PASION IN A NUTSHELL

Current communication technologies are ineffective in conveying social, non-verbal and contextual information required for effective group interaction (result: poor performance).

The main goal of PASION is to achieve a more efficient, effective group interaction in mediated environment by:

– understanding and tracking group behavior,

– providing appropriate feedback services,

– developing technological substitutes for traditional ways of conveying social, non-verbal and implicit information.

PASION is focused on business and leisure oriented applications (collaborative work and social gaming) on mobile phone.

INTRODUCTION

The Pasion (Psychologically Augmented Social Interaction Over Networks Psychologically Augmented Social Interaction Over Networks ) Project is an European Union program under IST (reference number 27654 PASION) scheduled to run for four years (January 2006 - December 2009).

STARTING POINT

Today’s electronic communication media seem to have reduced the motivation for and the quality of social interaction. One of the reasons is that electronic media transmit too little: they are ineffective in conveying the subtle social and contextual information which plays such an important part in non-mediated communication. But another reason is that they transmit too much, they monopolize on users attention distracting them not only from the task-oriented purposes of social interaction but even from its socio-emotional implications.

Ever more frequently, social and particularly group interactions, involve mediated communication. Yet we know very little about the factors determining the effectiveness of the interaction. How do participants in mediated communication substitute the implicit, and non verbal signals which play such an important role in traditional, face to face communication? What are the equivalent signals in a mediated environment? The mechanisms involved in traditional communication are well-known. By contrast, very little is known about the forms of mediated communication. For instance, we do not know the role of implicit and non-verbal communication when the communication takes place in a mediated environment. We have a broad range of strategies to improve cooperation and performance in traditional groups (e.g. through training to improve group skills, games to increase motivation or to simulate a concrete activity). All of which raises a fundamental question: how can we change – and use - technology to facilitate technology-mediated group communication and to increase the effectiveness and performance of the group. It is this question which motivates the PASION project.

PASION STRATEGIC GOALS

PASION focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of goal-oriented groups engaged in social (many to many) communication, in mediated environments, with a particular emphasis on large groups in which communications are maintained on a long term basis (e.g. professional communities) creating a social network.

METHODOLOGY

To achieve this goal PASION will conduct basic research on patterns of mediated communication (on multiple time scales) within large, persistent social groups. This research will study the relationships between emotional and implicit communication in mediated communication, different patterns of group interaction and the performance of the group.

The group will work and interact within a Shared Virtual Environment (SVE) on mobile phone supporting the activities of users (e.g. collaborative work, gaming) and the many to many communications required by these activities. Within this environment, PASION will substitute the channels of non-verbal and implicit communication available in non-mediated communication with new forms of communications, appropriate to mediated environments.

PASION will provide means to monitor the behavior of group members and group dynamics on multiple time scales (short term inter-individual interactions, overall patterns of interaction during a meeting or a gaming session, long term trends in group “connectedness”). The system will construct synthetic indicators showing and comparing dynamics and indicators relevant to different time scales. Using this data, PASION will look at different strategies for providing feedback (including emotional cues), which improves the quality of group interaction.

APPLICATIONS

The system developed by PASION will be tested in two applications: social gaming and collaborative work. User communities will be able to use the normal functions provided in this kind of application (e.g.. collaborative tools, multiplayer games) which will be integrated in the SVE. The services offered by the SVE will allow users to conduct their normal activities with strategic support from PASION. PASION will be able to monitor and provide support for group activities (work, gaming) through “specific feedback strategies” based on the interpretation of the state of mediated social communication within the group.

COLLABORATIVE AND KNOWLEDGE WORK

Effective social communication within the team is a pre-requisite for effective brain-storming, problem-solving etc.. Studies have shown that non-verbal and implicit signals (e.g. smiles and frowns, signs of approval and disapproval) play an important role in facilitating group performance. This is especially important when: i) participants’ tasks are time critical and driven by deadlines, ii) the result or success of the work relies on the creativity of autonomous, but interrelated people, iii) there is a culture of co-operation and sharing of knowledge amongst people and iv) people are mobile and distributed. The lack of effective technology for conveying these signals is one of the key factors limiting the use of remote communications in business.

PASION’s primary goal in this area is to understand the factors that influence team performance during typical knowledge tasks (e.g. learning, knowledge transfer, brain-storming, product design) within a mediated environment. The second goal is to create an application that will facilitate these tasks, creating improved team awareness and contributing to the performance of organizations using the tools. In the final stage of the work, the team will use qualitative and quantitative techniques (group behavior in mediated environment tracking, ethnographic techniques, laboratory studies, etc.) to measure the effectiveness of the technology produced. Tools usually used by workers will be integrated in the PASION system and technologies and tools within the SVE will provide an additional channel for social group awareness trough the support of “specific feedback strategies”. A key goal is to support collaborative work with mobile devices. The development of the final mobile interface will allow the effective communication of the social signals as required by the tool design.

SOCIAL GAMING

The long term goal of PASION is to pave the way towards mobile games where the emotional state of a user can be communicated and manipulated as part of the game or experience. Social computer games will embed some of the variety and rich social interaction we see in the playground, but will attempt to capitalize on the affordances of mixed reality as a medium for bringing players together. The design and the evaluation of these games will be based on a sound theory of social presence that will cover the social effects and antecedents of social presence and co-presence. A second key goal is to support multi-player social gaming on mobile devices – an important market for the future which major manufacturers are only just beginning to explore.

PASION’s primary goal in this area is to understand the factors that influence gaming performance during typical tasks (e.g. competition, simulation, etc.) mediated environment. The second goal is to create an application that will facilitate these tasks, creating improved multiplayer-awareness and contributing to the performance of to be realized in the game. In the final stage of the work the PASION team will use both qualitative and quantitative techniques (group behavior in mediated environment tracking, ethnographic techniques, laboratory studies, etc.) to measure the effectiveness of the technology produced. Tools usually used by gamers will be integrated in the PASION system and technologies and tools within the SVE will provide an additional channel for enhancing social group awareness via “specific feedback strategies”. A key goal is to allow gaming on mobile devices. The development of the final mobile interface will allow the effective communication of the social signals as required by the tool design.