8,071 research outputs found
A Dose of Reality: Overcoming Usability Challenges in VR Head-Mounted Displays
We identify usability challenges facing consumers adopting Virtual Reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) in a survey of 108 VR HMD users. Users reported significant issues in interacting with, and being aware of their real-world context when using a HMD. Building upon existing work on blending real and virtual environments, we performed three design studies to address these usability concerns. In a typing study, we show that augmenting VR with a view of reality significantly corrected the performance impairment of
typing in VR. We then investigated how much reality should be incorporated and when, so as to preserve users’ sense of presence in VR. For interaction with objects and peripherals, we found that selectively presenting reality as users engaged with it was optimal in terms of performance and users’ sense of presence. Finally, we investigated how this selective, engagement-dependent approach could be applied in social environments, to support the user’s awareness of the proximity and presence of others
Understanding Context to Capture when Reconstructing Meaningful Spaces for Remote Instruction and Connecting in XR
Recent technological advances are enabling HCI researchers to explore
interaction possibilities for remote XR collaboration using high-fidelity
reconstructions of physical activity spaces. However, creating these
reconstructions often lacks user involvement with an overt focus on capturing
sensory context that does not necessarily augment an informal social
experience. This work seeks to understand social context that can be important
for reconstruction to enable XR applications for informal instructional
scenarios. Our study involved the evaluation of an XR remote guidance prototype
by 8 intergenerational groups of closely related gardeners using
reconstructions of personally meaningful spaces in their gardens. Our findings
contextualize physical objects and areas with various motivations related to
gardening and detail perceptions of XR that might affect the use of
reconstructions for remote interaction. We discuss implications for user
involvement to create reconstructions that better translate real-world
experience, encourage reflection, incorporate privacy considerations, and
preserve shared experiences with XR as a medium for informal intergenerational
activities.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 4 table
Serious Games in Cultural Heritage
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Updating the art history curriculum: incorporating virtual and augmented reality technologies to improve interactivity and engagement
Master's Project (M.Ed.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This project investigates how the art history curricula in higher education can borrow from and incorporate emerging technologies currently being used in art museums. Many art museums are using augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to transform their visitors' experiences into experiences that are interactive and engaging. Art museums have historically offered static visitor experiences, which have been mirrored in the study of art. This project explores the current state of the art history classroom in higher education, which is historically a teacher-centered learning environment and the learning effects of that environment. The project then looks at how art museums are creating visitor-centered learning environments; specifically looking at how they are using reality technologies (virtual and augmented) to transition into digitally interactive learning environments that support various learning theories. Lastly, the project examines the learning benefits of such tools to see what could (and should) be implemented into the art history curricula at the higher education level and provides a sample section of a curriculum demonstrating what that implementation could look like. Art and art history are a crucial part of our culture and being able to successfully engage with it and learn from it enables the spread of our culture through digital means and of digital culture
Design Frameworks for Hyper-Connected Social XRI Immersive Metaverse Environments
The metaverse refers to the merger of technologies for providing a digital
twin of the real world and the underlying connectivity and interactions for the
many kinds of agents within. As this set of technology paradigms - involving
artificial intelligence, mixed reality, the internet-of-things and others -
gains in scale, maturity, and utility there are rapidly emerging design
challenges and new research opportunities. In particular is the metaverse
disconnect problem, the gap in task switching that inevitably occurs when a
user engages with multiple virtual and physical environments simultaneously.
Addressing this gap remains an open issue that affects the user experience and
must be overcome to increase overall utility of the metaverse. This article
presents design frameworks that consider how to address the metaverse as a
hyper-connected meta-environment that connects and expands multiple user
environments, modalities, contexts, and the many objects and relationships
within them. This article contributes to i) a framing of the metaverse as a
social XR-IoT (XRI) concept, ii) design Considerations for XRI metaverse
experiences, iii) a design architecture for social multi-user XRI metaverse
environments, and iv) descriptive exploration of social interaction scenarios
within XRI multi-user metaverses. These contribute a new design framework for
metaverse researchers and creators to consider the coming wave of
interconnected and immersive smart environments
Augmented reality meeting table: a novel multi-user interface for architectural design
Immersive virtual environments have received widespread attention as providing possible replacements for the media and systems that designers traditionally use, as well as, more generally, in providing support for collaborative work. Relatively little attention has been given to date however to the problem of how to merge immersive virtual environments into real world work settings, and so to add to the media at the disposal of the designer and the design team, rather than to replace it. In this paper we report on a research project in which optical see-through augmented reality displays have been developed together with prototype decision support software for architectural and urban design. We suggest that a critical characteristic of multi user augmented reality is its ability to generate visualisations from a first person perspective in which the scale of rendition of the design model follows many of the conventions that designers are used to. Different scales of model appear to allow designers to focus on different aspects of the design under consideration. Augmenting the scene with simulations of pedestrian movement appears to assist both in scale recognition, and in moving from a first person to a third person understanding of the design. This research project is funded by the European Commission IST program (IST-2000-28559)
Taking an Extended Embodied Perspective of Touch: Connection-Disconnection in iVR
Bringing touch into VR experiences through haptics is considered increasingly important for user engagement and fostering feelings of presence and immersion, yet few qualitative studies have explored users' iVR touch experiences. This paper takes an embodied approach–bringing attention to the tactile-kinaesthetic body–to explore users' wholistic experiences of touch in iVR, moving beyond the cutaneous and tactile elements of “feeling” to elaborate upon themes of movement and kinetics. Our findings show how both touch connections and disconnections emerged though material forms of tactility (the controller, body positioning, tactile expectations) and through “felt proximities” and the tactile-kinaesthetic experience thus shaping the sense of presence. The analysis shows three key factors that influence connection and disconnection, and how connection is re-navigated or sought at moments of experienced disconnection: a sense of control or agency; identity; and bridging between the material and virtual. This extended notion of touch deepens our understanding of its role in feelings of presence by providing insight into a range of factors related to notions of touch – both physical and virtual–that come into play in creating a sense of connection or presence (e.g., histories, expectations), and highlights the potential for iVR interaction to attend to the body beyond the hands in terms of touch
Location-based Virtual Reality experiences for children: Japan-UK knowledge exchange network final project report
This is the final project report for an AHRC/ESRC funded Uk-Japan network looking at location-based VR experiences for children.
Location-based VR are site specific experiences that aim to bring together materials beyond those in the virtual space to carefully curate an experience for an audience who are likely to use the content only once or a few times. As a result, location-based VR experiences are emerging predominately in two areas; gaming arcades and museums/art galleries.
The overall intention of this knowledge exchange (KE) project was to bring together a network of academics and digital gaming industry partners in Japan and the UK to join up knowledge, begin researching the current state of VR experiences and technologies, and to understand the best methodologies for including children in the design of VR experiences for them. This was undertaken so that this knowledge can be applied to areas in which VR is evolving for children, such as entertainment, education and health care
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