+********************************************************************** * * * Einladung * * * * Informatik-Oberseminar * * * +********************************************************************** Zeit: Mittwoch, 26. Juni 2024, 10.00 Uhr Ort: Seminarraum 003, IT Center, Kopernikusstraße 6 Referentin: Andrea Bönsch, M.Sc. Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Virtuelle Realität und Immersive Visualisierung (LuFG i12) und IT Center Thema: Social Wayfinding Strategies to Explore Immersive Virtual Environments Abstract: To create Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) representing believable and appealing urban spaces, high-quality architectural reconstructions alone are insufficient. Instead, these reconstructions need to be complemented by embedding Virtual Agents (VAs). These computer-controlled, anthropomorphic characters breathe life into the scene, either by actively functioning as direct interaction partners or by passively enlivening the IVEs, e.g., as virtual pedestrians. Regardless of the VAs' roles, user engagement in unfamiliar IVEs primarily revolves around scene exploration to facilitate successful navigation and interaction within the scene. The involved wayfinding procedure --- encompassing users' understanding of their surroundings, route planning, and informed decision-making --- is profoundly grounded in a social context where the presence and behavior of others, in our case, the embedded VAs, influence the user. The core contribution of this thesis is, thus, to enhance our understanding of wayfinding as a social activity in Virtual Reality (VR) applications. We achieved this through the optimization of user support during scene exploration by strategically integrating VAs as inherent components within IVEs. Thereby, we undertake a three-fold approach: Firstly, by adopting a theoretical approach we develop a user-centered wayfinding taxonomy categorizing diverse wayfinding strategies in VR. Within this taxonomy, we introduce VAs as novel wayfinding support, distinguishing between strong social wayfinding (direct guidance by VAs) and weak social wayfinding (subtle VA influence on navigation decisions). This conceptual framework facilitates a deeper understanding of how users interact within IVEs. Secondly, we enhance the spatial behavior of VAs for improved user experience during collaborative navigation. Through ecologically valid VR-based user studies, we uncover nuanced user preferences regarding VA proximity management, behavior during non-interaction periods, and responses to inferred user intents. These findings inform the enhancement of VAs' interactive capabilities displaying responsive and socially compliant behavior for an improved user experience. Lastly, we enable the efficient utilization of VAs as social wayfinding support. Through VR-based user studies, we refine the behavioral design of virtual guides by effectively balancing guidance and the user's autonomous exploration, fostering optimal user-agent interaction during strong social wayfinding. Additionally, we propose a VA design as weak social wayfinding that subtly influences user navigation within IVEs by shaping pedestrian flows, substantiated through empirical validation. Comparative analysis of both approaches in terms of user experience and scene knowledge gain elevates our comprehension of effective VA utilization in immersive environments. In summation, this research contributes to the advancement of VAs as advanced human interfaces, fostering enhanced user acceptance, usability, and perceived social presence within VR environments. Es laden ein: die Dozentinnen und Dozenten der Informatik -- Aleksandra Lukic RWTH Aachen University - Visual Computing Institute - Virtual Reality & Immersive Visualization - Computer Science Department – LuFG i12 - IT Center - Computational Science & Engineering Kopernikusstraße 6, 52074 Aachen, Germany Phone +49 241 80-29233 Email office@vr.rwth-aachen.de URL www.vr.rwth-aachen.de