Virtual worlds — past, present, and future: New directions in social computing

Virtual worlds, where thousands of people can interact simultaneously within the same three-dimensional environment, represent a frontier in social computing with critical implications for business, education, social sciences, and our society at large. In this paper, we first trace the history of virtual worlds back to its antecedents in electronic gaming and on-line social networking. We then provide an overview of extant virtual worlds, including education-focused, theme-based, community-specific, children-focused, and self-determined worlds – and we analyze the relationship among these worlds according to an initial taxonomy for the area. Recognizing the apparent leadership of Second Life among today's self-determined virtual worlds, we present a detailed case study of this environment, including surveys of 138 residents regarding how they perceive and utilize the environment. Lastly, we provide a literature review of existing virtual world research, with a focus on business research, and a condensed summary of research issues in education, social sciences, and humanities.     

虚拟世界中的操纵技术研究进展II:对现有操纵技术的实验评价

随着VE技术日益被接受,在VE交互作用中如何最大地发挥操作者的作用将受到更多的关注。文章综述了沉浸式交互技术中最重要的问题之一:用于沉浸式对象选择和定位的交互技术,得到了一些通用性的VE界面的设计概念。     

Virtual goods,real goals: Exploring means-end goal structures of consumers in social virtual worlds

The aim of this study is to understand consumer goals for virtual consumption in social virtual worlds. Using a means-end chain approach, interviews with 93 users were analyzed to produce a hierarchical goal map, revealing that virtual consumption enables a diversity of goals beyond the previously identified experiential goals. The article's theoretical contributions include: (1) extending our understanding of user goals/goal relationships for virtual activities and (2) developing virtual liminoid theory, which describes transitions between users’ real-world and virtual identities and virtual consumption as a transition catalyst. The study illustrates the value of a goal focus for future research on user behavior in virtual worlds.     

How cues of what can be done in a virtual world influence learning: An affordance perspective

What we know about learning outcomes for collaborative tasks in virtual environments is a confusing set of results. Many organizations have been hesitant about their use of virtual environments for this reason. Virtual worlds (VWs) have received attention as environments for learning, yet little is known about their attributes, or how they affect learning in collaborative tasks. James Gibson proposed a theory of affordance to explain how cues in an environment are perceived and lead to some course of action. Based on his theory, we developed a model to describe how cues of what can be done in a VW influence learning. In doing so, we focused on the situativity afforded by VWs through context and social facilitation. We showed how VW artifacts and cues make it easier for users to understand the conditions and interactions in a VW.     

A pedagogical model to develop teaching skills. The collaborative learning experience in the Immersive Virtual World TYMMI

The initial training of quality teachers is seen as a key to improving the learning outcomes of students in Chile. The TYMMI project is one of the initiatives being developed to provide a space for simulation for teaching practices in immersive virtual environments in Second Life and Open Sim. Initial Teachers Training belong to the School of Education at the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, participated during 2014 in the implementation of challenges, based on a pedagogical model and teaching strategies such as role play and problem-based learning. Through direct observation and blogs, the results show that participants have an important domain in the pedagogical and technological interaction. Despite the perception of the technical difficulties of using platforms, students emphasize that the experience has been supportive along their teaching practices, and it has allowed them to reinforce subject content, which poses a very motivating intellectual and technological challenge.     

Living in the Hutt Space: Immersive process in the Star Wars Role-Play community of Second Life

Immersive virtual settings are evolving to become new “spaces of life”. Humans inhabit these different virtual worlds through their avatars, and tend to gather into communities. However, the behavioral factors underlying the cognitive process of immersion in virtual worlds are still far to be understood. We here investigated these factors using the Star Wars Role-Play community of the virtual setting of Second Life as a model. More specifically, our studies focused on the immersion process in the “Hutt Space”, a portion of the Star Wars Galaxy ruled by the alien species of the Hutts, which combines the trademark aspects of Star Wars universe. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we identified some of the factors which favor the immersion process. Our results suggest that the different behavioral factors contributing to the immersion process can be organized in three structuring dimensions: commitment, cohesion, and coherence. We also unveil a compensatory mechanism between appearance and behavioral factors in creation and maintenance of social groups in virtual worlds. Finally, we point out some of the behavioral aspects of the evolution from passive media engagement (spectators), to active media engagement (actors), and suggest a theoretical framework to investigate how human inhabit immersive virtual spaces.     

