Education and Training Delivery comes alive with Virtual Avatars.
With Broadband becoming the standard access to the Internet in all four corners of the world, the benefits possibilities utilizing rich media and interactivity in marketing are starting to become a reality if not the norm. One of the most active areas is in the so-called Animated Avatars know by many names such as: Talking Web Characters, Virtual Representatives, Virtual Characters and Web Compares. Their popularity growing every day, it’s not by accident, one critical reason is… “they work” ..
If you are trying to make your site or media composition stand out from the crowd what better option is there than an audio visual compare. Complex products and service are much easier to convey using the spoken word, visitors can simply sit back and absorb the information … it’s what the media industry calls “lean back marketing”.
It’s a proven fact that in an educational setting information retention and concentration is improved when compelling content is used. What therefore are the key elements when selecting your animated web character.
The Avatar Look: Is your talking web characters “attractive”, or does it look as though it has fallen out of the ugly tree, is it well crafted and generally compelling, or amateurish and poorly animated. Does it suit your image … is the quality something you are comfortable associating with.
Automated Lip-Syncing: Is the avatar lip-sync accurate? there is nothing worse than watching a virtual representative that resembles a badly dubbed movie, it is critical, our brains react in micro-seconds when faced with something that doesn’t look right! It seems bizarre but most animated talking character offerings have less than convincing lip-syncing to say the least. Simple tests include; Does the virtual representatives lips stop moving when silent? Does it shape the phonemes correctly or is it just a random selection of gibberish?
Ambient animation during delivery: Some offerings out there have adopted the “toy” approach to avatar control, the visitor can move the mouse left, right, up and down and the eyes and sometimes the head follow the pointer, that’s great as a “toy” but it dramatically detracts from the “message”. How can a viewer be expected to absorb the information from your narration, if they are poking the character with the mouse and trying to get it to cross its eyes. Virtual Compares are serious tools, yes they can make you smile, and yes there is definitely a “novelty” factor, this is one of animated web characters strengths. Remember the primary purpose is to put over your message and help you stand out from the crowd. If you wish to be humorous put it in your script, then you are in control of the delivery. All animations should be kept to a minimum to avoid distraction. Less is definitely more.
Virtual Spokesperson – The Sound of the Voice: Does the avatar sound machine processed, or does it have a real voice, do you find text to speech audio realistic and convincing, most people don’t! Text to speech may seem convenient but in general it sucks! Remember! this is a virtual representative, your own animated web or media compare it is an extension of your image, unless you sound like a robot steer clear of synthesized voices. TTS may improve in the future but as of now it just brings a smile followed by a cringed to most people’s faces. Use your own voice, or a friends, or shell out for a professional voice over artist, they are not as expensive as you think!
Avatar Tailoring: You want your visitor to start building a rapport with your virtual web character, changing its looks continually does not offer continuity to your visitor, most of us like familiarity. Changing the complete character works better. Try and restrict tailoring to clothing and backgrounds for the best effect.
Integration and Hosting your Talking Avatar: Give a great deal of thought to this area as its rife with potential additional charges and risks. If you are on a Pay-for-view contract, a contract that charges you a monthly fee for so many streams, the risk is your growth in visitation, you end up with one of two potential problems; you have to pay more because you had a higher visitation as your site grows in popularity, or, you can’t afford to pay more, so your talking avatar disappears and leaves a block with the suppliers logo in place. The same goes for supplier hosting, you have no control over their hosting facility, if you rely on your web compare and your service suppliers servers go down you have lost your “voice”. If you own internet service goes down at least the whole site is no longer visible. Always try and use a solution that will give you total control, create your composition in your time, generate industry standard output (Flash, Flash Video or conventional Video ) and have total flexibility when it comes to integration.
Flexibility gives your choice: Is flexibility important, would it be nice to have access to the native output of your efforts in an industry standard format such as Flash, Flash Video, AVI etc so you could integrate your work into other environments such as Powerpoint, Camtasia, youTube, eBay etc. Are there any other services that can assist you from the supplier such as Voice-Overs, integration and bespoke services. Can your composition work off-line, can you create them off-line. Flexibility adds to the return on your investment.
Summary: Implementing a Animated Web Character badly is detrimental and could reflect on your business, it pays to take your time in the creation and don’t settle for second best. Remember your future could depend upon it.
A new face on Education Delivery: Avatars are excellent for online education. They provide the human interaction that is natural in classrooms and in the traditional learning environment. Virtual Teaching Avatars provide a face to the students. They also provide the human element to online teaching. It’s a proven fact that rich media education delivery and in particular that produced using an animated virtual teacher has a higher level of retention, complex information is much easier to convey and absorb when delivered using the spoken word, add into the mix a compelling animated tutor significantly enhances the compelling nature of the subject material. Un-attended education across the web or operated locally makes virtual education delivery highly effective and manageable, available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It’s no coincidence that the uptake and adoption of virtual teaching methods can be found in all corners of the education field, from the junior and pre-school nursery to the marble corridors of the corporate giants, they have all seen and experienced the power of compelling media delivery. Education creators can concentrate on the subject matter and choose the ideal Virtual Tutor to assist in the process. Virtual Teachers can be available in different forms. Technology at its best, with a face and a purpose. Take a PowerPoint presentation, graphs, facts, figures and images, nice enough, add a virtual full animated teacher into the mix and you now have a new breed of educational delivery. Available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, with the same happy disposition; virtual, animated, automated lip-syncing and compelling content combined with contextual delivery brings a new voice to education.
Tagged with: alteregos • animated talking heads • animated web characters • avatars • cbt • computers • education • online training • talking web characters • v • virtual eductaion • virtual representatives • virtual spokesperson • virtual teacher • virtual tutor • Web Design
Filed under: Web Design
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