Statistics for Spatial Data.

The effectiveness of virtual environments (VEs) has often been linked to the sense of presence reported by users of those VEs. (Presence is defined as the subjective experience of being in one place or environment, even when one is physically situated in another.) We believe that presence is a normal awareness phenomenon that requires directed attention and is based in the interaction between sensory stimulation, environmental factors that encourage involvement and enable immersion, and internal tendencies to become involved. Factors believed to underlie presence were described in the premier issue of Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. We used these factors and others as the basis for a presence questionnaire (PQ) to measure presence in VEs. In addition we developed an immersive tendencies questionnaire (ITQ) to measure differences in the tendencies of individuals to experience presence. These questionnaires are being used to evaluate relationships among reported presence and other research variables. Combined results from four experiments lead to the following conclusions: 
the PQ and ITQ are internally consistent measures with high reliability;
there is a weak but consistent positive relation between presence and task performance in VEs;
individual tendencies as measured by the ITQ predict presence as measured by the PQ; and
individuals who report more simulator sickness symptoms in VE report less presence than those who report fewer symptoms.

/pdf/measuring-presence-in-virtual-environments-a-presence-40c26nz3zb.pdf

Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire

From the Publisher: 
The accessible presentation of this book gives both a general view of the entire computer vision enterprise and also offers sufficient detail to be able to build useful applications. Users learn techniques that have proven to be useful by first-hand experience and a wide range of mathematical methods. A CD-ROM with every copy of the text contains source code for programming practice, color images, and illustrative movies. Comprehensive and up-to-date, this book includes essential topics that either reflect practical significance or are of theoretical importance. Topics are discussed in substantial and increasing depth. Application surveys describe numerous important application areas such as image based rendering and digital libraries. Many important algorithms broken down and illustrated in pseudo code. Appropriate for use by engineers as a comprehensive reference to the computer vision enterprise.

Computer vision : a modern approach = 计算机视觉 : 一种现代的方法

A number of emerging technologies including virtual reality, simulation rides, video conferencing, home theater, and high definition television are designed to provide media users with an illusion that a mediated experience is not mediated, a perception defined here as presence. Traditional media such as the telephone, radio, television, film, and many others offer a lesser degree of presence as well. This article examines the key concept of presence. It begins by noting practical and theoretical reasons for studying this concept. Six conceptualizations of presence found in a diverse set of literatures are identified and a detailed explication of the concept that incorporates these conceptualizations is presented. Existing research and speculation about the factors that encourage or discourage a sense of presence in media users as well as the physiological and psychological effects of presence are then outlined. Finally, suggestions concerning future systematic research about presence are presented.

At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence

The term ‘‘Internet-of-Things’’ is used as an umbrella keyword for covering various aspects related to the extension of the Internet and the Web into the physical realm, by means of the widespread deployment of spatially distributed devices with embedded identification, sensing and/or actuation capabilities. Internet-of-Things envisions a future in which digital and physical entities can be linked, by means of appropriate information and communication technologies, to enable a whole new class of applications and services. In this article, we present a survey of technologies, applications and research challenges for Internetof-Things.

/pdf/internet-of-things-vision-applications-and-research-4xfstaiv80.pdf

Internet of things: Vision, applications and research challenges

Future computing environments will free the user from the constraints of the desktop. Applications for a mobile environment should take advantage of contextual information, such as position, to offer greater services to the user. In this paper, we present the Cyberguide project, in which we are building prototypes of a mobile context-aware tour guide. Knowledge of the user's current location, as well as a history of past locations, are used to provide more of the kind of services that we come to expect from a real tour guide. We describe the architecture and features of a variety of Cyberguide prototypes developed for indoor and outdoor use on a number of different hand-held platforms. We also discuss the general research issues that have emerged in our context-aware applications development in a mobile environment.

https://condor.depaul.edu/dmumaugh/readings/handouts/SE430/p421-abowd-97.pdf

Cyberguide: a mobile context-aware tour guide

Objective The authors' goal was to examine the efficacy of computer-generated (virtual reality) graded exposure in the treatment of acrophobia (fear of heights) Method Twenty college students with acrophobia were randomly assigned to virtual reality graded exposure treatment (N = 12) or to a waiting-list comparison group (N = 8) Seventeen students completed the study Sessions were conducted individually over 8 weeks Outcome was assessed by using measures of anxiety, avoidance, attitudes, and distress associated with exposure to heights before and after treatment Results Significant differences between the students who completed the virtual reality treatment (N = 10) and those on the waiting list (N = 7) were found on all measures The treatment group was significantly improved after 8 weeks, but the comparison group was unchanged Conclusions The authors conclude that treatment with virtual reality graded exposure was successful in reducing fear of heights

Effectiveness of Computer-Generated (Virtual Reality) Graded Exposure in the Treatment of Acrophobia

We present the Cyberguide project, in which we are building prototypes of a mobile context-aware tour guide that provide information t,o a tourist based on knowledge of position and orientation. We describe features of existing Cyberguide prototypes and discuss research issues that have emerged in our context-aware applications development in a mobile environment.

Rapid prototyping of mobile context-aware applications: the Cyberguide case study

This paper describes an experiment to assess the influence of immersion on performance in immersive virtual environments. The task involved Tri-Dimensional Chess, and required subjects to reproduce on a real chess board the state of board learned from a sequence of moves witnessed in a virtual environment. Twenty four subjects were allocated to a factorial design consisting of two levels of immersion (exocentric screen based, and egocentric HMD based), and two kinds of environment (plain and realistic). The results suggest that egocentric subjects performed better than exocentric, and those in the more realistic environment performed better than those in the less realistic environment. Previous knowledge of chess, and amount of virtual practice were also significant, and may be considered as control variables to equalise these factors amongst the subjects. Other things being equal, males remembered the moves better than females, although female performance improved with higher spatial ability test score. The paper also attempts to clarify the relationship between immersion, presence and performance, and locates the experiment within such a theoretical framework.

Immersion, presence and performance in virtual environments: an experiment with tri-dimensional chess

We view college classroom teaching and learning as a multimedia authoring activity. The classroom provides a rich setting in which a number of different forms of communication co-exist, such as speech, writing and projected images. Much of the information in a lecture is poorly recorded or lost currently. Our hypothesis is that tools to aid in the capture and subsequent access of classroom information will enhance both the learning and teaching experience. To test that hypothesis, we initiated the Classroom 2000 project at Georgia Tech. The purpose of the project is to apply ubiquitous computing technology to facilitate automatic capture, integration and access of multimedia information in the educational setting of the university classroom. In this paper, we discuss various prototype tools we have created and used in a variety of courses and provide an initial evaluation of the acceptance and effectiveness of the technology. We also share some lessons learned in applying ubiquitous computing technology in a real setting.

http://www.aquaphoenix.com/presentation/candidacy/abowd96.pdf

Rob Kooper

Papers

Cyberguide: a mobile context-aware tour guide

Effectiveness of Computer-Generated (Virtual Reality) Graded Exposure in the Treatment of Acrophobia

Rapid prototyping of mobile context-aware applications: the Cyberguide case study

Immersion, presence and performance in virtual environments: an experiment with tri-dimensional chess

Teaching and learning as multimedia authoring: the classroom 2000 project