Hello everyone!
My name is Chee Eun Ahn.
On behalf of my co-authors, I am here to share our paper on enhancing animal live streaming
experience through voice message-based real-time viewer-animal interaction.
Animal live streaming is a live streaming genre that is gradually receiving a greater
amount of attention from the Korean public.
In this type of live streaming, streamers broadcast their pets or other animals in real-time
to their viewers.
The unique part about animal live streaming is that it has three stakeholders: the viewer,
the streamer, and the animal.
Many tools have been developed to support viewer-streamer interactions, but not much
are applicable to viewer-animal interactions.
In this study, we touch upon this relatively unexplored area.
We investigate how giving animal live stream viewers the option to engage in viewer-animal
interaction in the live stream affects the live streaming experience for the human and
non-human stakeholders.
As for the animal, we specifically look at the domestic cat.
Because non-humans and humans have different cognitive and physical abilities, the viewer-animal
interaction system should have one interface specialized for the non-human cat, and one
specialized for the human viewer.
The design of the non-human cat interface was based on these requirements.
One, the cat interface must take the physical and behavioral traits of domestic cats into
account.
Two, the cat interface should allow the cat user to “naturally engage with their environment
through unmediated, direct contact and manipulation”.
The design for the human viewer interface was based on these requirements.
One, for a more engaging viewing experience, the viewer interface should give real-time
visualizations that give additional information about the live stream in addition to what
is captured by the streamer's camera.
Two, donation is very often related to enhancing viewer-streamer relationships and even fuels
the viewers' desire to connect with the cat during cat live streams.
Based on these design requirements, we devised MeowPlayLive,
a live streaming tool that enables real-time viewer-cat interaction through voice messages
in cat live streams.
When the viewer pays a certain amount of tip and uploads a voice message to the cat through
a personal device, the voice message is visualized by creating
a virtually moving object rushing across the tablet screen so that the cat would be able
to recognize it.
If the cat manages to tap the voice object on the tablet screen, the viewer’s voice
recording will start playing.
If not, the voice object will simply move across the tablet screen.
At the same time, the viewers would obtain information about where the cat tapped on
the screen, receive a congratulatory message, and be able to hear the voice recording being
played to the cat through the live video as well, giving a sense that the interaction
is two-directional.
As an additional feature to keep the cat motivated to observe the tablet screen, draggable empty
voice objects, or objects which resemble voice objects but do not contain any voice recordings
will be moving back and forth across the tablet screen.
To figure out the effect of MeowPlayLive on the overall cat live streaming experience
for the three stakeholders, a within-subjects user study was conducted.
Live stream viewer participants of the user study were limited to adults who regularly
watch Korean online cat videos but have minimal experience in watching cat live streams.
For the streamer and the cat, one Korean cat-owner pair was recruited.
In order to minimize the cat's stress levels as much as possible, the live stream was filmed
in the living room of the cat owner's home.
Following the local COVID-19 safety precautions, the author and the cat owner wore masks at
all times and used hand sanitizers whenever necessary.
In the user study, the viewer participants were asked to view in total two cat live stream
conditions.
In the control condition, viewers were asked to watch the cat live stream through a customized
Youtube Live webpage with existing Youtube Live features.
In the MeowPlayLive condition, viewers were asked to use MeowPlayLive system in addition
to the Youtube Live features.
To minimize the order effect, the viewer participants were counterbalanced by creating two viewer
groups.
After each live stream, the viewers were asked to fill out an online survey and evaluate
their live stream experience.
After being exposed to two live stream conditions, one-to-one online in-depth interviews were
held for each viewer participant.
The cat owner who played the role of the streamer was also interviewed to find out how using
MeowPlayLive affected the live streaming experience from the streamer's point of view.
A list of questions was developed to assess the enjoyment levels, willingness to participate,
immersion levels, degree of togetherness with the cat in the live stream, and the extent
to which the viewer felt emotionally attached to the cat.
The viewers assigned a score for each question item on a five-point Likert scale, with 1
being the lowest score and 5 being the highest score.
Scores for each of the three question items were averaged to get the overall score for
the assessment category.
Here are the results of the user study.
The following graph gives a summary of the viewer survey results.
Participation and togetherness scores were significantly higher for MeowPlayLive conditions
than those of control conditions.
Thematic analysis of viewer's in-depth interview data also yielded notable results.
Many viewers put effort into getting noticed by the cat by actively recording and sending
voice messages to create large voice objects.
