This article focuses on human-computer
interface design based on the skills of human conversation. The metaphor of
face-to-face conversation has been applied to human-computer interface design.
Some of the features of human-human conversation being implemented in this new
genre of embodied conversational agent. Embodied conversational agents also
bring a new dimension to discussions about the relationship between emulation
and simulation, as well as to the role of foundational principles in interface
design. Embodied conversational agents represent a new slant on the argument
about whether it is wise to anthropomorphize the interface. Researchers should
be encouraged to develop embodied conversational agents to address the adequacy
of their theories of human behavior when implementing effective interfaces.
Properties of human conversation which had to be modeled for the systems are
synchronization, function rather than behavior, multithreadedness and
entrainment. Another factor motivating interface designers to develop embodied
conversational agents is the increasing computational capacity in many objects
and environments beyond the desktop computer, such as smart rooms and
intelligent toys, in environments as diverse as military battlefields and
children's museums.