Mobile video calls are widely used to share information about real-world objects and environments with remote collaborators. While these calls provide valuable visual context in real time, the experience of interacting with people and moving around a space is significantly reduced when compared to co-located conversations. Recent work has demonstrated the potential of Mobile Augmented Reality applications to enable more spatial forms of collaboration across distance. To better understand the dynamics of mobile AR collaboration and how this medium compares against the status quo, we conducted a comparative structured observation study to analyze people’s perception of space and interaction with remote collaborators across mobile video calls and AR-based calls. Fourteen pairs of participants completed a spatial collaboration task using each medium. Through a mixed-methods analysis of session videos, transcripts, motion logs, post-task exercises, and interviews, we highlight how the choice of medium influences the roles and responsibilities that collaborators take on and the construction of a shared language for coordination. We discuss the importance of spatial reasoning with one’s body, how video calls help participants “be on the same page” more directly, and how AR calls enable both onsite and remote collaborators to engage with the space and each other in ways that resemble in-person interaction. Our study offers a nuanced view of the benefits and limitations of both mediums, and we conclude with a discussion of design implications for future systems that integrate mobile video and AR to better support spatial collaboration in its many forms.

Cross Reality (CR) is a new emerging field based on the current developments in Mixed Reality hardware, especially supported by the broad market penetration of video-based see-through Head-Mounted Displays. It refers to applications that span across different stages (real, Augmented Reality, Augmented Virtuality, Virtual Reality) of the reality-virtuality continuum, where users are interconnected between different stages and/or are able to transition between these stages. This publication follows the concept of other grand challenges publications and reflects the discussion of various researchers invested in CR. After an initial discussion at the 1stJoint Workshop on Cross Reality at IEEE ISMAR 2023, six topic groups have been identified, leading to 22 challenges, which were discussed in groups over the period of multiple months. The discussion of these challenges should act as a road map for future research in the area of CR.

Peer Reviewed

Meetings often suffer from a lack of intentionality, such as unclear goals and straying off-topic. Identifying goals and maintaining their clarity throughout a meeting is challenging, as discussions and uncertainties evolve. Yet meeting technologies predominantly fail to support meeting intentionality. AI-assisted reflection is a promising approach. To explore this, we conducted a technology probe study with 15 knowledge workers, integrating their real meeting data into two AI-assisted reflection probes: a passive and active design. Participants identified goal clarification as a foundational aspect of reflection. Goal clarity enabled people to assess when their meetings were off-track and reprioritize accordingly. Passive AI intervention helped participants maintain focus through non-intrusive feedback, while active AI intervention, though effective at triggering immediate reflection and action, risked disrupting the conversation flow. We identify three key design dimensions for AI-assisted reflection systems, and provide insights into design trade-offs, emphasizing the need to adapt intervention intensity and timing, balance democratic input with efficiency, and offer user control to foster intentional, goal-oriented behavior during meetings and beyond.

In this demonstration, we present a system for creating and viewing spatial memories using mobile devices. The concept of interacting with three-dimensional recordings of people and places has been explored using depth cameras and Augmented and Virtual Reality headsets, but these methods require specialized hardware that has not yet reached wider availability. Recent developments in mobile camera technology have presented new capabilities which we leverage in our application for Spatial Mobile Memories. The application captures visual and depth information, together with the orientation and movement of the mobile device. This is then combined into a single standard image or video file. Users can share these files via personal messaging channels, and replay them in 2D and 3D across devices using the same application. The goal of this project is to develop open and widely-accessible systems for the creation and viewing of spatial memories that leverage the ubiquity and familiarity of mobile devices.

In-person human interaction relies on our spatial perception of each other and our surroundings. Current remote communication tools partially address each of these aspects. Video calls convey real user representations but without spatial interactions. Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) experiences are immersive and spatial but often use virtual environments and characters instead of real-life representations. Bridging these gaps, we introduce DualStream, a system for synchronous mobile AR remote communication that captures, streams, and displays spatial representations of users and their surroundings. DualStream supports transitions between user and environment representations with different levels of visuospatial fidelity, as well as the creation of persistent shared spaces using environment snapshots. We demonstrate how DualStream can enable spatial communication in real-world contexts, and support the creation of blended spaces for collaboration. A formative evaluation of DualStream revealed that users valued the ability to interact spatially and move between representations, and could see DualStream fitting into their own remote communication practices in the near future. Drawing from these findings, we discuss new opportunities for designing more widely accessible spatial communication tools, centered around the mobile phone.

