AR AND CHAMBER MUSIC: MUSICAL KALEIDOSCOPE

DIGI-ORCH is a research project with objectives, on one hand, to design and develop "smart" brochures for concerts and educational programs of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki (Greece), and, on the other, to develop an innovative system for the visualization of information on smart mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). The application of Augmented Reality (AR) provides free access to the information and content of the above concerts and educational programs, combining the information of a robust data server and an easy-to-use user interface of the smart device in real-time.The pilot implementation of the system in real conditions took place at the beginning of December 2022, in an event held at the facilities of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki. The event was an evening of Chamber Music entitled Musical Kaleidoscope, with the internationally acclaimed artists Simos Papanas (violin), Dimos Goundaroulis (violoncello), and Vassilis Varvaresos (piano). They performed the Piano Trio no. 3 in G minor, Robert Schumann's opus 110, and the Piano Trio no. 2 in E flat major, Op. 100 D. 929 by Franz Schubert. The concert was attended by over 150 attendees.The paper will present the chaîne-operatoire of the development of the system, from the acquisition of raw data (text, video, image, and sound) to the methodology used to produce the "smart" event brochure and the AR application for the above concert. Essentially, this large amount of information that cannot be assessed by a regular printed concert brochure is included in the smart system and displayed on the mobile device when the user locates the appropriate AR patterns on the surface of the analog concert poster and/or on the pages of the brochure.This information comprised of ie. additional text and images about the composers and their musical projects, about the musicians of the concert (e.g. biographies), their interviews and rehearsals (video) before the concert, information about the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki (text, video, image, and sound), 3D models of musical instruments, 360° of the concert space, etc. diverse multimedia material.</p

Studying interaction density in co-design sessions involving spatial augmented reality

The participation of end-users in co-design sessions has always been challenging. Despite a long history of trials and research, finding the best way to go about this form of collaboration in early innovation phases is still an open question for many companies. At the cutting edge of innovation, design agencies are becoming increasingly involved in co-design today. Direct face-to-face collaboration with end-users is a key factor for the success of co-design, and ICT solutions must therefore allow active involvement of all participants and their direct interaction. This paper reports an original evaluation of a Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) environment dedicated to supporting co-design sessions. It investigates collaborative interactions and explores the role of design artefacts in the collaborative process. Observations of a conventional co-design situation are compared with those of sessions assisted by SAR technology. These two contrasting environments reveal both similarities and differences. The results show that within the SAR-supported environment there is an increase in end-users’ interaction density within the design activities. We observed that providing tangible artefacts augmented by digital content increased the density of interactions and encouraged greater sharing in co-design meetings.</p

A Composite Framework of Co-located Asymmetric Virtual Reality

As the variety of possible interactions with virtual reality (VR) continues to expand, researchers need a way to relate these interactions to users\u27 needs and goals in ways that advance understanding. Existing efforts have focused mainly on the symmetric use of technology, which excludes a rising form of interaction known as asymmetric VR, in which co-located participants use different interfaces to interact with a shared environment. There must be a clear path to creating asymmetric VR systems that are rooted in previous work from several fields, as these systems have use cases in education, hybrid reality teams (using VR and other technologies to interact online and face to face), accessibility, as well as entertainment. Currently, there is no systematic way to characterize 1) how a system may be asymmetric, 2) how the different mediation technology and affordances within asymmetric VR support (or do not support) users\u27 goals, and 3) the relationships and collaborative capabilities between users of these different technologies. In this paper, the authors use a scoping review to explore relevant conceptual frameworks for asymmetric interaction, mediation technology, and computer supported cooperative work to clarify the dimensions of asymmetry and synthesize the literature into a Composite framework for Asymmetric VR (CAVR). The paper concludes with suggestions of ways to test and expand the framework in order to guide future research as it identifies the most-beneficial interaction paradigms for co-located asymmetric VR

Communication, Collaboration, and Coordination in a Co-located Shared Augmented Reality Game: Perspectives From Deaf and Hard of Hearing People

Co-located collaborative shared augmented reality (CS-AR) environments have gained considerable research attention, mainly focusing on design, implementation, accuracy, and usability. Yet, a gap persists in our understanding regarding the accessibility and inclusivity of such environments for diverse user groups, such as deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people. To investigate this domain, we used Urban Legends, a multiplayer game in a co-located CS-AR setting. We conducted a user study followed by one-on-one interviews with 17 DHH participants. Our findings revealed the usage of multimodal communication (verbal and non-verbal) before and during the game, impacting the amount of collaboration among participants and how their coordination with AR components, their surroundings, and other participants improved throughout the rounds. We utilize our data to propose design enhancements, including onscreen visuals and speech-to-text transcription, centered on participant perspectives and our analysis

Transforming visitor experience with museum technologies: The development and impact evaluation of a recommender system in a physical museum

Over the past few decades, many attempts have been made to develop recommender systems (RSs) that could improve visitor experience (VX) in physical museums. Nevertheless, to determine the effectiveness of a museum RS, studies often encompass system performance evaluations, e.g., user experience (UX) and accuracy level tests, and rarely extend to the VX realm that museum RSs aim to support. The reported challenges with defining and evaluating VX might explain why the evidence that the interaction with an RS during the visit can enhance the quality of VX remains limited. Without this evidence, however, the purpose of developing museum RSs and the benefits of using RSs during a museum visit are in question. This thesis interrogates whether and how museum RSs can impact VX. It first consolidates the literature about VX-related constructs into one coherent analytical framework of museum experience which delineates the scope of VX. Following this analysis, this research develops and validates a VX instrument with cognitive, introspective, restorative, and affective variables which could be used to evaluate VX with or without museum technologies. Then, through a series of UX- and VX-related studies in the physical museum, this research implements a fully working content-based RS and establishes how the interaction with the developed RS transforms VX. The findings in this thesis demonstrate that the impact of an RS on the quality of VX can depend on the level of engagement with the system during a museum visit. Additionally, the impact can be insufficient on some mental processes within VX, and it can vary following the changes in contextual variables. The findings also reinforce that system performance tests cannot replace a VX-focused analysis, because a positive UX and additional information about museum objects in an RS do not imply an improved VX. Therefore, this thesis underscores that more VX-related evaluations of museum RSs are required to identify how to strengthen and extend their influence on the quality of VX