Some viewers strategically increased their donation amount and spent large amounts at
one go after noticing that the cat responds better to bigger voice objects.
The real-time donation leaderboard and real-time visualization of other viewers' actions in
MeowPlayLive resulted in viewers competing with one another and thereby becoming active
participants in the cat live stream.
Design factors of MeowPlayLive led viewers to develop ownership toward the voice object
that they sent to the cat.
The propensity to project a part of themselves to the voice object motivates the viewers
to concentrate on the live stream content and thereby anticipate experiences that evoke
a sense of gratification, or simply put, a sense that they won something during the viewer-cat
interaction process.
MeowPlayLive enabled viewers to see where the cat is touching on the tablet screen and
the cat's behavior at the same time, thereby inducing a feeling that they are actually
with the cat.The viewers' ability to hear their voice messages being played when the
cat taps on them in real-time also played a major role in amplifying the sense of being
together with the cat and other viewers.
MeowPlayLive led viewers to anticipate a positive outcome to the extent that they felt happy
thinking that the cat might notice their voice and gave them great joy when their expectations
were met.
This point can be also noticed through the comments viewers left on the live chat when
the cat consecutively tapped the voice object multiple times in a row.
Enhanced enjoyment levels in MeowPlayLive condition led viewers to feel emotionally
closer to the cat.
After the live stream session, the streamer accounted for the positive change in cat behavior.
She explained how the cat seemed to be less stressed than usual after experiencing the
viewer-cat interaction.
Even during the live stream, MeowPlayLive turned out to be a great way to entertain
the cat and gave the cat the opportunity to spend a good time with his owner.
Observations made during the cat live stream sessions in which the cat interacts with the
viewers through MeowPlayLive voice objects inspire the owners to develop a deeper understanding
about their cat, re-think their methods of taking care of their cat, and put effort into
creating a better environment.
User study results bring about a couple of design considerations.
The uncertainty of the cat's response towards the moving voice objects motivates viewers
to engage in the live stream in complex ways.
Furthermore, viewers developed a stronger emotional attachment towards the cat in the
live stream with MeowPlayLive as the cat was the ultimate decision-maker in the interaction.
To create enjoyable and engaging animal live streaming experiences that benefit all stakeholders,
designers should pursue animal-driven viewer-animal interaction by bestowing the animal stakeholder
the authority to lead the interaction.
MeowPlayLive empowers each viewer with the ability to control the content of the voice
recording, the voice object size, and the timing in which the voice object is displayed
on the cat interface.
Perhaps it would be more interesting for the viewers if functions for remote viewer-viewer
collaboration were supported by the live streaming platform.
For example, the live streaming system could have options for the viewers to synchronize
their actions and take action when the cat is engaging in a certain type of activity
in order to win a chance to grab the cat's attention.
MeowPlayLive gave viewers the sense that they have the power to contribute to and modify
the live streamed content through participation.
We suggest that live streaming system designers should evoke the feeling that the non-human
stakeholder is aware of the viewers and their actions for enhanced viewer-animal interaction
experience in the context of animal live streaming.
Designers should put effort into devising ways to recognize each viewer individually
in real-time without harming the animal in any kind of way.
Simultaneously, the animal should have the freedom to participate in or opt out of the
viewer-animal interaction whenever the animal wants to.
Live streaming is originally intended for human streamers and human audiences.
In our design of MeowPlayLive, we modify the traditional live streaming format so that
the system supports remote human-animal interaction in an animal-friendly manner.
However, a few challenges remain.
First, there is a possible risk that the animal is exploited for financial gain as viewers
have to make donations to interact with the animal.
Animal-centric live streaming systems must protect animals from potential risk factors
through moderation systems.
Second, it is difficult to determine whether the non-human stakeholder is truly enjoying
the live streaming experience.
ACI researchers should look for opportunities to collaborate with animal behavior research
experts and together develop guidelines that accurately measure and evaluate animal user
experiences.
In conclusion, we explored the effect of supporting viewer-animal interaction on the animal live
streaming experience.
We hope that the outcomes of this study can be used as a source of inspiration not only
for designing systems or devices that specifically encourage viewer-animal interaction in animal
live streams, but also for conducting further studies on digitally mediated remote human-animal
interaction.
Beyond ACI, we aspire to promote designers to explore various ways to render live streaming
more engaging for the viewers.
This is the end of our presentation.
Thank you for your attention.