Pattern 32: Avatar
 AKA:

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You are trying to add THE HUMAN TOUCH (30).

Users get lost and confused. What is the best way to provide help and guide them round the site?

Therefore

If the cost of doing so justifies it create a friendly guide. If a key business objectives is to project a high-tech image and/or be ultra-friendly, or if the content of the site is very complex, then use artificial intelligence techniques and consider an animated talking head.

This pattern is terminal within this language.

Contributors and sources
The concept of avatars on the web originated in science fiction (Stephenson, 1992) a few years before companies like British Telecomm built the first prototypes.

Discussion - forces - known uses

The best way is to keep the site simple, but when this is not possible and you need to impress users with your technical sophistication (provided that the business objectives so dictate) or highly complex content then consider converting the help system into an animated guide using sound or animations.

An avatar should not only move and lip-synch but contain a mental model of the user’s current knowledge and task. Artificial intelligence techniques are required for this. However, this isn’t as difficult as it sound since there are several rule engines available as Java components.

Microsoft’s Intellisense™ wizard’s are simple examples of avatars but much more is possible and software to help with the task is also available. For example, Curious Labs’ Avatar Lab™ enables the creation of articulated, bendable, 3D characters for use in exploring Adobe Atmosphere™ worlds. It contains libraries of pre-made heads, hands, torsos, legs, feet, hair, and props. With this software you can create custom avatars, bring them to life, and use them to explore and communicate with others in online worlds. Your web avatar can even have your own face from a front and side photograph. The avatar can be rotated and viewed from any aspect. A free trial can be downloaded from

http://www.curiouslabs.com/products/avatarlab/index.html

where the above image was taken from.

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