Modelling the Metaverse: A Theoretical Model of Effective Team Collaboration in 3D Virtual Environments

In this paper, a theoretical model of effective team collaboration in 3D virtual environments is presented. The aim of this model is to enhance our understanding of the capabilities exerting influence on effective 3D virtual team collaboration. The model identifies a number of specific capabilities of 3D virtual worlds that can contribute to this team effectiveness. Compared to "traditional" computer-mediated collaboration technologies, 3D virtual environments support team collaboration primarily through (a) the shared virtual environment, and (b) avatar-based interaction. Through the shared virtual environment, users experience higher levels of presence (a feeling of actually "being there"), realism and interactivity. These capabilities increase the users' level of information processing.  Avatar-based interaction induces greater feelings of social presence (being with others) and control over  self-presentation (how one wants to be perceived by others), thus increasing the level of communication support in the 3D environment. Through greater levels of information and communication support, a higher level of shared understanding is reached, which in turn positively influences team performance. Our paper concludes by presenting several propositions which allow further empirical testing, implications for research and practice, and suggestions for future research. The insights obtained from this paper can help developers of these virtual worlds to design standards for the capabilities that influence effective team collaboration in 3D virtual environments.

Knowledge Creation in Requirements Engineering – A Systematic Literature Review

Requirements engineering (RE) is crucial for software development, yet software requirements are often not properly identified or implemented. As the RE process thereby highly depends on human knowledge (explicit and tacit), this problem can in many cases be attributed to the lack of mutual understanding between customers and developers which is caused by diverging domain knowledge. To solve this problem, we conduct a systematic literature review to identify methods associated with Nonaka’s organizational knowledge creation theory. We map eight such methods on six common RE problems as we analyze to which extent the methods overcome the associated problems. Although it is not always obvious which problems apply to specific software projects, the identified methods provide an adequate first approach to reduce the risk of potential RE problems, thus making project failure less likely

Virtual Collaboration: An Investigation into the Influence of Avatars and 3D Virtual Environments on Team Effectiveness

Huysman, M.H. [Promotor]Schouten, A.P. [Copromotor]Feldberg, J.F.M. [Copromotor

Simulation of nonverbal social interaction and small groups dynamics in virtual environments

How can the behaviour of humans who interact with other humans be simulated in virtual environments? This thesis investigates the issue by proposing a number of dedicated models, computer languages, software architectures, and specifications of computational components. It relies on a large knowledge base from the social sciences, which offers concepts, descriptions, and classifications that guided the research process. The simulation of nonverbal social interaction and group dynamics in virtual environments can be divided in two main research problems: (1) an action selection problem, where autonomous agents must be made capable of deciding when, with whom, and how they interact according to individual characteristics of themselves and others; and (2) a behavioural animation problem, where, on the basis of the selected interaction, 3D characters must realistically behave in their virtual environment and communicate nonverbally with others by automatically triggering appropriate actions such as facial expressions, gestures, and postural shifts. In order to introduce the problem of action selection in social environments, a high-level architecture for social agents, based on the sociological concepts of role, norm, and value, is first discussed. A model of action selection for members of small groups, based on proactive and reactive motivational components, is then presented. This model relies on a new tagbased language called Social Identity Markup Language (SIML), allowing the rich specification of agents' social identities and relationships. A complementary model controls the simulation of interpersonal relationship development within small groups. The interactions of these two models create a complex system exhibiting emergent properties for the generation of meaningful sequences of social interactions in the temporal dimension. To address the issues related to the visualization of nonverbal interactions, results are presented of an evaluation experiment aimed at identifying the application requirements through an analysis of how real people interact nonverbally in virtual environments. Based on these results, a number of components for MPEG-4 body animation, AML — a tag-based language for the seamless integration and synchronization of facial animation, body animation, and speech — and a high-level interaction visualization service for the VHD++ platform are described. This service simulates the proxemic and kinesic aspects of nonverbal social interactions, and comprises such functionalities as parametric postures, adapters and observation behaviours, the social avoidance of collisions, intelligent approach behaviours, and the calculation of suitable interaction distances and angles

An exploratory study of expressing disagreement in ELF academic group discussion

In many academic contexts in the United Kingdom, group work is an important site of English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication. Group work can involve challenging pragmatic acts, and chief among these is, arguably, disagreement. The need to disagree amicably is important for two reasons: (1) to achieve consensus on group tasks, and (2) to negotiate meaning around academic topics. There is, however, little known about how disagreement is realised in ELF academic group discussion tasks. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the disagreement realisation of MA students from highly diverse linguacultural backgrounds interacting in academic group discussion. Specifically, the study aimed, firstly, to uncover the disagreeing practices of participants who were using English as a common means of communication; and secondly, to discover and explicate the factors which influence those practices. This study addressed these issues using a multi-method approach. Twelve students from ten different linguacultural backgrounds completed two discussion tasks (one targeting opinions, and the other consensus decision-making) and responded to follow-up questionnaires. The same students also took part in stimulated recall interviews (using the video-recording of each group discussion and self-completed questionnaires as stimuli). Discourse analysis of the transcribed interactions revealed that they carefully select the appropriate and amicable way to express themselves in general and their differing ideas in particular and that disagreement in this context is multifarious. That is, the ELF participants employed a wide range of complex verbal and nonverbal strategies in realising disagreement and their disagreement is complicatedly managed. In particular, they appear to tend towards less explicit disagreeing practices such as the use of non-performative or pragmatic disagreement and other mitigating devices, ranging from sound/word and discourse levels to complex turn management. This is because the practices allow them both to achieve the tasks at hand and at the same time to maintain amicable interaction. The stimulated recall data shows that their disagreement practices were influenced by both internal/prior and external/immediate factors (self-, others- and situation-oriented factors). What the participants bring with them to the group discussion—personality traits, beliefs, linguistic proficiency, cultural backgrounds, knowledge or experience on the topic, interactional goals—all exert a powerful influence on the way disagreement is realised. In addition, their perceptions of their interlocutors’ cultural backgrounds, personal traits and their concerns about their interlocutors’ feelings as well as the immediate context in which the group discussion is taking place and what is emerging during the interaction all result in certain forms of disagreeing. The participants’ attentiveness, flexibility and adaptability confirm the fact that ELF speakers are highly aware of diversity and possible clashes of interactional norms and expectations. They appear to enthusiastically anticipate, or even pre-empt, those challenges and they manage their language use accordingly. It also reveals that there were many different kinds of linguistic work underlying the disagreeing forms realised on the surface. The convergence of findings indicates that what makes these group discussion sessions unique is that the participants from highly diverse linguacultural backgrounds clearly exhibit intercultural awareness. They are aware of, sensitive to, and even respectful for, cultural differences and, particularly in academic group discussion, they are evidently flexible and adaptable to the group dynamic. Also, the participants appear to aptly and subtly use both linguistic and non-linguistic resources to manage and achieve their communicative goals. In these ways the data support the view in the literature. However, given the fact that disagreement is contextually and functionally preferred in the present study and that the participants tend towards less explicit disagreeing, this challenges the existing notion that ELF interactions are inherently explicit, supportive and agreement-oriented