Presence and portrayal: video for casual home dialogues

ABSTRACT

In this paper we present experimental results rating the experience of users conversing in a casual video/audio dialogue, in a simulated home environment. Here video-realistic images are problematic and prone to numerous "medium effects", such as unaligned eye-gaze, which can be misattributed as personal flaws. We tested three levels of manipulated video to see if they improved user's sense of: (a) presence, (b) portrayal and (c) preference. By blurring the background we found a manipulation that is both preferred and more efficiently coded than the original.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors, Measurement, Theory

Keywords:
manipulated video, portrayal, presence, video conferencing