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The effect of immersive extended reality environment on destination appeal.

Citizenship education, international competences and extended reality: Immerse yourself

Article for the Albanian Studies Days 2021 of the European University of Tirana.  Higher education supports students in acquiring competences; a mix of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Experience has shown that it is precisely attitude and skills that ensure a better connection to the labor market, in whatever sector in whatever country.

Performative prototyping in collaborative mixed reality environments: an embodied design method for ideation and development in virtual reality.

Collaborative Mixed Reality Environments (CMREs) enable designing Performative Mixed Reality Experiences (PMREs) to engage participants’ physical bodies, mixed reality environments, and technologies utilized. However, the physical body is rarely purposefully incorporated throughout such design processes, leaving designers seated behind their desks, relying on their previous know-how and assumptions. In contrast, embodied design techniques from HCI and performing arts afford direct corporeal feedback to verify and adapt experiential aesthetics within the design process. This paper proposes a performative prototyping method, which combines bodystorming methods with Wizard of Oz techniques with a puppeteering approach, using inside-out somaesthetic- and outside-in dramaturgical perspectives. In addition, it suggests an interdisciplinary vocabulary to share and evaluate PMRE experiences during and after its design collaboration. This method is exemplified and investigated by comparing two case studies of PMRE design projects in higher-art education using the existing Social VR platform NEOS VR adapted as a CMRE.

Exploration of design methods and tools for virtual, augmented and mixed reality

This paper shows an overview of design practices of the XR-lab at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. Over the course of six years, interdisciplinary teams of students have delivered 55+ prototypes in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality for a variety of 40+ clients. As human-computer interaction is entering a new evolutionary phase towards human-computer integration, new opportunities in extended reality (XR) have the potential to fundamentally alter human characteristics and abilities. Therefore, this paper begins with taking a philosophical stance on ‘being human’ and the anthropological concept of ‘liminality’ in XR-experiences. A further exploration of the concept of 'emotional rehearsal spaces' uses know-how from performance art, dance, architecture, and dramaturgy. Insights from tangible practices at the XR-lab show the cultural journey in XR-collaborations. This is made visible through a quick and dirty experiment on artistic thinking, design thinking, and system thinking, which shows how interdisciplinary collaborations are able to ignite new combinations of thought in design teams and individual professionals. Finally, we show an overview of specific design methods and tools that have been explored at the XR-lab over the years.

Virtual reality tourism experiences : addiction and isolation

This qualitative research note reports two neglected themes in research on virtual reality tourism experiences, i.e. its potentially addictive nature and temporary sense of isolation. Existing work on virtual reality tourism experiences has applied existing knowledge and theories and has solely tested how VR applications can positively mediate or moderate the tourist experience. This study adopted an inductive approach, analyzing contents of reviews and blogs, and consequently uncovered a temporary sense of isolation and the addictive nature of virtual reality as hidden themes within virtual reality tourism experiences. We stress the importance of further work on addiction and a sense of isolation in terms of their nature, role, and effects

Virtual and augmented reality gamifcation of visuospatial neglect treatment

Abstract Background Visuospatial neglect (VSN) is a cognitive disorder after stroke in which patients fail to consciously process and interact with contralesional stimuli. Visual Scanning Training (VST) is the recommended treatment in clinical guidelines. At the moment, several mixed reality versions of Visual Scanning Training (VST) are being developed. The aim of this study was to explore the opinions of end-users (i.e., therapists) on the use of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in VSN treatment. Methods Therapists played one VR and two AR Serious Games, and subsequently flled out a questionnaire on User Experience, Usability, and Implementation. Results Sixteen therapists (psychologists, occupational, speech, and physiotherapists) played the games, thirteen of them evaluated the games. Therapists saw great potential in all three games, yet there was room for improvement on the level of usability, especially for tailoring the games to the patient’s needs. Therapists’ opinions were comparable between VR and AR Serious Games. For implementation, therapists stressed the urgency of clear guidelines and instructions. Discussion Even though VR/AR technology is promising for VSN treatment, there is no one-size-fts-all applicability. It may thus be crucial to move towards a plethora of training environments rather than a single standardized mixed reality neglect treatment. Conclusion As therapists see the potential value of mixed reality, it remains important to investigate the efcacy of AR and VR training tools.