Studies involving collaboration in groups are frequently carried out under symmetrical conditions, meaning that all team members have the same role at the same time. In Virtual Reality, symmetrical collaboration often seems attractive as it allows all participants to be included in the VR environment, but it is not clear whether this provides any benefits over asymmetric forms of collaboration, such as when some team members are in VR while others are working on laptops. We conducted a study to compare the conditions of symmetric configurations (both team members use VR) and asymmetric configurations (one member in VR, and the other uses a laptop) when two participants performed a creativity task together. We found that there were differences in participant behaviour and the ideas generated. We conclude by proposing guidelines for future work in the area, particularly related to the use of Virtual Reality for creativity workshops.

Fostering data visualization literacy (DVL) as part of childhood education could lead to a more data literate society. However, most work in DVL for children relies on a more formal educational context (i.e., a teacher-led approach) that limits children's engagement with data to classroom-based environments and, consequently, children's ability to ask questions about and explore data on topics they find personally meaningful. We explore how a curiosity-driven, child-led approach can provide more agency to children when they are authoring data visualizations. This paper explores how informal learning with crafting physicalizations through play and curiosity may foster increased literacy and engagement with data. Employing a constructionist approach, we designed a do-it-yourself toolkit made out of everyday materials (e.g., paper, cardboard, mirrors) that enables children to create, customize, and personalize three different interactive visualizations (bar, line, pie). We used the toolkit as a design probe in a series of in-person workshops with 5 children (6 to 11-year-olds) and interviews with 5 educators. Our observations reveal that the toolkit helped children creatively engage and interact with visualizations. Children with prior knowledge of data visualization reported the toolkit serving as more of an authoring tool that they envision using in their daily lives, while children with little to no experience found the toolkit as an engaging introduction to data visualization. Our study demonstrates the potential of using the constructionist approach to cultivate children's DVL through curiosity and play.

Augmented Reality (AR), with its ability to make people feel like they are in the same space as friends from across the world, is an ideal medium for the purpose of Networked Musical Collaboration. Most conventional systems that enable networked musical collaboration minimize network latency by focusing on the transfer of auditory information at the expense of visual feedback. Studies into human perception have shown that sensory integration of audio and visual stimuli can take place even when there is a slight delay between the two signals. We studied the way changes in network latency effect participants’ auditory and visual perception in latency detection, latency tolerance and attention focus; in this paper, we explore the trade-off between the presence of AR visuals and the minimization of latency. Twenty-four participants were asked to play a hand drum and collaborate with a prerecorded remote musician rendered as an avatar in AR. Multiple trials involving different levels of audio-visual latency were conducted. We then analyzed the subjective responses of the participants together with the recorded musical information from each session. Results indicate a minimum noticeable delay value–defined as the highest amount of delay that can be experienced before two stimulated senses are perceived as separate events–between 160 milliseconds (ms) and 320 ms. Players also reported that a delay between sound and an accompanying avatar animation became less tolerable at 320 ms of delay, but was never completely intolerable, even up to 1200 ms of delay. We conclude that players begin to notice delay at about 320 ms and most players can tolerate large delays between sound and animation.

The possible interactions with Mobile Augmented Reality applications today are largely limited to on-screen gestures and spatial movement. There is an opportunity to design new interaction methods that address common issues and go beyond the screen. Through this project, we explore the idea of using a second phone as a controller for mobile AR experiences. We develop prototypes that demonstrate the use of a second phone controller for tasks such as pointing, selecting, and drawing in 3D space. We use these prototypes and insights from initial remote evaluations to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of such an interaction method. We conclude by outlining opportunities for future research on Dual Phone AR for multiple usage configurations, and in collaborative settings.