Conversing with Objects toward Fluid Human and Artificial Identities during Life Transitions

TL;DR

This study explores how conversational agents can help individuals during life transitions by enabling them to interact with objects that embody their memories and identities, fostering emotional reflection and support.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of 'trans-embodiment' and provides empirical insights into designing chatbots that role-play objects to support identity reflection during transitions.

Findings

Participants experienced emotional reflection through object conversations.

The 'trans-embodiment' concept links human and object identities.

Three object identity types inform chatbot design.

Abstract

People's identities change during life transitions, e.g., studying abroad. They bring everyday objects that embody memories and reflect their identities during such moves. To assist in these transitions, we ask how people's human identities could be influenced by their objects through an artificial agent. This paper presents an exploratory research-through-design study around how people undergoing life transitions experience conversing with their everyday objects through a chatbot. Drawing on a two-week field deployment and interviews with 12 participants, we contribute (1) a conceptualization of 'trans-embodiment' describing the asynchronous imagination of object and human identities on the chatbot, (2) empirical evidence of the resulting emotional and reflective experiences, and (3) three types of object identities for designing conversational agents that role-play objects. Our contributions sum up to triangulating human-agent-object identity as trans-embodiment in supporting life transitions.