ChatAmp: Talking with Music and Text

Current systems for synchronous, text-based communication offer more varied interactions than e-mail, but cannot easily convey non-verbal or emotional information in an unobtrusive and intuitive manner. In this report we introduce ChatAmp, a new chat system which incorporates music as a central part of social interaction. Music is used in order to create an unobtrusive ambient soundscape that gives information about conversational activity and emotion using changes to instrument behavior. This soundscape acts as a peripheral channel to let a multitasking user monitor the conversation while focused elsewhere without being interrupted by jarring alert sounds. By combining this with non-sequential visualization which groups all of a user's activity in his area of the screen, ChatAmp provides "at-a-glance" information through both auditory and visual channels. Informal user tests support the effectiveness of integrating music and conversation in achieving the goals above and suggest directions for further research.