HCI (CITS3201) Lab Class 4

Week 5 (25^th March 2009)

Affect

Objectives

In this practical you will put into practice ideas on the emotional impacts of interfaces which you met in lectures 7 and 8 and chapter 5 of your text book.  Specifically, the objective is to enable you to critique the persuasive impact of a virtual agent by considering what it would take for a virtual agent to be believable, trustworthy and convincing. 

The exercises below are based on activities in your text book SRP http://www.id-book.com/index.php

Allocated Time

3-3:45pm Wednesday 25^th March in CS Lab 2.01 (supervised)

OR anytime, anywhere

TodayÕs lab can be performed alone or in small groups. You will access to the Internet outside UWA. If you have not yet organized your internet access by activating your ITS account please do that as soon as possible. See

http://www.its.uwa.edu.au/student/accounts/fullservicestudaccount

Task 1

Look at a website that has a virtual assistant , e.g. Anna at IKEAÕs UK site (we donÕt seem to have an Australian IKEA assistant yet) or a similar one. Answer the following:

á What does the virtual agent do?

á What type of agent is it?

á Does it elicit an emotional response from you? If so, what kind?

á What kind of personality does it have?

á How is this expressed?

á What kinds of behaviour does it exhibit?

á What are its facial expressions like?

á What is its appearance like? Is it realistic or carton-like?

á Where does it appear on the screen?

á How does it communicate with the user (text or speech)?

á Is the level of discourse patronizing or at the right level?

á Is the agent helpful in guiding the user towards making a purchase or finding out something?

á Is it too pushy?

á What gender is it? Do you think this makes a difference?

á Would you trust the agent to the extent that you would be happy to buy a product from it or follow its guidance? If not, why not?

á What else would it take to make the agent persuasive?

Task 2

Next look at an equivalent website that does not include an agent but is based on a conceptual model of browsing, e.g. Amazon.com. How does it compare with the agent-based site you have just looked at?

á Is it easy to find information?

á What kind of mechanism does the site use to make recommendations and guide the user in making a purchase or finding out information?

á Is any kind of personalization used at the interface to make the user feel welcome or special?

á Would the site be improved by having an agent? Explain your reasons either way.

Task 3

Explain which site you would trust most and give reasons.

UWA CITS 3201  semester 1, 2009