Enhancing interactional synchrony with an ambient display

  • Authors:
  • Madeline Balaam;Geraldine Fitzpatrick;Judith Good;Eric Harris

  • Affiliations:
  • Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom;Technical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom;University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

Nonverbal communication is an essential part of face-to-face social interaction, conveying information about emotion and interpersonal relationships. The rigorous sensing capabilities of pervasive technologies and the subtle nature of ambient technologies make them ideal to support the production of nonverbal communication in social interactions. In this paper we present a study using an ambient technology that supports nonverbal communication, and specifically nonverbal behaviours associated with rapport. We show that an ambient display can influence a participant's nonverbal behaviour, and that participants are not aware of this change in their behaviour. We discuss these findings in terms of the design and ethical issues that it raises, and define an agenda for future work.