Mini-Symposium “Artificial Creatures”, May 13
To finalize her graduation project, Media Technology student Danica Mast organizes a mini-symposium with two presentations about “Artificial Creatures”. The mini-symposium is open to all, and free of cost. Students in the Media Technology programme are urged to attend.
Confirmed speakers are:
Danica Mast (Media Technology MSc programme, Leiden University)
“Assessing children’s experiences with active and passive artificial companions”
My research investigates the difference between children’s experiences with active (Furby) and passive (plush animal – Little Donkey) artificial companions and how they place these creatures in their world. My paper gives an introduction to the field of artificial companionship, similar studies are discussed and two case studies were conducted to come up with a research method. An experiment was conducted with 4 kindergarten classes. The experiment included observations, (group) questionnaires and a card sorting task. Results showed that children saw Furby more as a real animal than a plush animal, but this didn’t make the creature more interesting on the long term. The electronic features of Furby are interesting at first encounter but wear off quickly, the expectations that the features of Furby create cannot be fulfilled, creating disappointment. In the end most children liked Little Donkey (passive artificial companion) better than Furby (active artificial companion).
Dr. Joost Broekens (Man-Machine Interaction Group, TU Delft)
“Artificial emotions: Why?”
In this short talk Joost will explain why research is done into the area of artifical emotion (also called synthetic emotion). He will show examples of applications, as well as some of the underlying theory.
When: Wednesday May 13, 15h30 – 17h30.
Where: Gravensteen building, room 11. Pieterskerkhof 6, Downtown Leiden.
