Virtual Environments and Human-Computer Interaction Anxiety: An Experimental Study

In a world where interaction is a significant part of everyday life, personal space (PS) – an invisible bubble surrounding human body - is important. This is because PS functions as a comfort zone during interaction, a factor in designing physical environments, and invading such space produces anxiety and discomfort. Little is known, however, about how personal space might operate in virtual environments and what features the interface model of these environments should incorporate in order to reduce the anxiety produced by the invasions of such space in these environments. To begin to address this, we have conducted two experiments concerning personal space invasions (PSI) in collaborative virtual environments (CVE). Results suggest that reactions to PSI in CVE tend to differ in various ways from reactions to PSI in the physical world though some participants experienced anxiety when their avatar personal space was invaded. Recommendations to incorporate some features in the interface model of these environments are presented

Determinants of Friendship in Social Networking Virtual Worlds

This paper examines the determinants of friendship between two users in a virtual world who are unaware of each other's real identities. Drawing on theories of homophily, heterophily and propinquity, three virtual world behaviours are analysed: avatar appearance, avatar location, and avatar communication. Data are collected on 179 participants interacting in a novel virtual world. The main results show that: (1) avatars did not tend to form friendships with avatars that are similar in appearance to themselves but did tend to form friendships with avatars that are dressed differently from themselves; (2) in terms of location, the closer an avatar stands to other avatars, the more likely the avatar is to receive a friend invitation; and (3) the fewer words an avatar uses in communication, the more likely the avatar is to receive a friend invitation. This paper contributes to theories of virtual world interaction and to using virtual worlds as a data collection platform

Sharing, privacy and trust issues for photo collections

Digital libraries are quickly being adopted by the masses. Technological developments now allow community groups, clubs, and even ordinary individuals to create their own, publicly accessible collections. However, users may not be fully aware of the potential privacy implications of submitting their documents to a digital library, and may hold misconceptions of the technological support for preserving their privacy. We present results from 18 autoethnographic investigations and 19 observations / interviews into privacy issues that arise when people make their personal photo collections available online. The Adams' privacy model is used to discuss the findings according to information receiver, information sensitivity, and information usage. Further issues of trust and ad hoc poorly supported protection strategies are presented. Ultimately while photographic data is potentially highly sensitive, the privacy risks are often hidden and the protection mechanisms are limited

Virtual Reality Methods

ePDF and ePUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Since the mid-2010s, virtual reality (VR) technology has advanced rapidly. This book explores the many opportunities that VR can offer for humanities and social sciences researchers. The book provides a user-friendly, non-technical methods guide to using ready-made VR content and 360° video as well as creating custom materials. It examines the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to using VR, providing helpful, real-world examples of how researchers have used the technology

What makes a space invader?: passenger perceptions of personal space invasion in aircraft travel

The invasion of personal space is often a contributory factor to the experience of discomfort in aircraft passengers. This paper presents a questionnaire study which investigated how air travellers are affected by invasions of personal space and how they attempt to adapt to, or counter, these invasions. In support of recent findings on the factors influencing air passenger comfort, the results of this study indicate that the invasion of personal space is not only caused by physical factors (e.g. physical contact with humans or objects), but also other sensory factors such as noise, smells or unwanted eye contact. The findings of this study have implications for the design of shared spaces

Web 2.0 technologies for learning: the current landscape – opportunities, challenges and tensions

This is the first report from research commissioned by Becta into Web 2.0 technologies for learning at Key Stages 3 and 4. This report describes findings from an additional literature review of the then current landscape concerning learner use of Web 2.0 technologies and the implications for teachers, schools, local authorities and policy makers

Privacy Issues for Online Personal Photograph collections

Technological developments now allow community groups, clubs, and even ordinary individuals to create their own, publicly accessible online digital multi-media collections. However, it is unclear as to whether the users of such collection are fully aware of the potential privacy implications of submitting their personal contents (e.g. photographs, video, etc.) to these digital collections. They may even hold misconceptions of the technological support for preserving their privacy. In this paper we present results from 18 auto-ethnographic investigations and 19 ethnographic observations and interviews into privacy issues that arise when people make their personal photo collections available online. The Adams´ privacy model is used to discuss the findings according to information sensitivity, information receiver, and information usage. Further issues of trust and ad hoc poorly supported protection strategies are also presented. Ultimately while photographic data is potentially highly sensitive, the privacy risks are often hidden and the protection mechanisms are limited