UNDERSTANDING VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE AND TELEPRESENCE - A REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS OF LITERATURE

To enable buyers to be better informed before purchasing, products and services can be virtually experienced on the internet. Research into virtual experience (VE) and the related construct of telepresence (TP) as means of online marketing has made great progress in recent years. However, there is still disagreement in the literature concerning the exact understanding of these terms. In this study, the two terms are analyzed by means of a systematically executed literature review, differentiated from one another, and their understandings explained. This study is to our knowledge the first to compare the concepts of VE and TP in a systematic way. The analysis shows that TP is regarded as the feeling of presence conveyed by a communication medium. VE, on the other hand, is to be defined as an active state of a consumer through the use of computer-based presentation formats, and constituting a subtype of TP. These findings are intended to help VE and TP become more uniformly understood and make it easier to compare the results of future studies. Finally, from the literature review, it is possible to derive focal points for research in future studies

Digital, material and networked: some emerging themes for SET education

Boundaries between the digital and material worlds are becoming blurred as the internet increasingly connects us to things as well as people and information. This is increasingly relevant to education as initiatives which significantly combine digital and material elements in networks are becoming a reality for Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) learning. Our paper reports on the initial findings of a project to carry out a ‘state of the art’ review of literature to establish the key themes, opportunities and obstacles that are emerging from the development and use of these ‘hybrid’ systems in learning. We wanted to explore the extent to which this new domain of study is being reported in the literature and to identify work representative of this area. Our aim was to investigate the depth of research in this area by going beyond the technologically descriptive to focus on pedagogical and organisational issues raised in the literature. To identify the state of current research in the area we carried out a systematic search of databases of Science, Engineering and Technology education literature. We found 808 papers relating to the hybrid learning initiatives we are interested in, of which the majority, 81%, involved the Engineering and Technology disciplines while 6.8% related to Science. The vast majority of papers referred to remote laboratories and most of these were concerned with describing the technologies involved. In order to explore issues emerging from the research, we carried out an in-depth text review of a particular subset of the papers found that focussed on pedagogical issues. The three main themes that emerged were: the importance of real data and authenticity in learning; the importance of a sense of presence (e.g. telepresence, social presence and/or immersion) and the locus of control in, and responsiveness of, a hybrid system. We conclude that these new digital ‘hybrid’ pedagogies offer a lens with which to view both the more traditional material pedagogies, e.g. laboratory-based learning, and purely digital pedagogies, e.g. virtual labs. Finally, issues of authenticity, presence and control/responsiveness will be of increasing pedagogical importance to other ‘hybrid’ systems, such as those involving ubiquitous computing

Shifting the Focus: The Role of Presence in Reconceptualising the Design Process

In this paper the relationship between presence and imaging is examined with the view to establish how our understanding of imaging, and subsequently the design process, may be reconceptualised to give greater focus to its experiential potential. First, the paper outlines the research project contributing to the discussion. Then, it provides brief overviews of research on both imaging and presence in the process highlighting the narrow conceptions of imaging (and the recognition of the need for further research) compared to the more holistic and experiential understandings of presence. The paper concludes with an argument and proposed study for exploring the role of digital technology and presence in extending the potential of imaging and its role in the design process. As indicated in the DRS Conference Theme, this paper focuses “…on what people experience and the systems and actions that create those experiences.” Interface designers, information architects and interactive media artists understand the powerful influence of experience in design. ‘Experience design’ is a community of practice driven by individuals within digital based disciplines where the belief is that understanding people is essential to any successful design in any medium and that “…experience is the personal connection with the moment and… every aspect of living is an experience, whether we are the creators or simply chance participants” (Shedroff, 2001, p. 5). Keywords: Design, Design Process, Presence, Imaging, Grounded Theory</p

Automation and robotics for the Space Exploration Initiative: Results from Project Outreach

A total of 52 submissions were received in the Automation and Robotics (A&R) area during Project Outreach. About half of the submissions (24) contained concepts that were judged to have high utility for the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) and were analyzed further by the robotics panel. These 24 submissions are analyzed here. Three types of robots were proposed in the high scoring submissions: structured task robots (STRs), teleoperated robots (TORs), and surface exploration robots. Several advanced TOR control interface technologies were proposed in the submissions. Many A&R concepts or potential standards were presented or alluded to by the submitters, but few specific technologies or systems were suggested

Hedonic Information Systems Quality

Hedonic Information Systems (HIS) are an entertainment-oriented IS used in nonoffice environments in which a user does not have specific goals to achieve. It is fundamentally different from the traditional IS designed for goal-oriented users in either individual or organisational work settings. Despite of the importance in improving HIS, there is a lack of academic exploration in context-specific HIS quality in a comprehensive manner. Drawing from a balanced thinking-feeling model and a theory of flow and telepresence theory, we explore the attributes of HIS quality. The Repertory Grid Interview technique (RGT) is used to interview 20 participants who have online gaming experience and 12 factors are identified. Our results show that HIS quality is a multifaceted concept that consists of not only utilitarian, but also hedonic and social features. This study is among the first to use a qualitative approach to comprehensively explore the attributes of HIS from user perspectives

Can 3D Virtual Worlds Address Healthcare Issues? Development, Delivery, Efficacy and Motivations to Use

The proposed work, which comprises of three essays, is aimed at developing and testing the efficacy of delivering healthcare services through virtual worlds (with focus on Second Life®). The first essay explores the unique aspects of system (presence) development in virtual worlds (VWs). In our study, multiple cases have been analyzed to investigate the process of systems development in SL projects and contrasted with existing information system development approaches. The second essay develops and empirically examines the efficacy of delivering healthcare services in the 3D virtual world (specifically in Second Life ®), and identify the factors (technological, process and user) that could contribute to the success or failure of such a delivery mechanism The third essay extends the proposed framework (in essay 2) by examining the role of hedonic motivations in adoption of healthcare services in the 3D VW s (specifically in Second Life ®). Contributions to education and research are discussed

The Three Pillars of Virtual Reality? Investigating the Roles of Immersion, Presence, and Interactivity

Virtual reality (VR) technologies enable a new media consumption experience. Although VR’s origins trace back at least to the 1960s, it is still unclear how VR’s postulated key features immersion, presence, and interactivity contribute to that experience. Furthermore, it is unclear whether flow as a construct closely related to immersion offers explanatory power in investigating VR. On the basis of a quantitative survey in a VR center with 294 participants, I analyze the interplay of the key features and exemplify their influence in a VR context by relating them to satisfaction with the VR experience. Using a flow-based conceptualization of immersion, I find that presence as well as interactivity contribute to immersion. In addition, interactivity contributes to presence. Furthermore, my results show that immersion influences satisfaction with a VR experience, indicating that a flow-based conceptualization of immersion is a suitable predictor in VR contexts