Human-computer interaction, this term must not feel unfamiliar to you, but what human-computer interaction refers to may be a little difficult to answer. From the name point of view, the primary factor of human-computer interaction is "human", in the process of human-computer interaction, human unique emotional factors have a role that cannot be ignored.
Recently, the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Electronics Standardization Institute jointly led the development of the "Information Technology-Emotion Computing User Interface-Model", which is also the first international standard for human-computer interactive affective computing user interface.
I believe that you are also curious in front of the screen, how was you "calculated" by the machine?
The discipline of human-computer interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field of research concerned with the modes of interaction between man and machine, which focuses on all issues related to the design and implementation of interfaces between humans and computers. Systems can be a variety of machines or computerized systems and software. User interface usually refers to the part of the human-computer interaction process that is visible to the user, and the user communicates with the system through the user interface and operates. In 1995, Professor Rosalind Picard of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Media Lab first proposed the concept of "Affective Computing" and officially published the book "Affective Computing" in 1997. She defines "affective computing" as calculations that measure and analyze human external performance and can influence emotions.
Affective computing is the discipline that studies and develops systems and devices capable of identifying, interpreting, processing, and simulating human emotions. It is an interdisciplinary field that spans computer science, psychology, and cognitive science. The goal of affective computing is to create intelligent machines that can understand and respond to human emotions, thereby improving human-computer interaction and enhancing the overall user experience. It uses machine learning and natural language processing techniques to identify and extract emotional information from multimedia data such as text, audio, video, and more.
With the help of this technology, it can help people better understand and analyze human emotions and apply them to various fields such as marketing, healthcare, social media, psychology, etc. Affective computing can help companies understand the emotional needs of consumers and improve the quality of products and services, and can also help the healthcare industry understand the emotional state of patients and provide better medical services.
In June 2022, the international standard "Information Technology-Emotion Computing User Interface-Model", jointly developed by the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Electronics Standardization Institute and other institutions, was officially released, which is the world's first international standard on emotional interaction.
This international standard mainly specifies the framework, interaction model, emotional representation, emotional data, emotion recognition, emotion decision-making and other general functions and requirements for describing emotional interaction systems for emotion computing user interfaces, and expands into a series of standards to specifically study the formulation of such series of standards. The standard defines a general model for affective computing and describes how user interface standards for affective computing are defined and applied in a particular context.
The series of standards of affective computing user interface can promote the development and promotion of affective computing technology and improve the application value and reliability of affective computing technology. Specifically, the importance of affective computing standards is reflected in the following aspects:
First, the affective computing user interface family of standards can improve the accuracy and reliability of affective computing. Since affective computing involves multiple aspects such as language understanding, sentiment analysis and emotion generation, unified techniques and methods are needed to ensure the accuracy and reliability of affective computing. By establishing standards for affective computing, techniques and methods in the field of affective computing can be standardized, and errors and differences caused by different technologies and methods can be avoided.
Secondly, the series of affective computing user interface standards can promote cooperation and communication between different institutions and enterprises, and promote the development and application of affective computing technology. Emotion computing technology has a wide range of applications in different fields, such as market research, social media analysis, healthcare, etc. By establishing the standard of affective computing, it can promote cooperation and communication between different institutions and enterprises, promote the development and application of affective computing technology, and improve the application value and practicality of affective computing technology.
Finally, the series of standards for affective computing user interfaces can promote the integration of affective computing with other fields, and promote cross-field innovation and development. Emotion computing is closely related to natural language processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence and other fields, by establishing standards for affective computing, it can promote the integration of affective computing with other fields, promote cross-field innovation and development, and improve the application scope and level of affective computing technology.
The establishment of a series of standards for affective computing user interface is not only to standardize the application of affective computing technology in human-computer interaction, but also to improve the quality and user experience of human-computer interaction. In today's intelligent era, human-computer interaction has become an indispensable part of people's daily life. Emotion computing technology, as a technology that can help computers understand and express emotions, can further improve the effect and experience of human-computer interaction.
When developing the series of standards for emotional computing user interfaces, the developers not only considered the technical aspects, but also paid attention to the importance of user experience and emotional factors. They believe that emotion computing technology should be able to better understand the emotional needs of users, and enable computers to better communicate and interact with users emotionally through technical means such as sentiment analysis and generation.
In developing the standard, the framers also noted the impact of language and cultural differences on affective computing. Because there are differences in emotional expression and understanding among users of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, multilingual and cross-cultural aspects need to be considered to ensure the applicability and accuracy of the standard.
In addition to this, the developers also considered the convergence of affective computing with other fields to drive innovation and development across fields. Emotion computing technology has a wide range of applications in multiple fields, such as market research, healthcare, social media analysis, etc., so it is necessary to consider the integration of affective computing with other fields to promote innovation and development in related fields.
