PIXEE: pictures, interaction and emotional expression

An interactive system, PIXEE, was developed to promote greater emotional expression in image-based social media. Images shared on social media were projected onto a large interactive display at public events. A multimodal interface displayed the sentiment analysis of images and invited viewers to express their emotional responses. Viewers could adjust the emotional classification and thereby change the color and sound associated with a picture, and experiment with emotion-based composition. An interdisciplinary team deployed this system around the world to explore new ways for technology to catalyze emotional connectedness. This paper describes the system, design iterations, and observations about how people used it for self-expression and connection.