How can feelings be conveyed in network? - use of gestural animations as nonverbal information -

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the possibility of making use of gestural animations to convey feelings in asynchronous network communication. The chapter focuses on the expression of feelings through gestures for exchanging various types of nonverbal information, which constitutes a large part of human communication, and proposes to use it in network communication. For that purpose, the basic examination of expressing feeling through gestures has been done using animated cartoons. From this, it has been revealed that five types of gestures are distinguishable through the network in terms of conveyance of feelings. The intensity of feelings such as strong angry or weak angry has not been determined yet because the distinction was not known before in spite of the vague knowledge in everyday life. Subsequently, from the evaluation of the computer graphics mails, it has been revealed that gestural animations have an effect on mails. Although gestural animations are not real nonverbal behaviors, they have still been revealed to be useful. However, more effective communication can be achieved by using gestural animations.