Designing spaces to support collaborative creativity in shared virtual environments

Abstract

Shared virtual environments (SVEs) have been researched extensively within the fields of education, entertainment, work, and training, yet there has been limited research on the creative and collaborative aspects of interactivity in SVEs. The important role that creativity and collaboration play in human society raises the question of the way that virtual working spaces might be designed to support collaborative creativity in SVEs. In this paper, we outline an SVE named LeMo, which allows two people to collaboratively create a short loop of music together. Then we present a study of LeMo, in which 52 users composed music in pairs using four different virtual working space configurations. Key findings indicated by results include: (i) Providing personal space is an effective way to support collaborative creativity in SVEs, (ii) personal spaces with a fluid light-weight boundary could provide enough support, worked better and was preferable to ones with rigid boundaries and (iii) a configuration that provides a movable personal space was preferred to one that provided no mobility. Following these findings, five corresponding design implications for shared virtual environments focusing on supporting collaborative creativity are given and conclusions are made.

Immersive Virtual Environments’ Impact on Individual and Collective Creativity

“…Our review (see Table 1) shows that 11 studies took advantage of VR affordances to explore new creativity techniques involving (a) a virtual upgrade of classic techniques such as the persona method (Bonnardel et al, 2016; Bonnardel & Pichot, 2020; Li et al, 2018), (b) virtual sketching and prototyping software (Obeid & Demirkan, 2020; Vistisen et al, 2019), and (c) sophisticated VR installations and interfaces (Forens et al, 2015; Fröhlich et al, 2018; Gerry, 2017; Men & Bryan-Kinns, 2018, 2019; Men et al, 2019). These techniques were tested during individual or collaborative creative tasks in domains such as design, music composition, and art-making.…”

“…Other creativity techniques have been tested, such as virtual sketching and prototyping software (Obeid & Demirkan, 2020; Vistisen et al, 2019) and sophisticated VR installations and interfaces for music composition, terraforming, and art-making (Fröhlich et al, 2018; Gerry, 2017; Men & Bryan-Kinns, 2018, 2019; Men et al, 2019). The aim of these studies was to assess the feasibility of the techniques and users’ experiences and perceptions.…”

“…These studies involved VR headsets, interactive virtual menus, and motion tracking systems. For instance, Men and colleagues (Men & Bryan-Kinns, 2018, 2019; Men et al, 2019) explored how shared virtual environments should be designed to support creative, collaborative music-making. They designed and refined iteratively a virtual music interface that allows users to generate, remove, position, and edit music in pairs in a virtual space that includes a grey stage with a grid pattern.…”

Spatial Design Considerations for Interactive Audio in Virtual Reality

“…The LeMo allows two co-located users avatar-based CMM in VR, using a variety of sequencer instruments [63][64][65]. Depending on experimental condition, different spatial features would be activated, such as private workspace areas and spatially reactive loudness.…”

Dandelion Diagram: Aggregating Positioning and Orientation Data in the Visualization of Classroom Proxemics

“…Meanwhile, related studies also explored other representations as alternatives or in addition to heatmaps, in order to, for example, study trajectory patterns of people in a shopping mall [22] or a museum [14]. However, orientation (e.g., heading) of people is rarely integrated in indoor movement analytics (see an example by Men et al [19]), since existing research mostly concerns people's location, movement, or trajectory patterns rather than their attention pattern [6] (i.e. which directions they have been attended to).…”