Paper Reading #19: Social signal processing: detecting small group interaction in leisure activity

Title: Social signal processing: detecting small group interaction in leisure activity
Authors: Eyal Dim, Tsvi Kuflik
Venue: IUI '10: Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces


Comments
http://shennessy11.blogspot.com/2011/04/paper-reading-19.html
http://angel-at-chi.blogspot.com/2011/04/paper-reading-19-tell-me-more-not-just.html


Summary
This paper was about the use of social signal processing to identify key social behavior elements in a given environment. Social signal processing hopes to be able to classify groups of individuals in different social profiles, and identify the best time to introduce social stimulus when interaction is lacking. This paper attempted to implement these ideas at a museum, as the authors postulate that social interaction at museums constitutes a significant portion of the learning experience for visitors. Their system allowed them to direct social interaction when necessary to improve the experience.

The authors observed 58 small groups of visitors at the Yitxhak Livneh-Astonishment exhibition at the Tel-Aviv Museum of Arts. Data collected included position proximity of group memebers and duration of voice interaction within 1 minute intervals. Proximity was rated as either separated, joined, or left. To the left is a picture of their voice detection application.


Discussion
While I thought this research was interesting, I think the factors that determine social interaction in a particular group should be considered fixed for the group's stay at the museum. The dynamics behind social interaction are complex and deep rooted. In order to truly make use of this data, I feel the authors would have needed to collect a great deal more information in order to identify those deep rooted variables, such as race, age, income, nationality and other demographics. Intervention based solely on proximity and voice activity of group members as observed for 10 minutes is insufficient both to justify intervention with regards to social interaction, or to justify filing a particular group as a specific profile.