CHEIRO Francis Lam Sociable Media Group MIT Media Lab

Abstract People use text to communicate in online spaces because of its directness and ease of use. However, we are unable to convey many social cues and communication nuances by text. Our question is how to enhance the richness and expressiveness of text, so that we can have an expressive and intuitive online environment for textual communication. Cheiro is a chat space offering a novel form gesture-enhanced textual communication over the computer-mediated environment. It provides an intuitive interface for turning the form of text into an expressive visual medium; it is an experimental arena for exploring the relationships between gestures, emotions, and visuals. Design Process - Cheiro Chair for ChitChatClub (ISEA 2006) - Cheiro 2.0 - 8/26/06 - Anthropomorphic Typography - Keyboard as visual instrument - Experimenting with force fields - Cheiro 1.0 - Experimenting with carton characters and smiley faces User Study - A study of emotive mouse gestures (2/27/06) Downloads - Cheiro Poster: img1 - Cheiro V.2 : img1 - AnthroText (an interactive installation): site - Anthropomorphic Typography : img1 - The making of Anthropomorphic Typography : img 1, img 2 - Cheiro V.1 : img1, img 2, img 3 { Francis Lam 2005 - 2006 }