Transcript BT/PACCIT Event London, 13 Oct 2005

Making Learning Fun
E-Drama Project
On-line dramatic improvisation (role-play) with
Artificial Intelligence enhancements
John Barnden, University of Birmingham
Amanda Oldroyd, BT Group CTO
Jemima Cattel, Hi8us Midlands Ltd
Jonnie Turpie, Maverick TV Ltd
Presentation Structure
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Introduction
Benefits of software
AI developments
User study feedback
3D interfaces
Insights
Introduction: What is E-drama
In this presentation, e-drama means dramatic improvisation or role-play where
the actors don’t work on a real stage but instead sit at computers and operate
virtual on-screen characters. Actors type in “speeches” which are shown in
speech bubbles. There is usually also a director who sits at another computer.
from a version
of the edrama
system from
Hi8us – already
a proven tool
Usually a
loose scenario
is specified,
such as a
School
Bullying
scenario,
or an
educational
scenario
(History,
Science, etc.)
Seminar Themes Addressed
 Making learning more motivating and fun
 Challenging game-like activities
 Creativity
 Various types of hard-to-reach learner, and
shy or disaffected learners
 Next-generation e-learning resources
The Point of E-Drama
 Complements the use of live improvisation
in learning and creativity.
 It is anonymous and therefore less
intimidating, and also more motivating:
 92% of school students in recent test found
edrama less nervous-making
 81% found it more enjoyable overall
 Beneficial for emotionally difficult topics.
Plan of Rest of Talk
 Directorial interventions
 Desirability of semi-automating them
 Current developments towards this
 Points from recent user-testing
 More advanced graphics
Directorial Intervention
 Director can intervene to keep the drama on
fruitful tracks,
incl. with regard to expressed emotions.
 Director can send (written) messages to all
actors or “whisper” to an individual one.
 Director can introduce a bit-part character
such as a policeman to stir the action up.
A Reason for Directorial Intervention
 Emotional and other “affective” expression is
inappropriate, excessive or lacking.
-- Swearing or out-of-character rudeness
-- Excessive anger or hostility
-- Lack of expected hostility
-- Lack of expected embarrassment
-- Lack of expected concern about someone’s
emotional state
Artificial Intelligence and Human-Language
Processing
 Problem: demands on director are substantial.
 Partial automation would be beneficial.
 We are implementing
 automated detection of affect (e.g., emotion), hence
 automated directorial interventions, incl. introduction
of automated affect-sensitive bit-part characters
 Will allow more widespread and untrained use.
 Scalability, distributed interaction
Artificial Intelligence, contd
 The automation is not intended or
expected to make the overall
experience better.
 It would be a good result if it made it
not too much worse!
Automated Bit-Part Character
 EmEliza is our first research-prototype program
for operating an automated affect-sensitive bitpart character:
 It detects affective aspects of the other characters’
speeches, makes certain types of inference, and
makes short response speeches.
 Operating in our demo here.
EmEliza – A Bit-part Character Actor
Human-acted
character
EmEliza’s perception
of that character
I am scared of Mayid. He
is a bully.
I can't move my legs
and it's killing me! boo
hoo *cries*
I am going to hit you.
[A LITTLE BIT SCARED]
[VERY SCARED]
[A LITTLE BIT THREATENING]
EmEliza’s
character’s
replies
Why not let your mum
talk to his parents
Oh, dear, Please be
more brave. Help will be
here soon.
You look like a real
trouble maker.
User Testing: Pilot Run
Swanshurst School, Birmingham, May 2005
 Methodology:
39 subjects were involved
over two days.
Each of them participated in
both of the two selected
scenarios, namely
School Bullying and
Crohn’s Disease,
with/without EmEliza.
One Result:
Nobody suspected
that (sometimes) one
bit-part character was
computer-operated.
Some Preliminary User-Testing Results
 When a certain character “Dave” was played by
EmEliza:
 Little effect on the proportion of (other) actors who
regarded Dave as being poorly played.
 NB: substantial effect on various other measures and
on actors’ comments.
Having EmEliza as Dave, contd.
 Did raise the proportion of actors who got
bored from 9% to 18% …. BUT
 Reduced the proportion of actors saying
they disliked playing their own character
from 24% to 12%.
 Raised the proportion of actors who wanted
the improv to be longer from 74% to 88%.
Adding 3rd Dimension
 Dealing with sophisticated user groups:
 Experience with gaming technologies
 High expectations
 3d characters and customisation
 3d virtual environments
Realtime 3D Rendering
 Virtual world rendering
architecture (TARA):
realtime 3D engine for
avatars and backgrounds
 3D virtual characters with
customisation and
animation libraries
Expressive Behaviour - Demeanour System
 Generating expressive body language
for virtual characters in order to create
emotionally richer on-line experiences
 Behaviour is generated based on a
set of parameters representing
emotion, mood, personality etc.
 Customise characters’ behaviour in
advance.
Automated Behaviour linked to profiles
 Profiles related to the key
character types in the roleplay structure
 Each avatar animates
automatically in response to
other characters
 No user intervention
required during role-play
profiles
Main
characte
r
Friend
Arbitrator
Antagonist
Bit-parts
Review
 Hi8us edrama is already a proven tool, used by a
range of users in a range of settings.
 Building on established role-play techniques – online.
 AI enhancements provide the opportunity to enable
more widespread and untrained use.
 3D enhancements build on existing software to
provide a richer user experience with low overhead.
Benefits of E-Drama:
from Learner Point of View
“It was really fun and a
change from ordinary
activities to help
understand bullying and
diseases”
“I preferred using this to having a
conversation face to face because you can
almost ‘hide’ behind the character”
Benefits of E-Drama:
from Teacher Point of View
 Releases learner creativity, free
from peer pressure
 Encourages learner involvement
 Motivates study of the included
background material
 Low overhead for teachers to
become proficient in running
sessions
It’s fun for the teacher too!: can be guide, actor or director
Seminar Themes Addressed
 Making learning more motivating and fun
 Challenging game-like activities
 Creativity
 Various types of hard-to-reach learner, and
shy or disaffected learners
 Next-generation e-learning resources
Thank you
Questions
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/edrama/