Co-presence and co-working in distributed collaborative virtual environments

Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) allow a number of users to share a common virtual space, where they may interact with one another and the environment. Immersive Telepresence involves the use of Video and Audio communication in projection-based CVEs, to support collaboration over distance as if face-to-face. Such approaches include the Office of the Future [29], the TELEPORT system [15] and other tele-presence [9] and spatially oriented video conferencing [5,6,7]. However, very little research has been carried out on what affects face-to-face communication when mediated via projection-based systems.In this paper, we explore how the use of video/audio, input device representations and other disturbance factors typical of projection-based virtual environments affect co-presence, co-working and co-knowledge in distributed CVEs. We present results from co-presence and co-working evaluation sessions of about 60 users of various profiles. An extensive statistical, group and variation group analysis of the results is carried out. The findings and the resulting design guidelines are presented in this paper in respect to the above factors