Considering remote collaboration and the problems of video conferencing, I developed a new environment for video chat.

 

Instead of trying to portray participants in full detail, I propose reducing them to line drawings and removing extraneous information. The video would focus on facial expressions and main features. Using Processing and Kinect to control this prototype, the user must remain within a certain range of the camera inorder for their image to be displayed. If anything is too far back or far forward, its image will not be rendered.

In order to keep speakers mentally engaged, the background could shift according to the mood of the collaboration. Different sensors measuring brain activity, speech content, facial expressions, or skin conductance could help achieve this effect.

 

This combination of complex backgrounds and simple character portrayal is commonly used in comics (Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics). Readers self-project onto the simply-drawn character, while complex environments provide visual interest. Using this technique in video conferencing will hopefully create empathy and connections between collaborators, while avoiding conflicts in sensory information.