Global Teamwork: A Study of Design Learning in Collaborative Virtual Environments

With the recent developments in communication and information technologies, using Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) in design activity has experienced a remarkable increase. In this paper we present a collaborative learning activity between the University of Sydney (USYD), and the Istanbul Technical University (ITU). This paper shares our teaching experience and discusses the principles of collaborative design learning in virtual environments. Followed by a study on students’ perception on the courses and collaborative learning in both universities, this paper also suggests future refinements on the course structure and the main areas of collaborative design learning. Keywords: Collaborative Design; Collaborative Virtual Environments; Design Teaching And Learning</p

Art Practice in Collaborative Virtual Environments

This article addresses and characterises creative art processes in Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs), examining how most art works in CVEs escape and resist taxonomic classification given their unstable and fluid nature, which is often open and participatory.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Nonverbal communication interface for collaborative virtual environments

Nonverbal communication is an important aspect of real-life face-to-face interaction and one of the most efficient ways to convey emotions, therefore users should be provided the means to replicate it in the virtual world. Because articulated embodiments are well suited to provide body communication in virtual environments, this paper first reviews some of the advantages and disadvantages of complex embodiments. After a brief introduction to nonverbal communication theories, we present our solution, taking into account the practical limitations of input devices and social science aspects. We introduce our sample of actions and implementation using our VLNET (Virtual Life Network) networked virtual environment and discuss the results of an informal evaluation experimen

Global virtual teams and 3D collaborative virtual environments

Collaborative virtual environments for desktop PCs. are inherently interesting to use and to develop, and provide motivating and challenging capstone projects for capable students to undertake. From an educational perspective, collaboration in virtual three-dimensional spaces using avatars also adds some interesting dimensions to student learning. This paper reports upon a series of developments, in which collaborative virtual environments have been applied since 2001 to support research into global virtual teams. Specific insights relevant to educators and developers have been gained through a series of local and international collaborative trials, using these 3D environments

Substituting Teleportation Visualization for Collaborative Virtual Environments

Santawat Thanyadit, Parinya Punpongsanon, Thammathip Piumsomboon, and Ting-Chuen Pong. 2020. Substituting Teleportation Visualization for Collaborative Virtual Environments. Symposium on Spatial User Interaction. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 31, 1–2. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3385959.3422698.SUI '20: Symposium on Spatial User Interaction [October 30 - November 1, 2020

A workout for virtual bodybuilders (design issues for embodiment in multi-actor virtual environments)

This paper explores the issue of user embodiment within collaborative virtual environments. By user embodiment we mean the provision of users with appropriate body images so as to represent them to others and also to themselves. By collaborative virtual environments we mean multi-user virtual reality systems which support cooperative work (although we argue that the results of our exploration may also be applied to other kinds of collaborative systems). The main part of the paper identifies a list of embodiment design issues including: presence, location, identity, activity, availability, history of activity, viewpoint, action point, gesture, facial expression, voluntary versus involuntary expression, degree of presence, reflecting capabilities, manipulating the user's view of others, representation across multiple media, autonomous and distributed body parts, truthfulness and efficiency. Following this, we show how these issues are reflected in our own DIVE and MASSIVE prototype collaborative virtual environments

Distant pointing in desktop collaborative virtual environments

Deictic pointing—pointing at things during conversations—is natural and ubiquitous in human communication. Deictic pointing is important in the real world; it is also important in collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) because CVEs are 3D virtual environments that resemble the real world. CVEs connect people from different locations, allowing them to communicate and collaborate remotely. However, the interaction and communication capabilities of CVEs are not as good as those in the real world. In CVEs, people interact with each other using avatars (the visual representations of users). One problem of avatars is that they are not expressive enough when compare to what we can do in the real world. In particular, deictic pointing has many limitations and is not well supported. This dissertation focuses on improving the expressiveness of distant pointing—where referents are out of reach—in desktop CVEs. This is done by developing a framework that guides the design and development of pointing techniques; by identifying important aspects of distant pointing through observation of how people point at distant referents in the real world; by designing, implementing, and evaluating distant-pointing techniques; and by providing a set of guidelines for the design of distant pointing in desktop CVEs. The evaluations of distant-pointing techniques examine whether pointing without extra visual effects (natural pointing) has sufficient accuracy; whether people can control free arm movement (free pointing) along with other avatar actions; and whether free and natural pointing are useful and valuable in desktop CVEs. Overall, this research provides better support for deictic pointing in CVEs by improving the expressiveness of distant pointing. With better pointing support, gestural communication can be more effective and can ultimately enhance the primary function of CVEs—supporting distributed collaboration

Communicating emotions in expressive avatars

Avatars have become a fundamental part of collaborative virtual environments. They are the visual embodiment of the user and are designed to address key issues in the interaction process between the user and the CVE. Giving avatars expressive abilities has been considered essential in computer-human reaction. Having an avatar, which has the ability to express facial expressions, as a part of the computer interface increases human performance. Researches have provided strong evidence that emotions can be effectively portrayed visually in avatars to represent human users in collaborative virtual environments. These include manipulation of facial expressions as they are efficient carriers of emotions. However, avatars have still only limited variations in their emotional expressions to become believable entities