Designing for What is Usually Hidden - Visualization Techniques for Design of Autonomous Media Agents Master Thesis in Informatics, Design of Interactive Systems 15 ECTS Presented: 2009-04 Authors: Anders Pehrson and Mariana Novakov Supervisor: Hans Lundin Examiners: Agneta Olerup and Erik Wallin Abstract Titel/Title Designing for What is Usually Hidden - Visualization Techniques for Design of Autonomous Media Agents Författare/ Anders Pehrson Authors Mariana Novakov Utgivare/ Instutitionen för Informatik Publisher Department of Informatics Handledare/ Hans Lundin Supervisor Examinatorer/ Agneta Olerup Examiners Erik Wallin Publiceringsår/ 2009 Publishing year Uppsatstyp/ Magister uppsats Type of Thesis Master Thesis Språk/ Engelska Language English Nyckelord/ Informatics, Visual Design, Autonomous Media Agents, Keywords Graphical User Interface, Affective computing, Colouring, Metaphors, Pictographic symbols Abstract Autonomous Agents are usually designed to work in the background and their work is mostly hidden from the user. This causes both ethical and practical problems that can be remedied by providing feedback and control to the user (Bellotti and Sellen, 1993). This thesis presents an overview study exploreing advantages and disadvantages of four visualization techniques: colouring, pictographic symbols, metaphors, and affective computing, as they are employed in providing feedback and control regarding Autonomous Agents. The study is performed by evaluating an example project, with elements of Design Science. The thesis concludes that all techniques have both advantages and disadvantages regarding different aspects of their use. Designing for what is usually hidden Novakov, Pehrson Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Problem Area ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Purpose ................................................................................................................................. 3 1.4 Delimitations ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Definition .............................................................................................................................. 5 2 Literature Study ........................................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Control and Feedback ..................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Autonomous Agents ......................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Agents’ Effect ................................................................................................................... 10 2.4 Control ................................................................................................................................ 10 2.5 Agents Appearance, Behaviour and Interaction Level ..................................... 10 2.6 Affective Computing ...................................................................................................... 11 2.7 Colouring ............................................................................................................................ 14 2.8 Metaphors .......................................................................................................................... 15 2.9 Pictographic Symbols .................................................................................................... 17 2.9.1 Icons ............................................................................................................................ 17 2.10 Validity of Literature Study ......................................................................................... 19 2.11 Literature review ............................................................................................................. 19 2.12 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 20 3 Research Methods of Thesis ............................................................................................... 21 3.1 Thesis Overview .............................................................................................................. 21 3.2 Design Science ................................................................................................................. 22 3.3 Analysis Framework ....................................................................................................... 24 3.3.1 Method of Data Analysis ...................................................................................... 27 3.4 Gathering Empirical Data ............................................................................................. 27 3.5 Validity ................................................................................................................................ 28 3.5.1 Credibility ................................................................................................................... 28 3.5.2 Transferability .......................................................................................................... 28 3.5.3 Bias ............................................................................................................................... 28 3.5.4 Ethics ........................................................................................................................... 29 i Designing for what is usually hidden Novakov, Pehrson 4 Object of Study ........................................................................................................................ 30 4.1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 30 4.2 Push!Music – How it Works ......................................................................................... 32 4.3 Autonomous Media Agents in Example Project ................................................... 34 4.4 Target Group .................................................................................................................... 35 4.5 Methods of Example Project ....................................................................................... 35 5 Empirical Findings ................................................................................................................... 39 5.1 Group A Sketches ........................................................................................................... 40 5.2 Group B Sketches ........................................................................................................... 42 5.3 Group C Sketches ........................................................................................................... 43 5.4 Group D Sketches ........................................................................................................... 44 5.5 The Process of Group Interviews (Iteration one) ............................................... 45 5.5.1 Group Interview One ............................................................................................. 45 5.5.2 Group Interview Two ............................................................................................. 45 5.5.3 Group Interview Three .......................................................................................... 46 5.6 Findings of Group Interviews ..................................................................................... 46 5.7 Further Development (Iteration two) ..................................................................... 48 5.8 User Tests (Iteration two) ........................................................................................... 50 5.8.1 User Test Number One ......................................................................................... 51 5.8.2 User Test Number Two ......................................................................................... 51 5.8.3 User Test Number Three ...................................................................................... 51 5.8.4 User Test Number Four ........................................................................................ 52 6 Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 53 6.1 Affective Computing (Facial Expressions) ............................................................. 53 6.1.1 Relevance ................................................................................................................... 53 6.1.2 Effectiveness ............................................................................................................. 53 6.1.3 Success in Push!Music .......................................................................................... 55 6.1.4 Guidance from Literature ..................................................................................... 55 6.1.5 Frequency of Earlier Use ...................................................................................... 55 6.1.6