Part 16: Social and Collaborative Virtual Environments

(1)

Part 16:

Social and Collaborative

Virtual Environments

Virtuelle Realität

Wintersemester 2006/07

Prof. Bernhard Jung

IBM Ups Investment In Virtual World

IBM is set to invest $10 million over the next twelve months to increase its

presence in the market for technologies that enable so-called virtual worlds such as

Second Life, a 3-D Web environment in which people from various walks doff

their everyday identities to assume online alter egos, a company spokesman said

Friday.

As part of the effort, IBM will expand its use of Second Life, which now has more

than one million users, for virtual meetings with employees and business partners.

Next week, company CEO Sam Palmisano will go "in world" to hold a virtual town

hall on IBM's Second Life island. The company recently held a similar gathering

with the press and analysts, and has hosted a virtual party for IBM alumni inside

the online world. It's also building a 3-D replica of China's famed Palace Museum

inside Second Life, which will be open to cyber tourists.

IBM's virtual reality ambitions go far beyond Second Life, however, a spokesman

says.

…

(2)

Prof. B. Jung Virtuelle Realität, WS 2006/07

Social Virtual Environments

Virtual Reality

Real-time computer graphics, audio, haptics

3D user interface

"Presence"

: sense of "being there"

Social Virtual Environments

sense of "being with others"

collaborative work, meetings, games, entertainment, …

Overview

Conversation with others

Groupware

New communication technologies

Collaborative Virtual Environments

"Ubiquitous Virtual Reality"

Further Information

J. Preece, Y. Rogers & H. Sharp. Interaction Design – Beyound Human-Computer

Interaction. John Wiley & Sons. 2002.

Alan Dix, Janet E. Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, Russell Beale.

Human-Computer

Interaction

, 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall, 2004.

T. Pfeiffer, M. Weber & B. Jung: Ubiquitous Virtual Reality - Accessing Shared Virtual

Environments through Videoconferencing Technology.

Proceedings Theory and

Practice of Computer Graphics Conference.

Eurographics, 2005, pp. 209-216.

Available at: www.informatik.tu-freiberg.de/~mweber

(3)

Conversation with others

Various mechanisms and ‘rules’ we follow to hold a conversation

mutual greetings

A: Hi there

B: Hi!

C: Hi

A: All right?

C: Good, how’s it going?

A: Fine, how are you?

C: OK

B: So-so. How’s life treating you?

Conversational rules

turn-taking to coordinate conversation

A: Shall we meet at 8?

B: Um, can we meet a bit later?

A: Shall we meet at 8?

B: Wow, look at him?

A: Yes what a funny hairdo!

B: Um, can we meet a bit later?

Back channeling to signal to continue and following

Uh-uh, umm, ahh

(4)

More conversational rules

farewell rituals

Bye then, see you, see you later….

implicit and explicit cues

e.g. looking at watch, fidgeting with coat and bags

explicitly saying “Oh dear, must go, look at the time, I’m

late…”

Breakdowns in conversation

When someone says something that is misunderstood

Speaker will repeat with emphasis:

A: “this one?”

B: “no, I meant that one!”

(also a case of

deixis

:

this

and

that

refer to the visible

situation)

Also use tokens:

Eh? Quoi? Huh? What?

(5)

What happens in technology-mediated

conversations?

Do same conversational rules apply?

Are there more breakdowns?

How do people repair them?

Phone?

Email?

Instant messaging?

SMS texting?

Video conferencing?

Design implications

How to support conversations when people are ‘at a distance’ from

each other

Many applications have been developed

Email, videoconferencing, videophones, instant messaging, chatrooms,

collaborative virtual environments, media spaces

How effective are they?

(6)

What is groupware?

Software

specifically

designed

to support group working

with cooperative requirements in mind

NOT just tools for communication

Groupware can be classified by

when

and

where

the participants are working

the

function

it performs for cooperative work

The Time/Space Matrix

Classify groupware by:

when

the participants are working,

at the same

time

or not

where

the participants are working,

at the same

place

or not

Common names for axes:

time:

synchronous/asynchronous

place:

co-located/remote

different place same place same time different place

(7)

Time/Space Matrix (ctd)

different

place

same

place

same

time

different

time

face-to-face

conversation

telephone

post-it note

letter

Classification by Function

Cooperative work involves:

Participants

who are working

Artefacts

upon which they work

(e.g. documents)

participants

artefacts of work

control and

feedback

P

A

communication

understanding

direct

(8)

What interactions does a tool support?

