Simulating Chat room/Instant messaging (case 493)

[ecl05002]

Hi,
I've been trying to use Medialab to simulate either a chat room or instant messenger program that has a participant interact with a fictitious other. I've seen the question brought up several times on the forums, so I was wondering if anyone had any experience with trying to execute such a task and how they went about doing it. Thanks in advance for any and all help!

[jarvis24]

Did you find a link that was more or less in the direction you are trying to go? Maybe start with that as a reference point (just post it here in a reply) and we can go from there. I know usually we end up discussing embedded web apps, custom items and whether or not the discussion between participants is real or fabricated.

[ecl05002]

Hi,
For the most part I only found users asking how to create simulated chats, but the conversation didn't seem to get much further from there. I know there is one sample task out there (http://www.empirisoft.com/Support/showthread.php?t=789) but I was hoping for more of a conversation between the participant and a fictitious other than this task provides. If there are other links on the forum that would be great! Otherwise, I'm aiming to simulate just a short conversation between the participant and a fictitious other, preferably utilizing custom items but web apps are a possibility. Thanks again for your help.

[erinmbrown]

Hi!

I read through this thread and was excited to see that someone else was trying to figure out the same thing-- how to simulate an online chat room. I noticed though that the thread was left kind of open-ended. Was anyone ever able to figure out how to simulate an online chat room? I also read that there were instructions in German on how to do such a thing. Was there an English version?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Erin

[jarvis24]

Depends on what kind of simulation you are trying to do. If the participant is real (a good chance, no?) and you are trying simulate chat with that individual, it's certainly much trickier. i.e., much trickier than a participant simply watching simulated chat between two or more "virtual" subjects.

[erinmbrown]

hi--

I am trying to figure out how to simulate chat between a real individual and a virtual individual, so it looks like it is the trickier of the two options you mentioned. Still possible?

[Farid]

Depends on what kind of simulation you are trying to do. If the participant is real (a good chance, no?) and you are trying simulate chat with that individual, it's certainly much trickier. i.e., much trickier than a participant simply watching simulated chat between two or more "virtual" subjects.

Hi, can you please advise on how I can get participants to watch a simulated chat between two or more virtual subjects? Ideally, I'd like to run this study online, perhaps through Qualtrics. But I'm open to any means possible. Hope someone can help.