Simulating Chat room/Instant messaging (case 493)

[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?

[jarvis24]

How would you know how to simulate the replies in advance of the conversation (e.g., the real participant asks "what do you like to eat?" kind of thing). Or were you thinking of something simpler? Like having virtual third party who says "Please tell us your names--Player 1?" Real person types "Bob" and virtual subject types "Ed". i.e., so the questions are known in advance hence the answers can be prepared also in advance. Or something like that..!

[erinmbrown]

Hi!

We were thinking that the computer would act as the third party and be the one to ask the participants the questions like you mentioned. How could that be done? is there a code/formula that can be put into MediaLab to do that?

[erinmbrown]

Hey--

Sorry to bother you with the same question again, but I was wondering if you had had the chance to read my last comment/question about how to program MediaLab so that the computer can act as the third party that asks the other two participants (real people) questions?

Thanks! I appreciate it!

Erin Brown

[lilliancz]

The attached experiment builds on Rene Kopietz's sample javascript chat window.

This sample provides a Qualtrics task on the left side and a chat window with canned messages on the right side. The participant feels like he/she is participating in a chat while completing the Qualtrics task. The responses.xls file contains all of the canned messages. The chat.html file references the responses.xls file for which messages to display. The chat.html file contains javascript that makes the chat "feel" real - with different timing for each chat message and real time updating of the chat window when the subject types something in. You'll need to update the CSS file to fit your screens if the formatting looks weird.

More info on Qualtrics integration here:
http://www.empirisoft.com/support/sh...ight=qualtrics

MedialabChatSimulation.zip

[jason_reed]

Thanks for these files, lilliancz!

[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.