Influencing Participation in Group Brainstorming Through Ambient Intelligence

Abstract

Drawing on concepts from theories on persuasion, social psychology, and philosophy of language, this article presents the design of an ambient persuasive system that acts as an automatic facilitator by supporting a balanced flow of communication in group conversational activity. The system includes two main components: (a) a context-awareness system that monitors group member non-verbal behavior, and (b) a visualization component that promotes balanced participation, providing targeted directives to participants through peripheral displays. In two empirical studies, a strategy for influencing participant social dynamics based on subtle directives in the form of aesthetically pleasant visual animations was assessed. The findings provide insight on the effect, the acceptability, and the perceived influence of subtle peripheral persuasive messages for ambient displays. The studies indicate that when the participants understand the message intention, the subtle directives have a positive influence on group behavior, and are considered more appealing and less intrusive than overt, language-based messages. Furthermore, it was found that personality traits influenced attitudes towards the system.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gianluca Schiavo

Gianluca Schiavo is a cognitive scientist with an interest in the design and evaluation of multiuser interfaces. He received his PhD from the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences at the University of Trento, Italy, and currently is a postdoc researcher with the Intelligent Interfaces and Interaction research unit at FBK-irst.

Alessandro Cappelletti

Alessandro Cappelletti is a technologist with the Intelligent Interfaces and Interaction research unit at FBK-irst. His main interests are sensor integration and algorithm development for intelligent interfaces, affective computing applications, and behavior analysis purposes.

Eleonora Mencarini

Eleonora Mencarini has worked as an interaction designer at FBK-irst and currently is a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Trento, Italy. Her main research interests are user-centered design, tangible interaction, and haptics.

Oliviero Stock

Oliviero Stock is the author of more than 250 peer-reviewed papers, mostly in intelligent user interfaces and related areas. He is an ECCAI and AAAI Fellow and has been an invited speaker at 80 conferences. Since 2012, he has directed the PerTe project concerning various aspects of intelligent persuasion technologies.

Massimo Zancanaro

Massimo Zancanaro is the head of the Intelligent Interfaces and Interaction research unit at FBK-irst. His primary interest is the field of intelligent interfaces, particularly the area of colocated collaborative systems. He also teaches Graphical User Interfaces Design at the University of Trento, Italy.