Temporal and Spatial Variations in Presence: A Qualitative Analysis

This paper presents the qualitative findings from an experiment designed to investigate breaks in presence. Participants spent approximately 5 minutes in an immersive CAVE™-like system depicting a virtual bar with five virtual characters. On four occasions the projections were made to go white to trigger clearly identifiable “anomalies ” in the audiovisual experience. Participants ’ autonomic responses were measured throughout to investigate possible physiological correlates of these experienced anomalies. Our analysis of the interviews with participants suggests that these anomalies were subjectively experienced as breaks in presence. The findings also reveal that breaks in presence have multiple causes and can range in intensity, resulting in varying recovery times. In addition, presence can vary in intensity within the same space, suggesting that presence in an immersive VE can fluctuate both temporally and spatially. 1

The CREATE Project: Mixed Reality for Design, Education, and Cultural Heritage with a Constructivist Approach

Introduction The global scope of the CREATE project is to develop a mixed-reality framework that enables highly interactive real-time construction and manipulation of photo-realistic, virtual worlds based on real data sources. This framework will be tested and applied to cultural heritage content in an educational context, as well as to the design and review of architectural/urban planning settings. The evaluation of the project is based on a human-centered, constructivist approach to working and learning, with special attention paid to the evaluation of the resulting mixed reality experience. Through this approach, participants in an activity "construct" their own knowledge by testing ideas and concepts based on their prior knowledge and experience, applying these to a new situation, and integrating the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs. Compared to previous research and design in virtual worlds, the CREATE project uses a high degree of interactivity, a