Reading #24: Games for Sketch Data Collection

COMMENTS ON OTHERS:

            Hong-Hoe (Ayden) Kim

SUMMARY

              This paper presents a multi-player sketching games to capture a data corpus of hand-drawn sketches and player-provided descriptions from many users on a wide range of subjects. Two systems with distinct game mechanics are described: Picturephone and Stellasketch. Picturephone has three primary game modes: draw, describe, and rate. Players are randomly assigned one of these modes. Stellasketch is a synchronous, multi-player sketching game similar to the parlor game Pictionary. One player is asked to make a drawing based on a secret clue. The other players see the drawing unfold as it is made and privately label the drawing. While Picturephone’s descriptions are meant to be used to recreate a drawing, Stellasketch’s labels simply state what the sketch depicts. Labels are timestamped, so they can be associated with sketches at various stages of completion.

The characteristics of the two games’ data differ. While Picturephone’s sketches are complete at the time when others describe them, a Stellasketch drawing is labeled as it is made. Furthermore, Picturephone descriptions are generally longer and in approximately complete sentences, but Stellasketch labels are often short noun-phrases. Because a Stellasketch drawing is labeled as it is made, players usually furnish multiple interpretations, and there is often significant agreement among players. Agreement indicates those interpretations are more ‘correct’. Sometimes labels cluster into more than one group. While Picturephone supports people to play at their own rate, a game of Stellasketch requires several people to play at the same rate. 

DISCUSSION

            This paper has presented Picturephone and Stellasketch, two sketching games for collecting data about how people make and describe hand-made drawings.