Avatars meet meetings: design issues in integrating avatars in distributed corporate meetings (original) (raw)
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Enhancing distributed corporate meetings with lightweight avatars
2010
The difficulties remote participants of distributed meetings face are widely recognized. In this paper we describe the design of an avatar-based e-meeting support tool named Olympus, which aims to ameliorate some of the challenges remote participants face in distributed meetings. Olympus provides a customizable peripheral display on the bottom of existing e-meeting solutions. An initial observational study was conducted of the use of Olympus in 6 meetings, three each of a status meeting and a presentation meeting. Avatars fostered team bonding through social play during status meetings, while minimalist dots allowed focused attention during presentation meetings.
Proceedings of the 16th ACM international conference on Supporting group work - GROUP '10, 2010
The difficulties remote participants of distributed meetings face are widely recognized. In this paper we describe the design of an avatar-based e-meeting support tool named Olympus, which aims to ameliorate some of the challenges remote participants face in distributed meetings. Olympus provides a customizable peripheral display on the bottom of existing e-meeting solutions. An initial observational study was conducted of the use of Olympus in 6 meetings, three each of a status meeting and a presentation meeting. By illustrating how avatars were used in the two meeting types, we hope to surface design issues and refine our understanding of how avatars may be useful in the design of online meeting spaces.
Handbook of Science and Technology Convergence, 2016
This chapter reviews and examines virtual meetings (VM). VM are meetings where participants are distributed across physical space or time yet seek/act as virtually colocated in a commonplace. Computer-mediated VM are the common form or mode of interest. Many millions of people regularly engage in such meetings worldwide, most often in small groups with others known to them. This chapter focuses attention on two different recurring forms of such meetings: VM conducted through online documents or artifacts that may be stored, accessed, or transacted via their associated systems and repositories and VM where participants employ computer-rendered avatars in immersive virtual worlds to denote their presence, identity, and ability to interact with other avatars through online media or experiences.
MeetCues: Supporting Online Meetings Experience
2020 IEEE Visualization Conference (VIS), 2020
The remote work ecosystem is transforming patterns of communication between teams and individuals located at distance. Particularly, the absence of certain subtle cues in current communication tools may hinder an online's meeting outcome by negatively impacting attendees' overall experience and, often, make them feeling disconnected. The problem here might be due to the fact that current tools fall short in capturing it. To partly address this, we developed an online platform-MeetCues-with the aim of supporting online communication during meetings. MeetCues is a companion platform for a commercial communication tool with interactive and visual UI features that support back-channels of communications. It allows attendees to be more engaged during a meeting, and reflect in real-time or post-meeting. We evaluated our platform in a diverse set of five, real-world corporate meetings, and we found that, not only people were more engaged and aware during their meetings, but they also felt more connected. These findings suggest promise in the design of new communications tools, and reinforce the role of InfoVis in augmenting and enriching online meetings.
Experimental Comparison of Multimodal Meeting Browsers
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2007
This paper describes an experimental comparison of three variants of a meeting browser. This browser incorporates innovative, multimodal technologies to enable storage and smart retrieval of captured meeting. Over a hundred subjects had to work in a design team in which they had to prepare and carry out a final meeting, while supported by one of the browser variants. In one condition, teams worked without such support. Measures on individual characteristics, the team, the process and outcome of the project, and the usability of the browsers were taken. The results indicate that a multimodal meeting browser can indeed improve meetings. Further analysis of the now available data will provide additional insight into how browsers can contribute to more efficient and satisfactory meetings, improved team performance and higher quality project outcomes.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2012
Globalization and increasing collaboration between remote teams drive the need for teleconference systems. However, currently no videoconferencing system matches the face-to-face experience for a business meeting with many participants in a flexible and affordable manner. In search for a better solution, we created a Virtual Meeting Room (VMR) application that visualizes key events detected using computer vision (e.g., participant entering the meeting room, talking, presenting) in a 3D virtual environment. The goal was to provide a good sense of overview to users when many meeting participants-represented by 3D avatars-from remote locations join a teleconference. In this paper, a technical overview of the working prototype-built using 3D game technology-is presented. Also, feedback from multiple user tests performed during the development of the prototype is discussed and presented as a set of recommendations. From the technical perspective, we found that existing 3D game technology is mature, affordable and contains the features needed to build the VMR application. From the users' and experts' feedback, we conclude that the VMR has merits as a teleconferencing support tool accompanying a video stream that conveys more detailed non-verbal communication of the active speaker.
Meeting browsers and meeting assistants: a review
The previous chapter (Chapter 11) explained how user requirements directed our development of meeting support technology, more specifically meeting browsers and assistants. Chapters 3 to 9 discussed the enabling components, i.e. the multimodal signal processing necessary to build meeting support technology. In the following, we will present an overview of the meeting browsers and assistants developed both in AMI and related projects, as well as outside this consortium.
Refining personal and social presence in virtual meetings
15Th Australasian User Interface Conference, 2014
Virtual worlds show promise for conducting meetings and conferences without the need for physical travel. Current experience suggests the major limitation to the more widespread adoption and acceptance of virtual conferences is the failure of existing environments to provide a sense of immersion and engagement, or of 'being there'. These limitations are largely related to the appearance and control of avatars, and to the absence of means to convey non-verbal cues of facial expression and body language. This paper reports on a study involving the use of a mass-market motion sensor (Kinect™) and the mapping of participant action in the real world to avatar behaviour in the virtual world. This is coupled with full-motion video representation of participant's faces on their avatars to resolve both identity and facial expression issues. The outcomes of a small-group trial meeting based on this technology show a very positive reaction from participants, and the potential for further exploration of these concepts.
Online and off-line visualization of meeting information and meeting support
2006
In current meeting research we see modest attempts to visualize the information that has been obtained by either capturing and probably more importantly by interpreting the activities that take place during a meeting. The meetings being considered take place in smart meeting rooms. Cameras, microphones and other sensors capture meeting activities. Captured information can be stored and retrieved. Captured information can also be manipulated and in turn displayed on different media. We survey our research in this area, look at issues that deal with turn-taking and gaze behavior of meeting participants, issues that deal with influence and talkativeness, and issues that deal with virtual embodied representations of meeting participants. We stress that this information is interesting not only for real-time meeting support, but also for remote participants and off-line consultation of meeting information.
1992
This paper describes the Liveboard, a large interactive display system. With nearly one million pixels and an accurate, multi-state, cordless pen, the Liveboard provides a basis for research on user interfaces for group meetings, presentations and remote collaboration. We describe the underlying hardware and software of the Liveboard, along with several software applications that have been developed. In describing the system, we point out the design rationale that was used to make various choices. We present the results of an informal survey of Liveboard users, and describe some of the improvements that have been made in response to user feedback. We conclude with several general observations about the use of large public interactive displays.