The Affective PDF Reader

Abstract: The Affective PDF Reader is a PDF Reader combined with affect recognition systems. The aim of the project is to research a way to provide the reader of a PDF with real - time visual feedback while reading the text to influence the reading experience in a positive way. The visual feedback is given in accordance to analyzed emotional states of the person reading the text - this is done by capturing and interpreting affective information with a facial expression recognition system. Further enhancements would also include analysis of voice in the computation as well as gaze tracking software to be able to use the point of gaze when rendering the visualizations.The idea of the Affective PDF Reader mainly arose in admitting that the way we read text on computers, mostly with frozen and dozed off faces, is somehow an unsatisfactory state or moreover a lonesome process and a poor communication. This work is also inspired by the significant progress and efforts in recognizing emotional states from video and audio signals and the new possibilities that arise from.The prototype system was providing visualizations of footprints in different shapes and colours which were controlled by captured facial expressions to enrich the textual content with affective information. The experience showed that visual feedback controlled by utterances of facial expressions can bring another dimension to the reading experience if the visual feedback is done in a frugal and non intrusive way and it showed that the evolvement of the users can be enhanced.