[stcredzero]

I tried some experiments like this between hackerspaces in Austin and Houston. What I found is that there is little engagement, unless images are "eye level" and at the apparent size of a present person. I'm not sure how well this would work with video chat on the desktop.

[JCzynski]

When actually interacting directly is not the point, it's pretty effective.

[stcredzero]

In that case, let's save some bandwidth and just synthesize the facial expressions. Mostly, it would be work/concentration, with occasional glances of affection towards the "viewer." Of course, we'd probably get this slightly wrong, fall into the uncanny valley, and everyone would be left with the subconscious impression that everyone else hates them, and furthermore is actually an alien doppelganger posing as a an actual human. (Or that everyone else is a grievously defective human who needs to be shunned/euthanized for the good of the species.)

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Sounds like an accurate description of a few places I've worked.

[XorNot]

I've been curious about what the bandwidth would be like to image recognize my facial expression, encode it and then just send the event stream to a virtual avatar.

[moe]

:)