slides

Mixed Reality Collaboration

A Mixed Reality environment may be characterized as an environemnt where the real world and virtual worlds are mixed and presented/accessed together on a screen or other communication medium.

In a distributed workspace the IT collaboration tools introduce new concepts

the context and collaboration tools can be easily changed causing shifts in operation modes - completely new functions as move my eyes to another place, slightly modified tools as select only dark blue objects,many use the same tool in parallel (a pen,...), tools for personal or team views to work space, etc.
direct contact and communication media between participants change - real time, delayed conversation, contact via Avatar ('an incarnation in human form' according to Merriam Webster), resolution in face expression, sound quality, physical placement of persons in space, etc.
the common work space can be defined in many ways - desk top, VR building, separate intra personal workspaces, personal work spaces, team work spaces, linked real rooms or one common room for all collaborators, spacesf for personal and team annotations of models, etc..
the relation between collaborators placement in the mixed reality work space - possible optional placements, space overlays, sketch on a common area, sketch on a dividing glass, work space stabilization/orientation (none, head, body or Avatar for one or many coallborators), etc.

As in all access to computer stored models it is important that the user feel comfortable and can partly can rely om previous experinces - tools, comunication paradigms, etc.