HCC: Small: Conversational Agents in Web-Based Consumer Environments Designed for Older Users

在美国，只有35%的老年人（65岁以上）使用互联网，与90%的19-29岁的成年人使用互联网的事实相比，这反映了基于年龄的数字鸿沟。该项目将通过一种新颖的方法来解决这一鸿沟，该方法采用会话代理技术来减少在基于网络的消费环境中阻碍老年用户的关键认知和社会心理障碍。该项目的目标是扩大日益增长但代表性不足的老年人对互联网技术的参与，这是一种可以显著提高他们生活质量的媒介。这一目标与以人为中心的计算目标密切一致，即通过开发能够意识到使用者的能力和特殊需求的系统来改变人机交互体验。对动画教学代理的研究揭示了代理在学习和动机方面的有效性。然而，以前没有研究项目调查过如何设计代理技术来促进老年人的自主性和赋权，特别是在基于网络的消费者环境中，涉及多维信息处理和复杂决策。为了解决研究中的这一关键空白，本项目将系统地调查智能体与老年用户交互的三个方面：1)控制点（智能体与用户），2)交互风格（功能与关系），以及3)交换方式（单模态语音vs单模态文本vs双模态语音+文本）。这项研究计划将采用多阶段、混合方法的方法，包括第一阶段的定性研究，以及随后阶段对400多名老年用户进行的一系列对照实验。本研究的目的是考察agent-user交互在三个方面的有效性：1)减少认知障碍（减少信息负荷，增加导航便利性，增强信息搜索和检索便利性），2)减少社会心理障碍（增强控制和效能，增加信任，增强社会支持感知），3)增加互联网技术使用意图。实验研究将进一步确定用户的性别、视觉或听觉障碍以及先前的互联网能力是否与agent-user交互的三个方面相互作用，从而影响期望的结果。该项目的研究结果将产生新的知识，即如何设计采用对话代理的多模式系统，以满足老年用户的能力和特殊需求，从而为这一信息技术中代表性不足的人群带来潜在的变革和赋权体验。老年人越来越多地发现参与基于网络的消费环境（例如，网上银行、购物、交易、旅游预订）的必要性。虽然代理在这些领域的功能值得研究，但这个项目更广泛的意义在于它能够为其他应用程序（如向老年人提供重要健康和医疗信息的网站）的代理中介接口的开发提供信息。项目团队从一个原型系统中收集的轶事证据揭示了这项技术对老年用户的变革潜力。这项试点研究由奥本大学外展办公室资助，已将该项目的影响扩展到阿拉巴马州的选民。除研究外，外联工作还将作为一项重要任务，向地方和国家各级的利益攸关方传播该项目未来的研究结果。为了提高研究和教育的多样性，该项目还将涉及更多来自阿拉巴马州周边县的非裔美国人（AA）研究参与者，并积极参与AA研究生，他们已经是PI实验室的一部分，以实现该项目的教育目标。该项目将通过向计算机科学和消费者事务的研究生提供跨学科研讨会课程，进一步加强两个学科的研究和教育基础设施，以提高未来研究人员对人类如何感知和使用诸如对话代理之类的计算工件的理解。

Only 35% of seniors (over 65 years of age) in the U.S. use the Internet, reflecting an age-based digital divide when compared with the fact that 90% adults in the ages of 19-29 use the Internet. This project will address this divide through a novel approach that employs conversational agent technology to reduce the critical cognitive and social-psychological barriers hindering older users in web-based consumer environments. The goal of this project is to broaden the engagement of the growing yet underrepresented senior population in Internet technology, a medium that can dramatically improve their quality of life. This goal closely aligns with the human-centered computing objective of transforming the human-computer interaction experience through the development of systems that are aware of the abilities and special needs of people that use them. Research on animated pedagogical agents has revealed promising results on the effectiveness of agents in learning and motivation. However, no previous research program has investigated how agent technology can be designed to promote autonomy and empowerment in the older population, particularly in web-based consumer environments, involving multi-dimensional information processing and complex decision-making. To address this critical gap in the research, this project will systematically investigate, three aspects of agent interactions with older users: 1) locus of control (agent vs. user), 2) interactional style (functional vs. relational), and 3) modality of exchange (unimodal-voice vs. unimodal-text vs. dualmodal-voice + text). This research program will apply a multi-phase, mixed-methods approach involving qualitative studies in the first phase, and a series of controlled experiments with over 400 older users in subsequent phases. The purpose is to examine the effectiveness of the three aspects of agent-user interaction in: 1) reducing cognitive barriers (reducing information load, increasing navigation convenience, enhancing information search and retrieval ease), 2) reducing social-psychological barriers (enhancing control and efficacy, increasing trust, enhancing perception of social support), and 3) increasing Internet technology use intent. The experimental studies will further determine whether users' gender, visual or hearing impairments, and prior Internet competency interact with the three aspects of agent-user interaction to affect the desired outcomes. The findings from this project will generate new knowledge on how multimodal systems employing conversational agents can be designed for the abilities and special needs of older users leading to a potentially transformative and empowering experience for this underrepresented population in information technology.Seniors are increasingly finding the necessity to engage in web-based consumer environments (e.g., online banking, shopping, trading, travel reservations). While the functionality of agents in these domains merits examination, the broader significance of this project lies in its ability to inform the development of agent-mediated interfaces for other applications such as websites that provide important health and medical information to seniors. Anecdotal evidence gathered by the project team from a prototype system has revealed the transformative potential of this technology for older users. This pilot research funded by the Office of Outreach at Auburn University, has extended the impact of this project to constituents in the state of Alabama. In addition to research, outreach will also serve as an important mission in the dissemination of future findings from this project to stakeholders at local and national levels. With the goal of enhancing diversity in research and education, this project will also involve a greater representation of African-American (AA) study participants from surrounding counties in Alabama, and actively engage AA graduate students, who are already part of the PI's lab in the educational goal of this project. This project will further enhance the infrastructure for research and education across two disciplines through an interdisciplinary seminar course will be offered to graduate students in computer science and consumer affairs to enhance the understanding of the future researchers on how humans perceive and use computing artifacts such as conversational agents.