Calling for User-Centric VR Design Research in Hospitality and Tourism

VR has enjoyed a steep growth in awareness in society in recent years and is regarded a promising tool for the design and enhancement of experiences. However, as research and use cases in the hospitality context are expanding rapidly, it is crucial to define a clearer research direction that aligns the number of scattered studies across various fields. It is time to overcome the boundaries of the technological dimension and explore methods for purposeful VR design. This research note calls for more user-centric VR studies and developments to define the future direction of VR implementations in the hospitality and tourism industry. To achieve this, the authors recommend the use of design methodology with a focus on the first steps in the design process to clearly identify and understand issues concerning the customer. The customer needs and desires need to be analyzed at the core independent of VR technology. The need to shift the focus from technology to the purpose for the user is identified

Exploring usability and gratifications for virtual reality applications at festivals

The digital creation of virtual environments has opened many doors for the creation of new experiences, offering the trend of ever immersive, engaging and multi-sensory virtual reality (VR) experiences. However, studies on VR within the science festival context are limited. Therefore, with a focus on usability and gratifications, this study aims to explore the antecedents of the behavioral intention to use VR at science festivals. Before participating in a questionnaire, 447 users experienced a VR application and data were analyzed using structural equation modelling. Findings reveal that usability influences gratification factors which influence users’ behavioral intention to engage with science

Translating Tourist Requirements into Mobile AR Application Engineering Through QFD

Augmented reality (AR) has moved into the spotlight of technological developments to enhance tourist experiences, presenting a need to develop meaningful AR applications. However, few studies so far have focused on requirements for a user-centric AR application design. The study aims to propose a method on translating psychological and behavioral indicators of users into relevant technical design elements for the development of mobile AR tourism applications in the context of urban heritage tourism. The research was conducted in three phases to generate a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) model based on interviews, focus groups and questionnaires of international tourists and industry professionals. Key categories, content requirements, function requirements and user resistance were defined for the identification of requirements. The outcomes of the study outline tourist requirements based on behavioral and psychological indicators and propose a method for translating them into technical design elements for tourist mobile AR applications

Homotopy Theory of Strong and Weak Topological Insulators

We use homotopy theory to extend the notion of strong and weak topological insulators to the non-stable regime (low numbers of occupied/empty energy bands). We show that for strong topological insulators in d spatial dimensions to be "truly d-dimensional", i.e. not realizable by stacking lower-dimensional insulators, a more restrictive definition of "strong" is required. However, this does not exclude weak topological insulators from being "truly d-dimensional", which we demonstrate by an example. Additionally, we prove some useful technical results, including the homotopy theoretic derivation of the factorization of invariants over the torus into invariants over spheres in the stable regime, as well as the rigorous justification of replacing $T^d$ by $S^d$ and $T^{d_k}\times S^{d_x}$ by $S^{d_k+d_x}$ as is common in the current literature.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

The role of immersive technology in Customer Experience Management

Immersive technologies are redefining and revolutionizing the staging of experiences and co-creation of value, implicating the management of customer experiences. However, limited studies have looked at the role of immersive technologies as part of the customer experience management (CXM) process. Incorporating the concepts of experience economy and value co-creation, this study proposes a dynamic CXM framework that highlights the emerging field of immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality as part of business and marketing research. The framework acts as a guide for researchers and industry practitioners to initiate immersive technology ventures that are rooted in the co-creation and management of customer experiences

Google Glass Creative Tourism Experience: A Case Study of Manchester Art Gallery

Due to the novelty factor of Google Glass, specifically in Europe, only few research attempts were made of the potential of Google Glass. The present study aims to explore visitor’s first time usage behavior of Google Glass within the cultural context. In total, 29 Art Gallery visitors tested the Google Glass prototype application “Museum Zoom” and took part in an interview. The data were analyzed using content analysis and revealed that among all age groups, the majority of visitors had a favourable opinion regarding the usage of Google Glass within Art Gallery settings. This exploratory study revealed that users were able to quickly adjust to the novel interaction and generally perceived the device to enhance the Art Gallery visitors experience though the provision of additional content and easy to use as well as social networking functions. Although technological issues remained, participants were curious to interact with the device

A Theoretical Model of Augmented Reality Acceptance

Recent tourism research increasingly explored the opportunities of using Augmented Reality (AR) in order to boost tourism and increase the value for tourists while travelling within a destination. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been applied to a number of research disciplines, lately also AR however, studies focusing on the tourism context are still scarce. As this field is expected to increase in importance rapidly due to technological advancements and research into functionality, acceptance and usefulness, it is important to identify what the basic requirements are for AR to be accepted by users. Furthermore, the provision of a conceptual model provides researchers with a starting point on which they can base their future research. Therefore, this paper proposes an AR acceptance model including five external variables that might be included in future AR acceptance research

Mapping Requirements for the Wearable Smart Glasses Augmented Reality Museum Application

Purpose: Recent advancements in wearable computing offer opportunities for art galleries to provide a unique experience. However, in order to ensure successful implementation of this new technology in the visitor industry, it is essential to understand user requirements from a visitor's point of view. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate visitors' requirements for the development of a wearable smart glasses Augmented Reality (AR) application in the museum and art gallery context. Design/Methodology/Approach: Interviews with 28 art gallery visitors were conducted and an affinity diagram technique was used to analyze the interviews. Findings: The findings reveal that wearable AR is in its infancy and that technical and design issues have to be overcome for a full adoption. It reveals that content requirement, functional requirement, comfort, experience and resistance are important when developing and implementing the wearable AR application in the museum and art gallery context. Originality/Value: Mapping user requirements in the wearable smart glasses AR context using an affinity diagram is a new approach and therefore contributes to the creation of knowledge in the tourism domain. Practically, the area of wearable technologies and AR within the tourism and visitor industry context is still relatively unexplored and the present paper provides a first foundation for the implementation of wearable smart glasses AR applications in the museum and art gallery context

A Theoretical Model of Augmented Reality Acceptance

Recent tourism research increasingly explored the opportunities of using Augmented Reality (AR) in order to boost tourism and increase the value for tourists while travelling within a destination. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been applied to a number of research disciplines, lately also AR however, studies focusing on the tourism context are still scarce. As this field is expected to increase in importance rapidly due to technological advancements and research into functionality, acceptance and usefulness, it is important to identify what the basic requirements are for AR to be accepted by users. Furthermore, the provision of a conceptual model provides researchers with a starting point on which they can base their future research. Therefore, this paper proposes an AR acceptance model including five external variables that might be included in future AR acceptance research

User Experience Model for Augmented Reality Applications in Urban Heritage Tourism

While Augmented Reality (AR) is increasingly being implemented across a number of industry sectors, an open issue remains over the emotional as well as experiential impacts of this new technology within urban cultural heritage tourism. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to create a tourist experience model for AR tourism applications in the context of urban heritage tourism. The data were collected through five focus groups with a total of 49 participants. A theoretical tourist experience model was generated using Hassenzahl’s (2003) model of user experience. Hassenzahl’s (2003) model relies on the basic idea that product characteristics and features have an effect on the actual consequences. The data were analysed using thematic analysis in order to examine the alignment of themes according to previously identified themes from the literature as well as investigate new emergent themes from the focus groups. This study extends the theoretical aspect of the user experience model by Hassenzahl (2003) through empirical confirmation. The findings reveal that the user experience is formed by the correlation of product features and the perceptions and experiences of tourists. Due to the fact that successful implementation use cases of mobile AR applications is still limited, particularly within the tourism industry, the establishment of a comprehensive set of factors has been considered to be crucial for successful implementation