{"id":1100,"date":"2012-07-04T14:30:33","date_gmt":"2012-07-04T14:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doc.gold.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=1100"},"modified":"2014-07-04T14:35:15","modified_gmt":"2014-07-04T14:35:15","slug":"groundbreaking-video-communication-brings-groups-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.doc.gold.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=1100","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking video communication brings groups together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever noticed how webcams and front-facing cameras on mobile phones never catch us at a flattering angle? Do you yearn to be able to view more than just a face on the monitor with friends and family? Would it not be great to interact as if you were there with them in person?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"VideoComms\"<\/p>\n

Since February 2008, the \u2018Narrative Interactive Media<\/a>\u2019 (NIM) group from the Department of Computing – along with esteemed industry partners (including BT, Alcatel, Philips and board game manufacturer Ravensburger) – has been examining the potential of video technology in supporting group-to-group communication. An \u20ac18m project, TA2 looks at how video technology could improve social relationships and connect groups across different locations.<\/p>\n

More cameras, better interaction<\/strong>
\nIndeed, the limitations of single-camera communication are self-explanatory. Whether you\u2019re on a PC, laptop or tablet, you\u2019re pretty much rooted to the spot \u2013 you have to place yourself in the frame of the camera. If you wander out of view, you\u2019re out of view. The setup of the cameras in TA2 provides, in addition to the standard front-facing camera, auxiliary cameras that zoom and move to follow the action.
\nIncorporating best practice from the world of TV and film production, TA2\u2019s cameras transmit images imitating how human attention would direct the experience. It is this \u2018communication orchestration\u2019 where Goldsmiths brought expertise to the project.<\/p>\n

Marian Ursu, who leads the NIM group, explains: \u201cObviously neither the cameras nor the editing can be human-controlled because they have to work as we interact. Also, we have to create a slick communication environment where everyone in the room is for all intents and purposes an active part of the interaction.\u201d This requires some degree of intelligence to be embedded into the system such that orchestration decisions can be taken automatically. \u201cYou can think of this as the brain of the system,\u201d says Marian, and \u201cwe lead the project\u2019s research at this end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Frantzis, an expert in video narration and researcher in the NIM group, explains how this works. \u201cIf this were film or TV production we would have a cameraman and a director, but we do not have that luxury. Instead, primitive spatial audio and visual information is used as a basis for the automatic inference or information on, amongst others, who is in frame, when they are talking, who is talking to whom, keywords in their speech and their visual focus on attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call these social or conversation cues\u201d adds Martin Groen, a Computer Scientist working in Artificial Intelligence now a Psychologist, whose role in the team is to identify and define these cues. This information is in turn interpreted and transformed into decisions regarding camera choices and screen editing.<\/p>\n

To develop software that can carry out such processes is an extremely complex, demanding and difficult task, and NIM has five Computer Science Researchers dedicated to it: Manolis Falelakis, Pedro Torres, Spiros Michalakopoulos, Notis Gasparis and Vilmos Zsombori. They are exploring ways in which knowledge can be expressed and worked with by computers and at the same time ways in which this could work sufficiently fast and reliably to be effective for communication mediation.<\/p>\n

More than just a chat<\/strong>
\nFor anyone wondering why board game designers Ravensburger were listed as a corporate partner of TA2, things are about to become clear. \u201cTA2 is not about just having a cup of tea and a chat,\u201d explains Marian. \u201cWe thought that when people get together normally they have activities to engage with, such as sharing pictures or playing games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed the experimental trials saw two groups of participants split into one of two locations \u2013 the NIM Lab, in Richard Hoggart Building, and the Goldsmiths Digital Studios, in the Ben Pimlott Building \u2013 with the groups battling it out in a game of Pictionary. Each team was made up of two people, one in each room, with the opposition trying to distract the person communicating the picture to their teammate.<\/p>\n

There were three sessions for each group, each 30 minutes long: one with a fixed front-facing camera only, one with an orchestrated video (the editing was done by humans for these trials), and one where the camera editing was random, but respected the rhythm of the human editing. 39 Goldsmiths students participated in these trials over three days.\u200c<\/p>\n

Orchestration trials produce a world-first<\/strong>
\nThis was the first time end user trials for orchestrated multi-camera video communication between social groups in separated locations have been conducted.<\/p>\n

Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to assess the experience. The quantitative measure \u2013 the number of accurate and inaccurate guesses analysed in the context of the overall number of turns \u2013 brought noteworthy results, showing that there were there were significantly more accurate guesses, and significantly fewer incorrect guesses in the orchestrated trial than the other two conditions. \u201cThis means the information flowed better with orchestration,\u201d says Marian.<\/p>\n

Marian was less enthusiastic, but still very optimistic, regarding the results from the qualitative measure \u2013 the Independent Television Commission \/ Sense of Presence Inventory \u2013 a validated questionnaire assessing the subjective experience of participants, developed by the Department of Psychology\u2019s i2 group. The questionnaire, although providing no statistically significant differences between the three conditions, showed participants\u2019 slight preference for the fixed-camera condition. Marian says \u201cIt was a shame the orchestration didn\u2019t come out as significantly better. As someone from the team put it: \u2018Orchestration is good for you even if you don\u2019t like it!\u2019 And we are confident that with some immediate improvements to the technology we will get there in the next set of trials.<\/p>\n

Taking it to the next level<\/strong>
\nThe NIM Group is confident that the groundbreaking work undertaken in the project provides a solid theoretical and empirical foundation for improving social relationships and connecting groups across different locations.<\/p>\n

Indeed, TA2\u2019s findings will provide the basis for the group\u2019s next EU collaborative project, entitled \u2018VConect\u2019 – Video Communication for Networked Communities \u2013 set to get underway in December this year.<\/p>\n

Marian sets the scene: \u201cVConect builds upon two of the most significant achievements of the current Internet: video conferencing and social networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will make social networks as flexible and engaging as chatting face-to-face to a group of friends. It will allow us to see what’s really happening, to know who is hurting and who is laughing. It will allow us to see the real drama, let us be part of the most rowdy crowds or talk quietly to a lonely friend.\u201d<\/p>\n