Michael P. Craven

Exploiting interactivity, influence, space and time to explore non-linear drama in virtual worlds

We present four contrasting interfaces to allow multiple viewers to explore 3D recordings of dramas in on-line virtual worlds. The first is an on-line promenade performance to an audience of avatars. The second is a form of immersive cinema, with multiple simultaneous viewpoints. The third is a tabletop projection surface that allows viewers to select detailed views from a birds-eye overview. The fourth is a linear television broadcast created by a director or editor. A comparison of these examples shows how a viewing audience can exploit four general resources - interactivity, influence, space, and time - to make sense of complex, non-linear virtual drama. These resources provide interaction designers with a general framework for defining the relationship between the audience and the 3D content.

Temporal links: recording and replaying virtual environments

Virtual reality (VR) currently lacks the kinds of sophisticated production technologies that are commonly available for established media such as video and audio. This paper introduces the idea of temporal links, which provide a flexible mechanism for replaying past or recent recordings of virtual environments within other real-time virtual environments. Their flexibility arises from a combination of temporal, spatial and presentational properties. Temporal properties determine the relationship between time in a live environment and time in a recording, including the apparent speed and direction of replay. Spatial properties determine the spatial relationship between the environment and the recording. Presentational properties determine the appearance of the recording within the environment. These properties may be fixed, dynamically varied by an application, or directly controlled in real-time by users. Consequently, temporal links have a wide variety of potential uses, including supporting post-production tools for virtual environments, post-exercise debriefing in training simulators, and asynchranous communication such as VR email, as well as providing new forms of content for virtual worlds that refer to past activity. We define temporal links and their properties and describe their implementation in the MASSIVE-3 Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) system, focusing on the underlying record and replay mechanisms. We also demonstrate applications for adding new content to an existing virtual world, and a VR post-production editor.

Inhabited television: broadcasting interaction from within collaborative virtual environments

Inhabited television combines collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) with broadcast television so that on-line audiences can participate in television shows within shared virtual worlds. We describe a series of experiments with inhabited television, beginning with the NOWninety6 poetry performance, The Mirror, and Heaven & Hell—Live. These early experiments raised fundamental questions for inhabited television concerning the extent to which it is possible to establish fast-paced social interaction within a CVE, and to which it is possible to produce a coherent and engaging broadcast of this action. We then present a fourth more recent experiment, Out of This World, that directly addressed these questions. We describe how the formulation of inhabited television design principles, combined with the use of dedicated production software for scripting and directing a show and for controlling virtual cameras, enabled us to create a fast-moving and more coherent experience.

Medical device design in context: A model of user–device interaction and consequences

The practice of evaluating interaction with devices is embedded in disciplines such as human–computer interaction and cognitive ergonomics, including concepts such as affordances, error analysis, skill, rule and knowledge based behaviour and decision making biases. This paper considers the way in which the approach that has been routinely applied to displays and control design within the control and transport domains can be transferred to the context of medical devices. The importance of considering the context in which medical devices are used and implemented is presented, and the need for a systems approach to medical device design is emphasised. Five case studies from medical device control and display design are presented as an aide to developing an understanding of the relationship between device design and resultant behaviours. On the basis of these case studies, four types of mediating factors (catalysts, enablers, facilitators and enhancers) are proposed and a model to describe the link between device design, user, context and consequences is presented.

Broadcasting on-line social interaction as inhabited television

Inhabited TV combines collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) with broadcast TV so that on-line audiences can participate in TV shows within shared virtual worlds. Three early experiments with inhabited TV raised fundamental questions concerning the extent to which it is possible to establish fast-pace social interaction within a CVE and produce a coherent and engaging broadcast of this action. This paper presents a fourth more recent experiment, Out of This World that directly addressed these questions. We describe how the formulation of inhabited TV design principles, combined with the use of dedicated production software, for constraining and directing participants’ actions and for controlling virtual cameras, enabled us to create a fastmoving and coherent show. We conclude that our experiments to date demonstrate the technical feasibility of inhabited TV, but that greater attention needs to be paid to developing appropriate formats and content for this new medium before it becomes truly engaging. We also suggest that our real time production and camera software may be useful in other areas of CSCW.

