David M. Grayson
Abstract
Mutual gaze is an important conversational resource, but is difficult to provide using conventional video conferencing equipment due to the disparity between the position of the camera and the position of the eyes on the screen. Various elaborate inventions have been proposed to get around this problem but none have found wide use. The alternative explored here is that these expensive alternatives may be unnecessary. Users of conventional desktop video equipment may, under the right conditions, be able to learn to interpret what is at first sight inappropriate apparent gaze direction as signalling that the other person is "looking at me."Data are presented from two experiments where an estimator judges where a gazer is looking. The gazer may be looking either at the desktop video image of the estimator or some point to the side. Experiment 1 compared two image sizes and two camera positions. While the size of the image (352 × 288 pixels versus 176 × 144) had no significant effect on participants' ability to judge where the gazer was looking, horizontally offsetting the position of the camera inhibited performance. Experiment 2 examined the effect of reducing the image size further. The smallest image size (88 × 72 pixels) resulted in poorer performance than the intermediate (176 × 144). The results show that it is possible for users of low cost desktop video conferencing to learn to interpret gaze direction to a very high degree of accuracy if the equipment is configured optimally. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
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Index Terms
- Are you looking at me? Eye contact and desktop video conferencing
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Reviews
Fjodor J. Ruzic
Gaze awareness-an important issue in interpersonal communication-is dealt with in this paper. Implementing eye-contact and gaze perception in videoconferencing systems is seen as necessary for practical and theoretical experiences in sociology and psychology. The authors analyze two experimental models, concluding with a discussion of the results. The discussion is followed with the argument that videoconferencing users do use some spatial models when conversing normally face-to-face, and these models make the association more natural when they come to the video mediated context. It is found that when there is a need to test the hypothesis, users routinely construct a spatial model of a video conferencing set up. The authors also point out that videoconferencing participants need to understand that a video image signifies that someone is looking at them. This work is another contribution to the research in gaze awareness for videoconferencing. Since every videoconferencing system consists of two main elements-the electronic components and the environment in which these components are located-the architectural space consisting of the size, shape, lighting, sound, and materials of the environment is critical. Some techniques, such as Hydra, are intended to preserve the unique personal space that participants occupy in face-to-face meetings with video surrogates, and each participant is presented with a unique view of each remote participant. The net effect is that conversational acts, such as gaze and head turning, are preserved because each participant occupies a distinct place on the desktop. However, this paper is focused only on screen size impact, and it is the basis for further research in this field. Online Computing Reviews Service
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