Votes go to Morphed Images that look most like the Voter, finds Study

"Facial Identity Capture and Presidential Candidate Preference" by Jeremy N. Bailenson, Shanto Iyengar, and Nick Yee of the Department of Communication, Stanford University concludes with the startling revelation that the 2004 US elections could have gone a different way if Kerry had been using facial identity capture software.

'By altering pictures of Kerry and Bush to capture features of potential voters, we manipulated the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election,' say the authors. 'We utilized pixel blending software to examine facial identity capture, making one person’s face appear more similar to someone else’s.'

One week before the 2004 presidential election, participants completed a survey of their attitudes concerning George Bush and John Kerry while viewing photographs of both candidates side by side. For a random one-third of the subjects, their own faces were morphed with Kerry while unfamiliar faces were morphed with Bush. For a different one-third, their own faces were morphed with Bush while unfamiliar faces were morphed with Kerry. The remaining one-third of the sample viewed un-morphed pictures of the candidates.

Participants were more likely to vote for the candidate morphed with their own face than the candidate morphed with an unfamiliar face. The use of facial identity capture was sufficient to change the outcome of the presidential election by a double-digit margin, according to a national random sample.

"Facial Identity Capture and Presidential Candidate Preference" was presented at the 55th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association.

Associated Link: Facial Identity Capture and Presidential Candidate Preference

Why 'The 10 Commandments of Web Design' are Complete Baloney
Source: SitePoint, 5 July 2008
 
Further to our earlier discussion...

Local Council Websites: Good, but no Cigar
Source: Webcredible, 4 July 2008
 
The 'Local Council Websites: Good, But No Cigar' report evaluates the top 20 Socitm council websites against 20 best practice usability guidelines.

Why does the OK Button say OK?
Source: Gerry McGovern, 3 July 2008
 
Most times I come across the OK button, something not-OK has happened.

The 10 Commandments of Web Design
Source: Business Week, 2 July 2008
 
To try and make sense of it all, BusinessWeek.com canvassed a broad range of Internet luminaries to discover the design rules they live by right now.

Bill Gates' email rant at the Usability Team
Source: Crunch Gear, 1 July 2008
 
The Seattle P-I has tracked down an old e-mail from 2003 that Bill Gates sent out to members of the Windows Usability team.

Can a better User Experience also be a Greener Experience?
Source: Catalyst Resources, 30 June 2008
 
By improving the user experience of its web collaboration software, Catalyst made it easier for clients to work in productive teams without travelling the globe.

The Spread of Telepresence Technology
Source: Tech News World, 28 June 2008
 
Rising energy costs and green concerns are fuelling a huge increase in demand for videoconferencing, collaborative software and virtual telepresence technology.

UK Usability market worth more than £200 million by end of 2008
Source: eConsultancy, 27 June 2008
 
The UK Usability market will grow by an estimated 20% in 2008 to a value of £214 million, according to research published this week by e-consultancy.

Research suggests growing importance of Usability to UK Businesses
Source: Business Strata, 26 June 2008
 
Integrated software for lead generation and marketing is valuable, but only as long as it's usable.

Web 2.0: Too Smart by a Half?
Source: Computer Technology Review, 25 June 2008
 
Will the Web 2.0 generation’s epitaph be, “They died with their options open?”