Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.
Agneta and Frida reacting to the site of a film production company.
A second set of behaviors / comments was of a more general nature, un-
related to content or user's activity in the information space. This included
blinking, picking noses, going to the toilet / kitchen, drinking coffee or gen-
eral gossiping about uncle Harry and Miss Andersson (the owner of a repul-
sive poodle that often enters Agneta and Frida's back yard, and about which
they occasionally fantasize killing). These would be triggered at certain inter-
vals when there were no other behaviors running. This set of behaviors was
included to create more lively characters, with lives independent of the hap-
penings in the browsing session. We wanted to avoid the impression that the
behaviors were only automatic reflexes of user's actions. Some behaviors in this
category reoccurred now and again (e.g. blinking, yawning and sighing).
In both behavior types, Agneta and Frida spoke English with exaggerated
Swedish accents (the Swedish Chef of
The Muppet Show
acted as our leading
inspiration here). As we aimed for users between 15 and 30 years of age, the
webpagecontents,thecommentariesaswellasthejokesofAgneta&Frida
were all scripted with that age group in mind.
The user could regulate the intensity of Agneta and Frida's behaviors.
Through a pop up menu, the user could set the level of activity (0-5), which
in different degrees disconnected some behavior and defined the time interval
between the remaining ones. The way to access this menu and the other fea-
