Designing 'Little Red Sprite': Avatar as Researcher

This paper provides a summary of the design and iteration of a visual agent, an avatar representing the researcher. With the main functional goals of prompting and eliciting information from remote respondents via a chat/social medium, issues such as trust and rapport were addressed. Little Red Sprite, an avatar, was created to act on behalf of and as a representation of a remote research team, as an intermediary and focal point for information exchange within the context of a diary study on daily financial transactions. Design was founded upon principles of engagement, assistance, and trust, taking the form of a 'cute' inquisitive alien. The character, as judged by participant feedback and project data collection goals, was successful in this context and raised questions about appropriate agent design, remote rapport and relationships with avatar representations.