An Empirical Analysis on Emotional Body Gesture for Affective Virtual Communication
Development of the engineering on virtual environment over last decades have been attempted to establish a metaphor of human communication scheme, utilizing avatar models as user proxies. Many of the avatar models in present Collaborative Virtual Environments have still built on the universality hypothesis, which tends to ignore the multiplicities of human expressions. In such context, this research attempted to conduct an empirical study on the emotional body gestures of avatar models considering the differences in terms of age, gender, body size and humanoid. The observable differences in average emotional intensity levels implied that the age, gender, body size and humanoid of avatar effect on expression of emotions, especially the differences of gender and humanoid are highly significant in the results revealed. The findings of the study factually demands future development of Avatar models based on demographic and physical features to improve overall-effectiveness of virtual communication.
Keywords: Collaborative Virtual Environment, Effective Communication, Emotional Expressivity, Kansei Engineering, 3D Model
Download Full-Text
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Prabath Weerasinghe
Prabath Weerasinghe is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Management and Information Systems Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Japan. He received a master in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Aizu, Japan. He received a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He has worked as a Teaching Assistant, The Graduate Department of Information Systems, The University of Aizu, Fukushima, Japan. He has worked as a system engineer at NS Service CO., LTD. in JAPAN from 2007-2010. He was a Research Assistant, The Graduate Department of Information Systems, The University of Aizu, Fukushima, Japan. His current research interests include mobile Computing, HCI and empowering collaborative virtual environments with emotions
R.P.C. Janaka Rajapakse
R. P. C. Janaka Rajapaksha is an Associate Professor at Graduate Institute of Animation and Film Art, Tainan National University of Arts, Taiwan. And he is also a visiting researcher in Department of Media and Image Technology at Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Polytechnic University. He received his Ph.D. in Knowledge System Science from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2008. His research interests include computer graphics, computer animations, haptic interface, virtual reality, kansei engineering, and biometrics. He is a member of the IEEE, IEICE and SIG-Design Creativity
Ashu Marasinghe
Ashu Marasinghe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Information Systems Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Japan and visiting Professor at International University of Japan. Prof Ashu obtained his B.Sc. degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, M.Sc. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Aizu, Japan and Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Aizu in 1997, 2001, and 2004 respectively. He has worked in the University of Aizu, Japan. Prof Ashu`s research interests are: Engineering Management, Construction Management, Intelligent Control System, Multi Agent System, Ubiquitous System, Social Informatics, and Kansei Engineering. Prof. Ashu served as a General Chair in several International Conferences include ICBAKE 2009, HC-2008, KEAS`08, CDG`08, KEIS`06
Prabath Weerasinghe
Prabath Weerasinghe is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Management and Information Systems Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Japan. He received a master in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Aizu, Japan. He received a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He has worked as a Teaching Assistant, The Graduate Department of Information Systems, The University of Aizu, Fukushima, Japan. He has worked as a system engineer at NS Service CO., LTD. in JAPAN from 2007-2010. He was a Research Assistant, The Graduate Department of Information Systems, The University of Aizu, Fukushima, Japan. His current research interests include mobile Computing, HCI and empowering collaborative virtual environments with emotions
R.P.C. Janaka Rajapakse
R. P. C. Janaka Rajapaksha is an Associate Professor at Graduate Institute of Animation and Film Art, Tainan National University of Arts, Taiwan. And he is also a visiting researcher in Department of Media and Image Technology at Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Polytechnic University. He received his Ph.D. in Knowledge System Science from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2008. His research interests include computer graphics, computer animations, haptic interface, virtual reality, kansei engineering, and biometrics. He is a member of the IEEE, IEICE and SIG-Design Creativity
Ashu Marasinghe
Ashu Marasinghe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Information Systems Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Japan and visiting Professor at International University of Japan. Prof Ashu obtained his B.Sc. degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, M.Sc. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Aizu, Japan and Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Aizu in 1997, 2001, and 2004 respectively. He has worked in the University of Aizu, Japan. Prof Ashu`s research interests are: Engineering Management, Construction Management, Intelligent Control System, Multi Agent System, Ubiquitous System, Social Informatics, and Kansei Engineering. Prof. Ashu served as a General Chair in several International Conferences include ICBAKE 2009, HC-2008, KEAS`08, CDG`08, KEIS`06
