i-com Band 19 (2020) Heft 2

The Shared View Paradigm in Asymmetric Virtual Reality Setups

2020-08-13T08:07:27Z

The Shared View Paradigm in Asymmetric Virtual Reality Setups Horst, Robin; Klonowski, Fabio; Rau, Linda; Dörner, Ralf Asymmetric Virtual Reality (VR) applications are a substantial subclass of multi-user VR that offers not all participants the same interaction possibilities with the virtual scene. While one user might be immersed using a VR head-mounted display (HMD), another user might experience the VR through a common desktop PC. In an educational scenario, for example, learners can use immersive VR technology to inform themselves at different exhibits within a virtual scene. Educators can use a desktop PC setup for following and guiding learners through virtual exhibits and still being able to pay attention to safety aspects in the real world (e. g., avoid learners bumping against a wall). In such scenarios, educators must ensure that learners have explored the entire scene and have been informed about all virtual exhibits in it. According visualization techniques can support educators and facilitate conducting such VR-enhanced lessons. One common technique is to render the view of the learners on the 2D screen available to the educators. We refer to this solution as the shared view paradigm. However, this straightforward visualization involves challenges. For example, educators have no control over the scene and the collaboration of the learning scenario can be tedious. In this paper, we differentiate between two classes of visualizations that can help educators in asymmetric VR setups. First, we investigate five techniques that visualize the view direction or field of view of users (view visualizations) within virtual environments. Second, we propose three techniques that can support educators to understand what parts of the scene learners already have explored (exploration visualization). In a user study, we show that our participants preferred a volume-based rendering and a view-in-view overlay solution for view visualizations. Furthermore, we show that our participants tended to use combinations of different view visualizations.

Investigating the Relationship Between Emotion Recognition Software and Usability Metrics

2020-08-13T08:07:27Z

Investigating the Relationship Between Emotion Recognition Software and Usability Metrics Schmidt, Thomas; Schlindwein, Miriam; Lichtner, Katharina; Wolff, Christian Due to progress in affective computing, various forms of general purpose sentiment/emotion recognition software have become available. However, the application of such tools in usability engineering (UE) for measuring the emotional state of participants is rarely employed. We investigate if the application of sentiment/emotion recognition software is beneficial for gathering objective and intuitive data that can predict usability similar to traditional usability metrics. We present the results of a UE project examining this question for the three modalities text, speech and face. We perform a large scale usability test (N = 125) with a counterbalanced within-subject design with two websites of varying usability. We have identified a weak but significant correlation between text-based sentiment analysis on the text acquired via thinking aloud and SUS scores as well as a weak positive correlation between the proportion of neutrality in users’ voice and SUS scores. However, for the majority of the output of emotion recognition software, we could not find any significant results. Emotion metrics could not be used to successfully differentiate between two websites of varying usability. Regression models, either unimodal or multimodal could not predict usability metrics. We discuss reasons for these results and how to continue research with more sophisticated methods.

appRaiseVR – An Evaluation Framework for Immersive Experiences

2020-08-13T08:07:27Z

appRaiseVR – An Evaluation Framework for Immersive Experiences Wienrich, Carolin; Gramlich, Johanna VR is evolving into everyday technology. For all diverse application areas, it is essential to understand the user’s condition to ensure a safe, pleasant, and meaningful VR experience. However, VR experience evaluation is still in its infancy. The present paper takes up this research desideratum by conflating diverse expertise and learnings about experience evaluation in general and VR experiences in particular into a systematic evaluation framework (appRaiseVR).

Method. To capture diverse expertise, we conducted two focus groups (bottom-up approach) with experts working in different fields of experience evaluation (e. g., Movie Experience, Theatre Experiences). First, we clustered the results of both focus groups. Then, we conflated those results and the learnings about experience evaluation stemming from the field of user experience into the final framework (top-down approach).

Results. The framework includes five steps providing high-level guidance through the VR evaluation process. The first three steps support the definition of the experience and evaluation conditions (setting, level, plausibility). The last two steps guide the selection to find an appropriate time course and tools of measure.

Conclusion. appRaiseVR offers high-level guidance for evaluators with different expertise and contexts. Finally, establishing similar evaluation procedures might contribute to safe, pleasant, and meaningful VR experiences.

Mixed Reality based Collaboration for Design Processes

2020-08-13T08:07:27Z

Mixed Reality based Collaboration for Design Processes Hube, Natalie; Müller, Mathias; Lapczyna, Esther; Wojdziak, Jan Due to constantly and rapidly growing digitization, requirements for international cooperation are changing. Tools for collaborative work such as video telephony are already an integral part of today’s communication across companies. However, these tools are not sufficient to represent the full physical presence of an employee or a product as well as its components in another location, since the representation of information in a two-dimensional way and the resulting limited communication loses concrete objectivity. Thus, we present a novel object-centered approach that compromises of Augmented and Virtual Reality technology as well as design suggestions for remote collaboration. Furthermore, we identify current key areas for future research and specify a design space for the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality remote collaboration in the manufacturing process in the automotive industry.