Description
Attractive user applications and services are a prerequisite for Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) and other image-based mobile messaging technologies to generate expected revenue for operators. One solution are new, easy-to-use, simple composition tools, which allow users to compose personal messages that integrate text, images and moving imagery to express personal and emotional messages and content. For a busy user on the move, composing such messages should require minimum time and effort.

The Expressive Messaging (ExMS) project investigated what people expressed in their text and image based messages. The project was not connected to any specific platform, standard, terminal or user interface style. Instead, it tried to understand broader practices and needs of the users when messaging tools shift from text-only to multimedia content.

The project designed and prototyped a composition tool in a PC environment, which allowed users to quickly arrange character-based animated clips sequentially into small micro-movies, and add text elements to them. The test persons could send these micro-movie messages to their peers.

The ready-made animated clips used in the ExMS tool can be viewed at ExMS' web page. For more details on the ExMS application, see publications below.

The project included PC-based user tests of the ExMS tool in 2002. During three weeks, eleven 17-year old teenagers exchanged 222 animated messages via their PCs. Notifications of new messages were given on mobile phones, but the users had to access ExMS messages through their home or school computers, due to technical reasons.

The interplay between text and animation allowed the test group to create significantly expressive messages. Many messages told micro-stories about fictitious and real events. Users identified with their characters and were proud of their embodied representation. The content of the messages deepened during the course of the study. Results of the field trial can be found in publications below.

Project activities:

• Pre-study: existing expressive messaging practices and focus groups on potential new messaging applications.
• Prototyping: feature design, interaction design and implementation (JAVA)
• Field trial: identify appropriate user group, setup, data collection and analysis
  

Results (involving me):
Persson, Per (2003) ExMS: an Animated and Avatar-based Messaging System for Expressive Peer Communication, Proceedings of GROUP 2003 conference, Sanibel Island, Florida, Nov. 9-12, 2003, pp. 31-39.

Persson, P., Karlgren. J., Korhonen, P., Galore, J., Tierney, M., Redmon, C., Hemanus, J., Lönnqvist, P., & Laaksolahti, J. (2001) Expressive Messaging on Mobile Platforms, Proceedings of Cast01, Bonn, Germany, September.