An interactional view of social presence: Making the virtual other “real”

In IS research, social presence is generally defined as the perceived capacity of a communication medium to convey contextual cues normally available in face‐to‐face settings. However, theorizing social presence as a property of the technology has been challenged for decades. The objective of this paper is to develop a more contemporary, interactional view of social presence. To this end, this paper develops a new conceptualization of how participants form the sense that each other is present. We characterize the development of this sense as a skilful accomplishment that entails interactants' joint construction of each other as “real.” Viewing social presence as contingent on social practice, we seek to answer the following research question: “How is social presence accomplished in virtual environments?” To explicate how virtual others are perceived as becoming socially present, that is, emotionally and psychologically “real” to someone interacting with them, we draw from Goffman's work, particularly his concepts of involvement and involvement obligation. Detailing two examples of social interaction in the virtual world Second Life, our analysis highlights the key role that this moral obligation, intrinsic to everyday social interaction, plays in virtual others becoming perceived as psychoemotionally “there.” By outlining a model of how the sense of a virtual other as “real” is produced in and through social interaction, our work contributes a sociological perspective to the construct of social presence and underscores some of the material and social conditions necessary for users to perceive virtual others as present.     

Mirrored selves: The influence of self-presence in a virtual world on health,appearance, and well-being

Though considerable research has investigated spatial and social presence, little research has examined the influence of self-presence in a mediated environment. The present work is an empirical study of the role of self-presence in a social virtual world on individuals’ offline health, appearance, and well-being. Second Life users (N = 279) completed an online questionnaire about their experiences of presence in the virtual world, the influence of their avatar on their offline appearance and health behaviors, and their level of satisfaction with the relationships they developed online. It was hypothesized that self-presence would be positively associated with avatar influence on health and appearance and that self-presence would render the influence of spatial and social presence statistically non-significant. Additionally, it was hypothesized that self-presence would be positively associated with satisfaction with relationships developed in the virtual world. Support was found for these predictions. Results suggest that self-presence is uniquely linked to the influence of the virtual self on offline health and appearance and is a significant predictor of the development of satisfying online relationships. Individual differences and potential prosocial effects of virtual worlds are also discussed.     

The Effect of Head Tracking on the Degree of Presence in Virtual Reality

ABSTRACT

The performance of a virtual reality (VR) system can be assessed from two aspects in the human-VR interaction loop. One aspect is the degree of immersion, which objectively quantifies the performance of the VR system using metrics such as the display field of view or the refresh rate. The other aspect is presence, which measures the user response to the VR system. This article presents a study that compares the impact on presence by changing immersion through enabling and disabling of the head tracking ability on a VR headset. The study quantitatively assesses this change by taking objective measurements of posture and subjective ratings of the VR experience, in terms of presence and motion sickness, after participants have gone through two versions of a roller coaster simulation; one with head tracking on and the other with head tracking off. The results indicate that a loss of immersion, caused by turning the head tracking feature off, results in a significant reduction in postural sway. This loss of immersion also affected presence, as shown through the user surveys. The survey responses indicate that the simulation with head tracking off was less enjoyable and caused more motion sickness compared to when head tracking is kept on.     

无人机操纵模拟训练中的VR技术

本文介绍了VR技术的基本概念,阐述了虚拟现实技术的核心思想,给出了用虚拟现实技术创建无人机操纵模拟训练系统的基本方法,具体说明了其中系统的整体构成,最后给出了系统将来的扩展情况.     

Windows95虚拟机（VM）机制分析

本文从各个角度对Windows95的虚拟机机制进行了详尽的分析     

虚拟机技术在计算机网络专业课程教学中的应用

计算机网络专业的很多课程的教学内容都涉及操作系统、硬件的配置和管理等,在目前的教学实验环境中不便于实施。通过虚拟机技术可以在现有教学和实验环境中模拟出需要的操作系统、网络环境进行各项实验。     

在分布式虚拟现实的环境中数据传输的研究

分布式虚拟现实技术可以在分布式环境下满足多人实时参与虚拟环境的要求．较好地实现了信息的交互、文中从分布式虚拟现实的特征、网络模型以及数据的传输进行了分析和讨论，减少网络通讯负载一直是分布式虚拟现实致力解决的问题，本文基于分布式虚拟环境介绍了兴趣管理技术，并提出了多阈值DR技术的思想。多阈值DR技术为解决大规模分布式虚拟环境的通讯负载提供了新的思路。     

虚拟样机技术在汽车发动机气门机构设计中的应用

该文应用虚拟样机技术及支撑软件ADAMS，在汽车产品开发过程中对某顶置凸轮轴高速发动机气门机构的性能进行了分析，预测与改进，最后将两种不同型线的凸轮装设在发动机上进行了实验，改进后发动机的功率提高显著，从而进一步验证了仿真的结果，运用这种方法在产品开发初期对性能进行了分析预测，用于指导与修正设计，并形成一套气门机构动态仿真的建模，分析规范，可在今后气门机构设计与分析过程中推广，对提高产品开发能力起到积极的作用。     

