicher Kompetenz mit anderen F ahigkeiten eines handelnden Systems geleistet werden kann. RoAD ist zur Zeit mit CoRA Communicating Reactive Agent 1 verbunden, der reaktiven Steuerungskomponente eines simulierten Montageroboters, der Holzbauteile manipuliert, siehe zB Milde, Strippgen & Peters, 1997.
We present our prototype 3D visualization that enables people to place video recordings of their ... more We present our prototype 3D visualization that enables people to place video recordings of their traditional knowledge. We demonstrate the process of developing and evaluating the prototype. We show how our prototype might combat a cultural gap between youths and elders and also hope to ignite ideas about how such a system can be used rurally and how further testing can be optimized to avoid a cultural gap in the test methods.
Abstract In this paper, we investigate the mutual-complementary functionality of accelerometer (A... more Abstract In this paper, we investigate the mutual-complementary functionality of accelerometer (ACC) and electromyogram (EMG) for recognizing seven word-level sign vocabularies in German sign language (GSL). Results are discussed for the single channels and for feature-level fusion for the bichannel sensor data. For the subject-dependent condition, this fusion method proves to be effective.
Abstract An approach to intercultural training of nonverbal behavior is presented that draws from... more Abstract An approach to intercultural training of nonverbal behavior is presented that draws from research on role-plays with virtual agents and ideas from situated learning. To this end, a mobile serious game is realized where the user acquires knowledge about German emblematic gestures and tries them out in role-plays with virtual agents. Gesture performance is evaluated making use of build-in acceleration sensors of smart phones.
There are several factors that influence communicative behavior, such as gender, personality or c... more There are several factors that influence communicative behavior, such as gender, personality or culture. As virtual agents interact in a more and more human-like manner, their behavior should be dependent on social factors as well. Culture is a phenomenon that affects one's behavior without one realizing it. Behavior is thus sometimes perceived as inappropriate because there is no awareness of the cultural gap.
In this article, we present Gamble, a small game of dice that is played by two users and an embod... more In this article, we present Gamble, a small game of dice that is played by two users and an embodied conversational agent (ECA). By its abilities to communicate and collaborate, an ECA is well suited for engaging users in entertaining social interactions. Gamble is used as a test bed for such multiuser interactions. The description of the system's components and a thorough analysis of the agent's behavior control mechanisms is followed by insights gained from a first user study.
Abstract: Diese Dissertation nähert sich dem Problem der konzeptuellen Entwicklung und hier insbe... more Abstract: Diese Dissertation nähert sich dem Problem der konzeptuellen Entwicklung und hier insbesondere des Spracherwerbs von einer technischen Perspektive mit Hilfe des agentenorientierten Simulationssystems LOKATOR. Die Implementierung setzt dabei auf einem an der Universität Bielefeld entwickelten Simulationssystem für situierte Agenten auf.
Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a loss of valuable cultural knowledge, which has been a ... more Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a loss of valuable cultural knowledge, which has been a foundation for the coming generations' survival and cultural self-awareness. By transferring cultural knowledge contexts into 3D visualizations, we prototyped and evaluated a system to bridge the gap between elders and urban youth in Namibia. The findings from the field experiment indicate that designers together with rural elders and children can reach a shared design platform by communicating visually.
Designing interactions with technologies compatible with rural wisdom and skills can digitally en... more Designing interactions with technologies compatible with rural wisdom and skills can digitally enfranchise rural people and contribute to community cohesion in the face of Africa's urbanization. Oral information, contextualized in material settings, has sustained rural identity and livelihood for generations; but technology-use can inadvertently displace knowledge for communities with knowledge traditions that differ from those of technology-design. Devices which are sensitive to users' locations, combined with platforms for social networking and user-generated-content, offer intriguing opportunities for rural communities to extend their knowledge practices digitally. We present insights on the way rural people, of the Herero tribe, manage information, spatially and temporally, within our design endeavors in Namibia. Rural participants had not depicted their wisdom graphically, by photography or video before, rarely use writing materials and some cannot read. We reflect on a year of Ethnographic Action Research in which participants created or interpreted video recordings about their knowledge. We discuss themes distilled from ethnography and detailed analysis of 30 hours of observer- and participant- recorded video and participants' interpretations and interactions with thumbnail photos from video, photography and writing materials. These themes use some classical anthropological 'tropes' and describe verbal and bodily interactions, relationships between bodies, artifacts and settings and concepts about personhood, community and place. We adopt a critical attitude towards assumptions about spatial, temporal and social logics and literacies to promote a design sensitivity to local experiences of locations. This motivates us to emphasize connections, not points, and the bodily absorption of location and social relations. We discuss designs that emulate the way participants identify social convergence to orient information and use voice, gesture and movement to push locations into this dialogic. Representations must coalesce socialrelational and topokinetic, rather than topographic, spaces. We hope our reflections will inspire others to examine the spatial, temporal and social affordances of technologies within the bonds of rural communities in digitally-sparse 'under-developed' settings.
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Papers by Matthias Rehm
temporally, within our design endeavors in Namibia. Rural participants had not depicted their wisdom graphically, by photography or video before, rarely use writing materials and some cannot read. We reflect on a year of Ethnographic Action Research in which participants created or interpreted video recordings about their knowledge. We discuss themes distilled from ethnography and detailed analysis of 30 hours of observer- and participant- recorded video and participants' interpretations and interactions with thumbnail photos from video, photography and writing materials. These themes use some classical anthropological 'tropes' and describe verbal and bodily interactions, relationships between bodies, artifacts and settings and concepts about personhood, community and place. We adopt a critical attitude towards assumptions about spatial, temporal and social logics and literacies to promote a design sensitivity to local experiences of locations. This motivates us to emphasize connections, not points, and the bodily absorption of location and social relations. We discuss designs that emulate the way participants identify social convergence to orient information and use voice, gesture and movement to push locations into this dialogic. Representations must coalesce socialrelational and topokinetic, rather than topographic, spaces. We hope our reflections will inspire others to examine the spatial, temporal and social affordances of technologies within the bonds of rural communities in digitally-sparse 'under-developed' settings.
temporally, within our design endeavors in Namibia. Rural participants had not depicted their wisdom graphically, by photography or video before, rarely use writing materials and some cannot read. We reflect on a year of Ethnographic Action Research in which participants created or interpreted video recordings about their knowledge. We discuss themes distilled from ethnography and detailed analysis of 30 hours of observer- and participant- recorded video and participants' interpretations and interactions with thumbnail photos from video, photography and writing materials. These themes use some classical anthropological 'tropes' and describe verbal and bodily interactions, relationships between bodies, artifacts and settings and concepts about personhood, community and place. We adopt a critical attitude towards assumptions about spatial, temporal and social logics and literacies to promote a design sensitivity to local experiences of locations. This motivates us to emphasize connections, not points, and the bodily absorption of location and social relations. We discuss designs that emulate the way participants identify social convergence to orient information and use voice, gesture and movement to push locations into this dialogic. Representations must coalesce socialrelational and topokinetic, rather than topographic, spaces. We hope our reflections will inspire others to examine the spatial, temporal and social affordances of technologies within the bonds of rural communities in digitally-sparse 'under-developed' settings.