The spatial nature of large-scale virtual worlds introduces wayfinding problems which are often o... more The spatial nature of large-scale virtual worlds introduces wayfinding problems which are often overlooked in the design process. In order to design and build useful virtual worlds in which real work can take place, these issues must be addressed. The research described here is a study of human wayfinding in virtual worlds and how real world solutions can be applied to virtual world design. The objective of this work is to develop design principles which will lead to a design methodology for virtual worlds in which wayfinding problems are alleviated.
Given recent attention to the use of virtual environments (VEs) for familiarization of unknown sp... more Given recent attention to the use of virtual environments (VEs) for familiarization of unknown spaces, there has been no discussion to date concerning behavioral or qualitative analyses of how navigating in a VE differs from navigating in the real world and what effects these differences have on performance. We discuss such an analysis of several recent experiments we have completed. We break the task into route planning, rehearsal, and execution with associated maintenance and error recognition and recovery behaviors. In many instances, we can show that behaviors and strategies evident in the VE training phase are also evident in the real world transfer task. Consequently, while the data does not support the use of VEs as training aids for navigation, it does suggest that the VE can predict performance levels based on strategies employed.
Maintaining knowledge of current position and orientation is frequently a problem for people in v... more Maintaining knowledge of current position and orientation is frequently a problem for people in virtual environments. In this paper we present a toolset of techniques based on principles of navigation derived from real world analogs. We include a discussion of human and avian navigation behaviors and show how knowledge about them were used to design our tools. We also summarize an informal study we performed to determine how our tools influenced the subjects' navigation behavior. We conclude that principles extracted from real world navigation aids such as maps can be seen to apply in virtual environments.
Given that the best measures of presence currently available are subjective self-assessments, it ... more Given that the best measures of presence currently available are subjective self-assessments, it is desirable to attempt to develop reliable, repeatable, quantitative measures. We present the results of two experiments intended to decompose presence into measurable subcomponents; attention and spatial comprehension. The first experiment was a conventional dual-task study where we measured attentional demands of competing virtual and real world experiences. The results suggest that attention may be a reasonable quantitative measure of presence. The study also showed that the use of sound increased the level of engagement experienced by participants. The second study attempted to correlate spatial knowledge acquisition with presence. The only component of spatial knowledge acquisition that was positively affected was landmark knowledge which improved with the addition of semantic verbal information. The data does not generally support a relationship between spatial comprehension and presence but again, it was found that the use of sound increased participants' sense of engagement in the virtual world. There are certainly other candidate subcomponents of presence but we began our investigation here. An expanded investigation towards the development of an aggregate quantitative measure of presence is suggested.
... EDTV/MPEG-2 is designed for digital broadcast television while HDTV/MPEG-2 is an extension fo... more ... EDTV/MPEG-2 is designed for digital broadcast television while HDTV/MPEG-2 is an extension for high-definition television. ... At the very least, viewing streaming digital video in real time is inherently problematic for several reasons. ... It is also not possible to slow down the video ...
... virtual beam as a visual cue extending from devices such as a baton or glove ... Pierce et al... more ... virtual beam as a visual cue extending from devices such as a baton or glove ... Pierce et al described Image Plane techniques which allow selection and positioning of objects ... Although all these techniques are quite adept at providing 3D selection and manipulation capabilities to ...
Abstract: Virtual environment research involves a number of related problems from a variety of do... more Abstract: Virtual environment research involves a number of related problems from a variety of domains. A joint research at the George Washington University and the Naval Research Laboratory is bringing together issues from these domains to study the factors that ...
The spatial nature of large-scale virtual worlds introduces wayfinding problems which are often o... more The spatial nature of large-scale virtual worlds introduces wayfinding problems which are often overlooked in the design process. In order to design and build useful virtual worlds in which real work can take place, these issues must be addressed. The research described here is a study of human wayfinding in virtual worlds and how real world solutions can be applied to virtual world design. The objective of this work is to develop design principles which will lead to a design methodology for virtual worlds in which wayfinding problems are alleviated.
Given recent attention to the use of virtual environments (VEs) for familiarization of unknown sp... more Given recent attention to the use of virtual environments (VEs) for familiarization of unknown spaces, there has been no discussion to date concerning behavioral or qualitative analyses of how navigating in a VE differs from navigating in the real world and what effects these differences have on performance. We discuss such an analysis of several recent experiments we have completed. We break the task into route planning, rehearsal, and execution with associated maintenance and error recognition and recovery behaviors. In many instances, we can show that behaviors and strategies evident in the VE training phase are also evident in the real world transfer task. Consequently, while the data does not support the use of VEs as training aids for navigation, it does suggest that the VE can predict performance levels based on strategies employed.
Maintaining knowledge of current position and orientation is frequently a problem for people in v... more Maintaining knowledge of current position and orientation is frequently a problem for people in virtual environments. In this paper we present a toolset of techniques based on principles of navigation derived from real world analogs. We include a discussion of human and avian navigation behaviors and show how knowledge about them were used to design our tools. We also summarize an informal study we performed to determine how our tools influenced the subjects' navigation behavior. We conclude that principles extracted from real world navigation aids such as maps can be seen to apply in virtual environments.
Given that the best measures of presence currently available are subjective self-assessments, it ... more Given that the best measures of presence currently available are subjective self-assessments, it is desirable to attempt to develop reliable, repeatable, quantitative measures. We present the results of two experiments intended to decompose presence into measurable subcomponents; attention and spatial comprehension. The first experiment was a conventional dual-task study where we measured attentional demands of competing virtual and real world experiences. The results suggest that attention may be a reasonable quantitative measure of presence. The study also showed that the use of sound increased the level of engagement experienced by participants. The second study attempted to correlate spatial knowledge acquisition with presence. The only component of spatial knowledge acquisition that was positively affected was landmark knowledge which improved with the addition of semantic verbal information. The data does not generally support a relationship between spatial comprehension and presence but again, it was found that the use of sound increased participants' sense of engagement in the virtual world. There are certainly other candidate subcomponents of presence but we began our investigation here. An expanded investigation towards the development of an aggregate quantitative measure of presence is suggested.
... EDTV/MPEG-2 is designed for digital broadcast television while HDTV/MPEG-2 is an extension fo... more ... EDTV/MPEG-2 is designed for digital broadcast television while HDTV/MPEG-2 is an extension for high-definition television. ... At the very least, viewing streaming digital video in real time is inherently problematic for several reasons. ... It is also not possible to slow down the video ...
... virtual beam as a visual cue extending from devices such as a baton or glove ... Pierce et al... more ... virtual beam as a visual cue extending from devices such as a baton or glove ... Pierce et al described Image Plane techniques which allow selection and positioning of objects ... Although all these techniques are quite adept at providing 3D selection and manipulation capabilities to ...
Abstract: Virtual environment research involves a number of related problems from a variety of do... more Abstract: Virtual environment research involves a number of related problems from a variety of domains. A joint research at the George Washington University and the Naval Research Laboratory is bringing together issues from these domains to study the factors that ...
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Papers by Rudolph Darken