Information Technology Reference
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of a Web experience can be recalled and reasoned about in narrative terms. Di-
alog with the character is a way to maintain persistence of memory, and to
draw relationships between what was encountered, what is being examined,
and what future options might be appropriate.
Our experiments examine both aspects of communication. Isbister's guide
focuses on the social context for presenting an environment to the user; Doyle's
guide constructs a narrative structure for the museum pages it visits. Both
improve the user's communication with the Web.
The experiments
Each of us has independently embedded characters in the Web to examine the
usefulness of our ideas. Both characters serve as guides and companions to
users exploring an entertaining or educational environment.
In order to foster communication, both of us have chosen characters that
are not at all photo-realistic. Simplified characters with exaggerated features
and gestures are easier to “read” very quickly, and to interpret (Thomas & John-
son 1981). Cartoon characters take advantage of stereotypes about personal
characteristics, as well as about how to express various emotions and attitudes
(Blair 1994). They can act as social signifiers very quickly because of this, rather
than requiring a long period in which one “gets to know” the character.
Cartoon-style characters also typically tend to display only very simple and
obvious motivations and reactions to situations. In this way they are well-
suited to the limited interactivity that the current Web environment could
provide for engaging with them. By using simple characters, we set up expec-
tations for simple interactions with them about their environment and about
themselves.
Kyoto digital city tour guide
Isbister is currently part of a team that is building a digital version of Kyoto,
Japan (http://www.digitalcity.gr.jp). This online city is meant to be an evolving
resource both for outsiders and for Kyoto residents. One of Isbister's tasks is to
ensure that the Kyoto digital city will be an inviting place for real people to use.
As a visitor herself, she is focusing on making the site approachable and engag-
ing for outsiders who might someday want to visit Kyoto. To help accomplish
this, she is creating an agent-led group chat tour of the city. The tour will be