participants artefacts of work control and feedback

P

A

communication understanding direct

meeting and decision

support systems

–

common understanding

computer-mediated

communication

–

direct communication

between participants

shared applications

and artefacts

–

control and feedback

with shared work objects

Time/space matrix revisited

co-located

remote

synchronous

asynchronous

co-authoring systems, shared calendars argumentation tools email and electronic conferences shared work surfaces and editors

shared PCs and windows video conferences, video-wall, etc. Collaborative VEs meeting rooms CAVEs

Second Life

Hologram Messaging (still SciFi)

(9)

Synchronous computer-mediated

communication

Conversations are supported in real-time through voice and/or typing

Examples include video conferencing, chatrooms, collaborative virtual

environments

Benefits

Can keep more informed of what is going on

Video conferencing allows everyone to see each other providing some support for

non-verbal communication

Chatrooms can provide a forum for shy people to talk more

Problems:

Video lacks bandwidth so judders and lots of shadows

Difficult to establish eye contact with images of others

People can behave badly when behind the mask of an avatar

(10)

Will video be a success

using G3 mobile phones?

The VP-210" VisualPhone: a mobile video phone developed by the japanese company Kyocera Corporation

Source: http://www.kyocera.co.jp/news/1999/9905/0003-e.asp

• Will the judder, sudden jerks and shadows

disappear?

• Will it be possible to establish eye contact

and read lips on such a small image?

• Will people find it socially acceptable to

talk to an image of someone in the palm of

their hands?

Asynchronous computer-mediated

communication

Communication takes place remotely at different times

Email, bulletin boards, newsgroups, online forums, blogs, …

Recipients of email:

direct in To: field

copies in Cc: field

delivery identical – difference is social purpose

Benefits include:

Read any place any time

Flexible as to how to deal with it

Powerful, can send to many people

Can make saying things easier

Problems include:

FLAMING!!!

Spamming

Message overload

(11)

txt is gr8

instant messaging

1996 – ICQ small company

now millions

more like conversation

SMS

people adapt their communication styles to medium

y is it we al lv shrt msgs

originally a feature of internal management protocol

short messages (160 chars) and text with numbers

no-one predicted mass adoption!!

now phones with cameras for MMS

Hi, u there

want to meet later

yeh, had a good night last night?

uhu

Computer-mediated communication combined with

other activity: Meeting and decision support systems

In design, management, and research, we want to:

generate ideas

develop ideas

record ideas

Primary emphasis: common understanding

Three types of systems

argumentation tools

asynchronous co-located

recording the arguments for design decisions

meeting rooms

synchronous co-located

electronic support for face-to-face meetings

shared drawing surfaces

synchronous remote

shared drawing board at a distance

(12)

Typical meeting room

shared

screen

Meeting rooms

synchronous co-located

electronic support for face-to-face meetings

individual terminals (often recessed)

large shared screen (electronic whiteboard)

special software

U or C shaped seating around screen

Various modes:

brainstorming, private use, WYSIWIS

WYSIWIS – ‘what you see is what I see’

all screens show same image

(13)

Meeting capture

use ordinary

whiteboard

detector and

special pens

LCD projection

on whiteboard

low-cost alternative

to dedicated meeting

room

New communication technologies

Move beyond trying to support face-to-face communication

Provide novel ways of interacting and talking

Examples include:

SMS texting via mobile phones

Online chatting in chatrooms

Media spaces

(14)

Hypermirror

(Morikawa and Maesako, 1998)

allows people to feel as if they are in the same virtual place

even though in physically different spaces

(woman in white sweater is in a different room to the other three)

People in different

places are superimposed

on the same screen

to make them appear as if

in same space

Creating personal space in Hypermirror

2) Two in this room are invading the ‘virtual’ personal space

of the other person by appearing to be physically on top of them

3) Two in the room move apart to allow person in other space more ‘virtual’ personal space

(15)

Everyone happy

Clearboard (Ishii et al, 1993)

ClearBoard - transparent board that shows other

person’s facial expression on your board as you draw

(16)

Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs)

meet others in a virtual world

participants represented – embodiment

artefacts too …

computer

(e.g. spreadsheet)

and ‘real’ (virtually) objects

text?

consistent orientation or easy to read

MUDs (Multi-user domains)

2D/3D places to meet on the web

users represented as avatars

Collaborative Virtual Environments

The rooftop garden in BowieWorld, a Collaborative Virtual environment

(CVE), supported by Worlds.com. Users take part by “dressing up” as

an avatar. There are 100s of avatars to choose from, including

penguins and real persons. Once an avatar has entered a world they

can explore it and chat to other avatars.