Correlating the effects of flow and telepresence in virtual worlds: Enhancing our understanding of user behavior in game-based learning

Recent research on online learning suggests that virtual worlds are becoming an important environment to observe the experience of flow. From these simulated spaces, researchers may gather a deeper understanding of cognition in the context of game-based learning. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) describes flow as a feeling of increased psychological immersion and energized focus, with outcomes that evoke disregard for external pressures and the loss of time consciousness, issuing in a sense of pleasure. Past studies suggest that flow is encountered in an array of activities and places, including those in virtual worlds. The authors’ posit that flow in virtual worlds, such as Second Life (SL), can be positively associated with degrees of the cognitive phenomenon of immersion and telepresence. Flow may also contribute to a better attitude and behavior during virtual game-based learning. This study tested three hypotheses related to flow and telepresence, using SL. Findings suggest that both flow and telepresence are experienced in SL and that there is a significant correlation between them. These findings shed light on the complex interrelationships and interactions that lead to flow experience in virtual gameplay and learning, while engendering hope that learners, who experience flow, may acquire an improved attitude of learning online.     

Presence and task performance: an approach in the light of cognitive style

The paper highlights the relationship between each of four bi-polar dimensions of personality cognitive style, such as extraversion–introversion, sensing–intuition, thinking–feeling and judging–perceiving, and the level of sense of presence experienced. Findings indicate that individuals who are more sensitive, more feeling or more introverted experience a higher level of presence. While not reaching statistical significance, differing cognitive styles appear to impact on task performance. The apparent negative relationship discovered between sense of presence and task performance should be considered in the light of task characteristics. We discuss the implications of these findings and how they contribute to an understanding of the complex relationship that exists between presence and task performance and how this subsequently ought to influence the design of virtual environments.     

网上虚拟教室中笔记系统的设计与实现

随着计算机网络的发展,网上教学成为当今计算机辅助教育的研究热点,而对于一个完善的网上虚拟教室系统,笔记系统是不可缺少的。文章着重论述了利用JAVA及JDBC对笔记系统的设计与实现,并提出了利用人工智能领域中的不确定推理等知识,根据学生感兴趣的主题词,主动进行信息获取服务。     

虚拟现实技术在高校的应用与展望

虚拟现实(VR)技术是采用以计算机技术为核心的现代高科技生成三维逼真的具有视、听、触觉等多种感知一体化的和谐人机环境。虚拟现实技术与高校教育教学相结合,必将引起教育教学方式的革命,全面提升高校教育教学质量。虚拟现实技术以其独特的魅力必将在未来教育领域进一步拓展其深度和广度。     

Human-like behavior of robot arms: general considerations and the handwriting task—Part II: the robot arm in handwriting

This paper (Part II) investigates the motion of a redundant anthropomorphic arm during the writing task. Two approaches are applied. The first is based on the concept of distributed positioning which is suitable to model the “writing” task before the occurrence of fatigue symptoms. The second approach uses the concept of “virtual fatigue” (VF) which is a variable that dynamically behaves in a way analogous to the biological fatigue. VF enables the arm to reconfigure itself and take postures appropriate for the current level of fatigue. The study includes the analysis of legibility and inclination of handwriting, and a set of simulation results that show most practical aspects of robot human-like performance.     

The influence of laboratory set-up in usability tests: effects on user performance,subjective ratings and physiological measures

This article examines the influences of situational factors on user behaviour in usability tests. Sixty participants carried out two tasks on a computer-simulated prototype of a mobile phone. Employing a 3 × 2 mixed experimental design, laboratory set-up was varied as a between-subjects variable (presence of facilitator and two non-interactive observers, presence of facilitator or no person present) while task difficulty was manipulated as a within-subjects variable (low vs. high). Performance data, subjective measures and physiological parameters (e.g. heart rate variability) were taken. The results showed that the presence of non-interactive observers during a usability test led to a physiological stress response, decreased performance on some measures and affected the emotional state of test participants. The presence of a facilitator (i.e. a participating observer) also influenced the emotional state of the test participant. Practitioners involved in usability testing need to be aware of undue influences of observers, in particular, if the observers are non-interactive. The findings presented in this paper have implications for the practice of usability testing. They indicated a considerable influence of observers on test participants (physiology and emotions) and on the outcomes of usability tests (performance measures). This should be considered when selecting the set-up of a usability testing procedure.