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，这反映了基于年龄的数字鸿沟，而19-29岁的成年人使用互联网的比例为90%。该项目将通过一种新的方法解决这一鸿沟，该方法采用对话代理技术，以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不断增长但代表性不足的老年人口对互联网技术的参与，互联网技术是一种可以显著提高他们的生活质量的媒介。这一目标与以人为中心的计算目标密切一致，即通过开发意识到使用它们的人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显示，代理在学习和动机方面的有效性方面有很好的结果。然而，以前没有研究项目研究如何设计代理技术来促进老年人的自主性和赋权，特别是在涉及多维信息处理和复杂决策的基于网络的消费者环境中。为了解决研究中的这一关键差距，该项目将系统地调查代理与老年用户交互的三个方面：1)控制点(代理与用户)，2)交互风格(功能与关系)，以及3)交换方式(单模式语音与单模式文本与双模式语音+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，以及在后续阶段对400多名老年用户进行的一系列对照实验。研究的目的是检验主体-用户交互的三个方面的有效性：1)减少认知障碍(减少信息负荷，增加导航便利性，提高信息搜索和检索的便利性)，2)减少社会心理障碍(加强控制和有效性，增加信任，增强社会支持感)，3)增加互联网技术的使用意向。实验研究将进一步确定用户的性别、视觉或听力障碍以及先前的互联网能力是否与代理-用户交互的三个方面相互作用，以影响预期的结果。这个项目的发现将产生新的知识，即如何为老年用户的能力和特殊需求设计使用会话代理的多式联运系统，从而为信息技术领域这一代表不足的人群带来潜在的变革性和赋权体验。老年人越来越发现参与基于网络的消费环境(例如，网上银行、购物、贸易、旅行预订)的必要性。虽然代理在这些领域的功能值得研究，但该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)提供代理中介接口的开发提供信息。项目团队从原型系统收集的轶事证据揭示了这项技术对老年用户的变革潜力。这项由奥本大学外联办公室资助的试点研究已将该项目的影响扩大到阿拉巴马州的选民。除了研究之外，在向地方和国家各级的利益攸关方传播该项目未来的调查结果方面，外联也将是一项重要的任务。为了增强研究和教育的多样性，该项目还将让更多来自阿拉巴马州周边县的非裔美国人(AA)研究参与者参与进来，并积极吸引已经是PI实验室一部分的AA研究生参与该项目的教育目标。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的基础设施，以加强未来研究人员对人类如何感知和使用诸如对话代理等计算人工制品的理解。

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.