(17)

Collaborative Virtual Environments

Second Life

(SL) is a privately owned, partly subscription-based 3-D virtual

world, made publicly available in 2003 by San Francisco-based Linden Lab,[2]

and founded by former RealNetworks CTO Philip Rosedale. Users can visit this

virtual world almost as if it were a real place. They explore, meet new people,

participate in individual and group activities, and, if they decide to visit often, they

learn new skills and mature socially (in the sense of learning the culture of the

virtual world). Though sometimes referred to as a game, Second Life does not

have points, scores, winners and losers, levels, and end-strategy, or most of the

other characteristics of a game.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life

Videogames: Virtual Thievery

Criminals break into accounts, steal artifacts and sell them for thousands of dollars.

Dec. 11, 2006 issue - Keep a close eye on your magic wand, or somebody will steal it. World of

Warcraft and other Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games have recently become the

target of criminals who seek in-game currency, or gold, because of its real-world value.

Cyberthieves break into players' accounts, steal the artifacts and characters acquired during the

course of the game, and sell them—sometimes for thousands of dollars. Whereas gold farmers in

China have sought to acquire gold legitimately by playing WOW for hours on end, theft is a

relatively new phenomenon, says Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at F-secure, a

cybersecurity firm in Helsinki. "We really didn't see this a year ago."

…

One reason criminals have gone for game crime is because it's less risky than breaking into online

bank accounts. Chances are your local police won't even be able to keep a straight face when you

report that someone stole your magical potions.

Thieves also benefit from lax virtual-property laws in the United States, where most of these

games are made. Designers are reluctant to push for legal recognition of virtual property for fear

of being held liable for theft. "Game designers certainly don't want to facilitate hacking, but they

often are concerned about their own potential liability for a loophole that creates a hack," says

John Fairfield, associate professor of law at Indiana University. "So therefore they don't share the

incentives to publicize and enforce as strongly as the owner of the virtual property would." The

game companies argue that they own the virtual property, not the players. "Because players don't

(18)

Collaborative Virtual Environments

Virtuelle Werkstatt – Collaborative Virtual Prototyping in VR

Universität Bielefeld, Universität zu Lübeck

(19)

Collaborative Virtual Environments

PASION - Psychologically Augmented Interaction Over Networks

Universität Bielefeld

http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/ags/wbski/PASION/

"Interactive Social

Displays im virtuellen

Raum erlauben die

Interaktion mittels Bild,

Ton und erweiterten

Möglichkeiten

zwischen Individuen

und Gruppen."

Ubiquitous Virtual Reality

Accessing Shared Virtual Environments through

Videoconferencing Technology

Thies Pfeiffer,

SFB 360, University of Bielefeld, Germany

Matthias Weber, and Bernhard Jung

Technical University of Freiberg, Germany

Talk presented at

(20)

What if...

... one could communicate to distant places?

telegraphy, phone, chat

... one could communicate on the road?

mobile phones, sms

... one could see each other in remote communication?

Videoconferencing Solutions

Desktop

WebCam & Microphone

NetMeeting, iChat, GnomeMeeting

Stand-Alone

Polycom VSX 3000

D-Link DVC-2000

TelePortec Teleporter

(3D, Volumetric Display)

VSX 3000

DVC-2000

Teleporter

(21)

What if...

... one could communicate to distant places?

telegraphy, phone, chat

... one could communicate on the road?

mobile phones, sms

... one could really see each other?

videoconferencing

... the remote place is not real?

Videoconferencing in VR

2D-Videoimage: AliceStreet 3D-Avatars: blue-c Coliseum … (seewww.kolabora.com/news/2004/02/20/ threedimensional_virtual_conferencing_rooms_ become.htm)

(see Gross et al., blue-c: A Spatially Immersive Display and 3D Video Portal for Telepresence, Siggraph 2003)

(see Baker et al., Computation and Performance Issues In Coliseum, An Immersive Videoconferencing System, ACM Multimedia 2003)

(22)

What if...

... one could communicate to distant places?

telegraphy, phone, chat

... one could communicate on the road?

mobile phones, sms

... one could really see each other?

videoconferencing

... the other place is not real?

shared virtual environments

... the communication partner is not real?

chatter bots, telephony systems

Chatting Avatars

(Permanent Exhibition at the Heinz-Nixdorf Museum, developed

by the AI group at University of Bielefeld, picture taken from

http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/ags/wbski/labortag2002.html)

(23)

What if...

everything is possible?

