An Investigation on the Effects of Mediation in a Storytelling Virtual Environment

This paper presents a study that explores the use of mediation in virtual environments (VEs) used for cultural storytelling. A VE was created in which a traditional San story was told. Two forms of mediation were used: visual mediation and audio mediation. Four versions of the VE were implemented, differentiated by the type and amount of mediation included. 77 subjects were tested, each experiencing only one of the versions. Measurements of presence, story involvement and enjoyment of each user were taken. A factorial analysis of variance, with a between-subjects design was used. Audio mediation was found to have an effect on presence(F = 138.8, p < 0.002). Visual mediation was found to increase story involvement (F = 9.49, p < 0.003). Both the interaction between the mediations, and audio mediation increased enjoyment (F = 5.87, p < 0.02 and F = 4.01, p < 0.05 respectively). Therefore, the use of subtle mediation that appears natural in the VE setting was shown to be effective. The effects of audio mediation on presence suggests that it is an important addition to any VE. And, in the context of virtual storytelling, visual mediation is valuable in conveying a narrative more successfully

Story Guided Virtual Cultural Heritage Applications

Virtual cultural heritage applications, particularly virtual museums, nowadays include various forms of storytelling. Every object, site or artifact is better perceived and understood through the adjoining story. Interactive applications naturally request the storytelling to become interactive as well. This paper describes the concepts of interactive digital storytelling in our virtual museums and cultural heritage presentations and discusses their advantages and drawbacks recognized through user evaluation. We used digital stories not only to introduce visitors with the context and information on the objects, but also to enhance their navigation through virtual environments with purpose of learning and perceiving maximum amount of offered information

Polska adaptacja Kwestionariusza Presence Igroup

Poczucie bycia obecnym to kluczowy konstrukt w badaniach nad wirtualnymi środowiskami, a w szczególności nad wirtualną rzeczywistością – najpopularniejszym typem takich środowisk. Poczucie bycia obecnym ma wpływ na efektywność symulacji. W celu stworzenia polskiej wersji Kwestionariusza Presence Igroup (IPQ-PL) oryginalne narzędzie zostało przetłumaczone i użyte w badaniu ankietowym (n = 245) testującym strukturę i związki z innymi konstruktami. Wyniki wskazują, że IPQ-PL można uznać za trafne narzędzie do pomiaru poczucia bycia obecnym i wykorzystywać w badaniach na polskich próbach.Presence, defined as a psychological state of "being there", is experienced during an interaction with Immersive Virtual Environments, particularly with Virtual Reality – the most popular type of such environment. Measuring presence is crucial because its level determines the effectiveness of virtual environments. The authors conducted a translation and a study (n = 245) that aimed to provide a Polish version of the Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ-PL). The structure of the questionnaire and relations with other constructs were tested. The results indicate that IPQ-PL may be considered a valid tool for measuring presence and may be used in studies conducted on Polish samples

A Methodology to Produce Augmented-Reality Guided Tours in Museums for Mixed-Reality Headsets

[EN] In recent years, the use of technology in the museum context has changed radically. It has switched from the display of information to offering emotive, immersive, and rich experiences with heritage. Virtual interactive media have the potential to put museums back into a relevant place in our increasingly digital society. The emergence of augmented-reality glasses offers the possibility to test and implement new methodologies compatible with this aim. However, most of the first examples developed in recent years did not take advantage of the possibilities of this new medium. This paper presents a novel methodology for producing mixed-reality applications for museums and heritage sites, with an intuitive, immersive, and natural way of operating. An experimental prototype designed for the archaeological museum of the Almoina is shown in the paper to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed system and methodology of production. In addition, the paper shows the results of several tests.This research was founded by the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant GV/2021/181) and by the Spanish Government (Grant PID2020-117421RB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).Martí-Testón, A.; Muñoz García, A.; Solanes Galbis, JE.; Gracia Calandin, LI.; Tornero Montserrat, J. (2021). A Methodology to Produce Augmented-Reality Guided Tours in Museums for Mixed-Reality Headsets. Electronics. 10(23):1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10232956121102

Audio description in 360º content: results from a reception study

The ImAc project was the first European initiative aiming to propose and test the model of implementing access services in 360  videos, paving the way for future studies in the under-researched field of immersive accessibility. This article reports on the methodology and results of a pilot study and a small-scale reception study, conducted in the last months of the project. The results show a favourable reception of extended audio descriptions by AD users. They also indicate interest in the implementation of spatial sound in AD provided for 360  content, which could be tested in future reception studie

The Use of Live Virtual Guides in Educational Applications

—Serious games are becoming increasingly popular in education, science, medicine, religion, engineering, and some other fields. Additionally, serious heritage games, including virtual reconstructions and museums, provide a good environment for a synthesis of serious games and cultural heritage. This may be used for education in the form of edutainment, comprising various techniques, such as storytelling, visual expression of information, interactivity and entertainment [1]. This paper demonstrates a new concept of using live virtual guides in a Flash environment for cultural heritage virtual reconstruction. A pilot user study compares another approach using the X3D environment, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of our concept. The introduced results can be easily adopted for serious games development

The Role of Content Preference on Thematic Priming in Virtual Presence

We set out to test the possibility that thematically priming participants with exposure to a familiar, contemporary introduction VE (with a hip-hop theme) could increase their levels of presence in a culturally unfamiliar, historical VE (a San storytelling VE). Our findings show that the relationship between priming and presence are more complex than previously thought. Specifically, for those participants who were primed with the hip-hop introductory VE, only those who chose hip-hop music as their favorite music genre derived any benefit from the introductory VE in terms of presence scores (measured on the Igroup questionnaire). This implies that thematic priming interacts with personal preference and that introductory VEs of this sort do not necessary improve the presence experience for all users

Digital Storytelling in Africa

In this paper we examine how digital technology can be used to inspire, record and present oral stories in an African context. In particular we explore how to create technologies that are sympathetic to the cultures of the storytellers, both in the capture of stories and their retelling. Specifically, we look at: inspiring stories in District Six in Cape Town; capturing digital stories from users with low literacy levels and using virtual reality to retell indigenous and personal experience narratives

Digital Storytelling in Africa

In this paper we examine how digital technology can be used to inspire, record and present oral stories in an African context. In particular we explore how to create technologies that are sympathetic to the cultures of the storytellers, both in the capture of stories and their retelling. Specifically, we look at: inspiring stories in District Six in Cape Town; capturing digital stories from users with low literacy levels and using virtual reality to retell indigenous and personal experience narratives

Constructivism, virtual reality and tools to support design

This paper describes a process for creating a design tool, which is based in constructivism. The process is described for the creation of a tool to help novices in designing virtual environment interactions, however it can be generalized to other design domains. The process consists of four steps: first constructivist values of atomic simplicity, multiplicity, exploration, control and reflection are distilled. Next, expert practices are researched and reframed in terms of the constructivist values. Thirdly, novice processes are examined and understood in constructivist terms. Lastly, prototypes are created and shown to target users. These steps are iterated until the designed tool is satisfactory