Projects

The Project

Role: Primary Investigator

Funding: ASU Herberger Institute/ Conoscente Network

Team: Dr. Thomas Seager (Co-Pi), Bonnie Eckert (Co-PI), Ian Shelanskey (Developer)

Summary: sideCoach is a digital communication tool for coaching public speakers. The tool provides the ability for instructors to instantly send information to a small screen visible by the presenter based on audience feedback being reported on a web application accessible with a smart phone. During a presentation, the audience reports their level of engagement with the

speaker by moving a large slider to the right to indicate ‘really engaged’ and to the left to indicate ‘not

engaged’. This data is instantly aggregated and made available to the instructor’s tablet which also features a text input tool and a series of customizable buttons that send text and graphics to the speaker.

The System

Data on user engagement levels is received from a JavaScript app accessible to smart phones connected to a local network. The processing of data and GUI are developed in Touch Designer and Python which broadcasts video and audio to a speaker through the RTSP that can be received by iPads running an RTSP player. The system can receive multiple camera and audio feeds that are recorded and composited with the instructor feedback and audience engagement levels. The system is still in development as we are currently working on a motion capture and sound analysis component that can analyze and coach posture and gesture as well as cadence, pitch, and rhythm in realtime.

sidecoach

Digital tool for science communication

User Interface

Stills