[News Digest] 12.06

Virtual Faces Created With Emotions, Moods and Personality

University of Balearic Islands (Spain) (12/04/08)

A computer model that can display emotions and moods based on facial expressions has been developed by researchers from Spain's University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).  The researchers used the personality trait research of American psychologist Albert Mehrabian to create the model, and developed algorithms to quickly generate different facial expressions.  The system uses the MPEG-4 video coding standard to create images, and is capable of displaying basic emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise.  "The aim of this work has been to design a model that reveals a person's moods and displays them on a virtual face," says Diana Arellano, an author of the study from UIB's Computer and Artificial Intelligence Graphics and Vision Unit.  An automatic recognizer was able to identify 82 percent of the expressions generated and a group of UIB students successfully recognized 86 percent of the emotions and 73 percent of the emotional states shown on the computer.  "Our next step is to leave the MPEG-4 standard aside and concentrate on a high-quality generic network, which will enable the inclusion of both wrinkles and eye, eyelid and head movements, as well as synthesize the voice," Arellano says.  The researchers believe the computer model could be used by virtual tutors, presenters with personality traits, and in video game characters or interactive stories that have their own emotional motor.
http://www.alphagalileo.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=readrelease&releaseid=534454&ez_search=1

Learning By Blogging

ICT Results (12/03/08)

European researchers working on the Intercultural Learning Campus (iCAMP) project have developed software that connects student blogs and social software tools to create a collaborative virtual learning environment.  The learning environment enables university students and educators to work together on structured learning projects from any location on any kind of networking system.  ICAMP researchers say the tools and learning approaches created by the project will revolutionize how higher education institutions operate.  "It could change higher education completely," says iCAMP project coordinator Barbara Kieslinger of the Centre for Social Innovation in Vienna, Austria.  "If it would really take off, it would lead to a democratization of these institutions."  Kieslinger and colleagues at more than a dozen universities worked to narrow the divide between existing educational software tools and the social software commonly used by students.  Early in the project, team members determined that blogs would be the basic building block of the project.  As a result, the researchers developed Feedback, interoperable blog software that enables blogs and bloggers to easily communicate with each other and manage automatic feeds and updates.  The project also created the iLOGUE tool, which structures self-directed learning by guiding students through the steps of specifying a learning contract, setting goals, identifying resources, and maintaining a learning diary.
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm/section/news/tpl/article/BrowsingType/Features/ID/90256