Ages of avatar: community building for inhabited television

In this paper we describe and analyse the community building process for Ages of Avatar, a set of on-line Collaborative Virtual Environments created in MicrosoftVirtual Worlds, which form part of an ongoing experiment in Inhabited Television, aiming to merge CVEs and broadcast media. We describe the means by which the CVEs were launched, promoted and supported alongside a television broadcast channel, and how actions of viewers acting as inhabitants in the CVE can be used to provide broadcast material. We explain how the world content and their super-structure were managed to encourage the growth of a community over a short period of time. Using logs of activities in the worlds we deduce some of the characteristics of the community which was formed.

To the Castle! A comparison of two audio guides to enable public discovery of historical events

This paper describes and compares two audio guides used to inform the general public about local historical events, specifically the 1831 Reform Riot as it happened in and around Nottingham in England. One audio guide consisted of a guided walk, organised and produced by a local community history group, where members of the group performed spoken narratives at specific points of interest around Nottingham city centre, delivered to a large group of participants. The other guide was a trail of geolocated audio files, created by the same community history group and delivered via location-aware smartphones to a smaller group of participants. This second guide provided similar historical information at the same points of interest as the guided walk, authored using a third-party software app that employed a mapping facility to trigger audio events at specified locations. Our central research question was to examine how these experiences differed or were similar; whether they provided an effective means of learning by the general public about local historical events; and how these kinds of techniques can be used in the future or by other community groups.

Patterns of network and user activity in an inhabited television event

Inhabited Television takes traditional broadcast television and combines it with multiuser virtual reality, to give new possibilities for interaction and participation in and around shows or channels. “Out Of This World” was an experimental inhabited TV show, staged in Manchester, in September 1998, using the MASSIVE-2 system. During this event we captured comprehensive records of network traffic, and additional logs of user activity (in particular movement and speaking). In this paper we present the results of our analyses of network and user activity in these shows. We contrast our results with those obtained from previous analyses of teleconferencing-style scenarios. We find that the inhabited television scenario results in much higher levels of user activity, and significant bursts of coordinated activity. We show how these characteristics must be taken into account when designing a system and infrastructure for applications of this kind. In particular, it is clear that any notion of strict turn-taking (and associated assumptions about resource sharing) is completely unfounded in this domain. We also show that the concept of “levels of participation” is a powerful tool for understanding and managing the bandwidth-requirements of an inhabited television event.

Developing mHealth Remote Monitoring Technology for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Qualitative Study Eliciting User Priorities and Needs

Background Guidelines in the United Kingdom recommend that medication titration for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) should be completed within 4-6 weeks and include regular reviews. However, most clinicians think that weekly clinic contact is infeasible, and audits have shown that this timeline is rarely achieved. Thus, a more effective monitoring and review system is needed; remote monitoring technology (RMT) may be one way to improve current practice. However, little is known about whether patients with ADHD, their families, and clinicians would be interested in using RMT. Objective To explore patients’, parents’, and health care professionals’ views and attitudes toward using digital technology for remote monitoring during titration for ADHD. Methods This was a qualitative study, and data were collected through 11 focus groups with adults and young people with ADHD, parents of children with ADHD, and health care professionals (N=59). Results All participant groups were positive about using RMT in the treatment of ADHD, but they were also aware of barriers to its use, especially around access to technology and integrating RMT into clinical care. They identified that RMT had the most potential for use in the ongoing management and support of ADHD, rather than during the distinct titration period. Participants identified features of RMT that could improve the quality of consultations and support greater self-management. Conclusions RMT has the potential to augment support and care for ADHD, but it needs to go beyond the titration period and offer more to patients and families than monitoring through outcome measures. Developing and evaluating an mHealth app that incorporates the key features identified by end users is required.

Surgeon opinion on new technologies in orthopaedic surgery

Technological advances such as computer navigation systems and robotics, including support systems for minimally invasive surgery, have the potential to revolutionise how orthopaedic surgery is carried out. However uptake has so far been limited. Increased awareness of user requirements in adoption decision-making will be useful. In this regard, the opinion of the individual surgeon regarding his or her willingness to engage in a novel technology has rarely been garnished. This paper analyses the opinions of orthopaedic consultants from the UK and USA about technological advances in hip and knee arthroplasty, factors contributing to successful short-term and long-term surgical outcome, and patient preferences. The survey, using a web-based questionnaire, was carried out in 2006–2007 and followed up in 2010. The results of this research give a greater insight into why surgical technologies that have the potential to improve patient outcome are not more speedily adopted in the health service.