Distant mobile communication

Audio and video

Natural communication

Standard clients

Seamless transition between

human-human and

human-machine interaction

When one could interact with an

artificial system using

Motivation

Using

standard

software and protocols

Using

different

platforms

Supporting different input modalities

using video, audio and data

→

Using videoconferencing technology

Goal: viewing and controlling

(24)

History of Videoconferencing

1924

- Two-Way Videophone demonstration

by Herbert Eugene Ives

(b&w, 1929 color)

1936

- First official Videophone connection

(Berlin-Leipzig, Deutsche Reichspost)

1956

- Picturephone

®

_{by AT&T}

1971

- First trans-atlantic videophone

(

Ericsson)

1992 -

INRIA Videoconferencing System

(IP-based software)

1996

- ITU-T standard

H.323 v1

1996

- Microsoft NetMeeting v2.0

(with video)

2000

- First MPEG-4 streaming video cell phone (Samsung)

2001

- First trans-atlantic tele surgery

2004

- ITU-T recommends H.264 video codec

Videoconferencing

Connecting people with each other

Channels for multi-modal communication

Audio: speech, sounds

Video: gestures, facial expressions

Data: text-chat

Bidirectional

Point-to-point or multipoint

Different protocols:

(25)

3D Conferencing

Connecting people within VEs

All conferencing participants use special purpose VR software

to share the VE

Mixed reality

Videoconferencing in AR/VR

Studierstube

(Vienna University of Technology, Austria):

video transferred via Videoconferencing (H.323)

special protocol for other data, like tracking

special client needed that computes tracking

no standard software

(see Istvan Barakonvi, W. Frieb, Dieter Schmalstieg,

Augmented Reality Videoconferencing for Collaborative Work, Proc. of the 2nd Hungarian Conference on Computer Graphics and Geomtery, Budapest, Hungary, May 2003)

Part 16: Social and Collaborative Virtual Environments

Part 16:

Social and Collaborative

Virtual Environments

Virtuelle Realität

Wintersemester 2006/07

Prof. Bernhard Jung

IBM Ups Investment In Virtual World

IBM is set to invest $10 million over the next twelve months to increase its

presence in the market for technologies that enable so-called virtual worlds such as

Second Life, a 3-D Web environment in which people from various walks doff

their everyday identities to assume online alter egos, a company spokesman said

Friday.

As part of the effort, IBM will expand its use of Second Life, which now has more

than one million users, for virtual meetings with employees and business partners.

Next week, company CEO Sam Palmisano will go "in world" to hold a virtual town

hall on IBM's Second Life island. The company recently held a similar gathering

with the press and analysts, and has hosted a virtual party for IBM alumni inside

the online world. It's also building a 3-D replica of China's famed Palace Museum

inside Second Life, which will be open to cyber tourists.

IBM's virtual reality ambitions go far beyond Second Life, however, a spokesman

says.

…

Social Virtual Environments

Virtual Reality

Real-time computer graphics, audio, haptics

3D user interface

"Presence"

: sense of "being there"

Social Virtual Environments

sense of "being with others"

collaborative work, meetings, games, entertainment, …

Overview



Conversation with others



Groupware



New communication technologies



Collaborative Virtual Environments

"Ubiquitous Virtual Reality"

Further Information

J. Preece, Y. Rogers & H. Sharp. Interaction Design – Beyound Human-Computer

Interaction. John Wiley & Sons. 2002.

Alan Dix, Janet E. Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, Russell Beale.

Human-Computer

Interaction

, 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall, 2004.

T. Pfeiffer, M. Weber & B. Jung: Ubiquitous Virtual Reality - Accessing Shared Virtual

Environments through Videoconferencing Technology.

Proceedings Theory and

Practice of Computer Graphics Conference.

Eurographics, 2005, pp. 209-216.

Available at: www.informatik.tu-freiberg.de/~mweber

Conversation with others

Various mechanisms and ‘rules’ we follow to hold a conversation

mutual greetings

A: Hi there

B: Hi!

C: Hi

A: All right?

C: Good, how’s it going?

A: Fine, how are you?

C: OK

B: So-so. How’s life treating you?

Conversational rules

turn-taking to coordinate conversation

A: Shall we meet at 8?

B: Um, can we meet a bit later?

A: Shall we meet at 8?

B: Wow, look at him?

A: Yes what a funny hairdo!

B: Um, can we meet a bit later?

Back channeling to signal to continue and following

Uh-uh, umm, ahh

More conversational rules

farewell rituals

Bye then, see you, see you later….

implicit and explicit cues