The formulation of these norms and standards will help promote the application and development of affective computing technology in the field of human-computer interaction, thereby improving the quality of human-computer interaction and user experience.
A sentiment computing user interface is a user interface that interacts with the emotional needs and emotional characteristics of the user. Its processing process includes the collection, recognition, decision-making and representation of emotional characteristic data. The user adjusts the emotion based on feedback provided by the emotion representation system and further interacts with the system. Emotion representations provide a unified description of emotions in the affective computing user interface.
The components of the affective computing user interface include four parts: the collection, recognition, decision-making and expression of emotion data. The collection of emotional data collects as much data containing user emotional information as possible through a variety of devices/sensors, including voice, expression, text, behavior, and physiological signals and other modal data, and the richness of effective data collected is the basis of emotional computing. Emotion recognition is the process of identifying user emotions by analyzing the patterns and laws of emotional data. Emotional decision-making refers to the emotion that the information system selects to express through the decision module based on the identified user emotion, so as to select the emotion to be expressed. Emotional expression is the emotion expressed according to the choice, and the emotion is transmitted and expressed to the user through the output device in different emotional presentation ways. The various components of the user interface are calculated through emotion, so that the cognitive space and the information space interact. Among them, the types of interaction can be divided into two types, one interaction is that the user points to the computation-based system, and the user enters the system. Another interaction is in which the compute-based system points to the user and provides feedback to the user on behalf of the system. Emotion representation provides the foundation for the four components of the affective computing user interface model.
The affective computing user interface is based on the user's needs and characteristics, personalizing the user's experience, so as to achieve a more harmonious human-computer interaction process. In the affective computing user interface system, the most important feature is to add the user's emotional (Affect) data to the interaction process, digitize the human emotion to analyze the user's emotional needs and behavioral preferences, and timely feedback to the user with "emotion".
In general, its essence is to make the computer more intelligent and efficient to understand human emotions, make the interaction mode more human-like and diverse, the interaction strategy more comprehensive and three-dimensional, the interaction feeling more warm and affinity, and build a more intelligent and harmonious human-machine environment.
At present, human-computer interaction has been widely used in intelligent service systems, smart homes, remote control robots and telemedicine industries. In the past, human-computer interaction was mainly to complete specific tasks and realize information exchange between users and computers, and there was a general lack of process of capture, recognition, understanding and feedback of users' emotions.
The formulation of affective computing user interface standards can promote the application and development of emotion computing technology in the field of human-computer interaction, through the accurate perception and analysis of user emotions and needs, the computer can better understand and perceive the user's emotions and needs, so as to provide more personalized and intelligent services and feedback, so that intelligent computers become more intelligent.
Whether it is social media, smart home or education and training applications, emotional computing technology can bring users more personalized, intelligent and naturalized services and feedback, so that we can feel more fun and convenience in life and learning, and help us better enjoy the process of life and learning.
For example, in the offline retail industry, retailers need to continuously improve the shopping experience of customers through innovative services, and the application of emotional computing in the retail industry is mainly focused on services that enhance the shopping experience, for example:
One night, a customer named "Lily" arrives at an electronics retail store and needs a new tablet. After entering the door, the salesperson received her warmly, began to introduce her to various models of tablets, and answered all her questions.
While talking about the features of different products, the salespeople noticed that Lily's tone was a little nervous, so they asked her if she had any special needs. Lily told them that she needed a tablet that would perform well so she could work remotely from home, and she was worried that the devices would be difficult to use because she wasn't very good at handling electronics.
Employees analyzed Lily's tone and rhetoric through affective computing technology and found that she cared deeply about the ease of use and operational complexity of the device. The employees decided to recommend Lily an easy-to-operate tablet, which they told her had a simple user interface and easy-to-understand guides. Lily was so grateful for the advice that she decided to buy the tablet. When she left the store, the salesperson used sentiment calculation tools to analyze her tone and expression and found that she was very satisfied and reassuring, which made them feel very satisfied.
In this story, the store successfully uses emotion computing technology to provide a more personalized and humanized service, resulting in a better consumer experience and further helping the store attract new customers, improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
At present, affective computing technology has become a hot topic in the field of human-computer interaction, which allows machines to "understand" human emotions and needs and provide better services and feedback. The formulation of international standards for human-computer interaction affective computing will provide an important guiding role for the application of affective computing technology and the development of industry, promote international cooperation and exchanges on the basis of promoting the innovation and development of technology and industry, improve the quality and reliability of technology and products, and provide support and reference for the formulation and implementation of policies and laws.
Think about it, maybe one day in the future, the intelligent system can provide you with "customized" services according to your mood, which is really a little exciting!
Author: Beijing Key Laboratory of Human-Computer Interaction, Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences