Presentation held at "All Things Virtual" seminar 10.6.2011 about the results of the ViiWe project

1. Virtual W ld
Vi t l Worlds as an
Innovative Collaboration Media for
Distributed Work
Marko Hakonen | Project Manager of VIIWE -Virtual Worlds
as Innovative Working Environments project
A work i progress i collaboration with
k in in ll b i ih
Petra Bosch-Sijtsema, Johanna Haapamäki and Anu Sivunen

2. Motivation
• Based on findings of review by Sivunen & Hakonen (In
press). Review of Virtual Environment Studies on Social
and Group Phenomena. Small Group Research.
– Lack of research in professional settings academic and
practical novelty
• Virtual worlds (VWs) could be an emerging media for
distributed
di t ib t d workk
– Fun is not opposite to serious work (Reeves & Read, 2009)!

3. Research Question and Definition
RQ:
How virtual worlds can support innovative collaboration
process in distributed work?
Definition:
D fi iti
By innovative collaboration in VW we mean new or
improved ways of collaboration that takes place in a 3D
virtual environment.

4. Methods
1. Literature review on VW collaboration and on
innovation and creativity in VWs (41 articles)
• The references to distributed work are often indirect
2.
2 Interviews (N = 47) of company representatives using
VWs plus VW vendors and experts
• Analyzed from the viewpoint of use in distributed work
• This presentation: Comparison of current literature
claims (empirical or speculative) vs. our interview
vs
data.

5. Model
1. Psychological and
behavioral enablers of
innovative collaboration
3. Forms of innovative
collaboration
2. Technological
features as enablers of
innovative collaboration

6. 1.
1 Psychological and Behavioral
Enablers of Innovative Collaboration

7. Psychological Processes
Literature Interviews
• Immersion, engagement and • “It almost feels magical when two
co-presence are necessary for people are placed in a virtual room,
successful VW collaboration. they seem to lose all sense of
(e.g., Helms et al., 2010; Reeves & Read, 2009; everything around them.”
Sallnäs, 2005)
• “You can build trust faster [in VW]
You
• Avatar based collaboration than in a telephone call and, in
increases trust and is related to part, that’s because each of us can
positive attitudes. (e.g., Bente et al., see the actions of each other.”
2008; Hindmarsh et al., 2006; Diehl & Prins, 2008)
• “They may pay attention a little bit
more and are not multitasking.”
• Avatars based interaction lowered
barriers f people t t lk to
b i for l to talk t
strangers.
Match and enrichment: Collaboration in VW was seen to inhibit multitasking.
Psychological safety can help people in distributed collaboration.
collaboration

8. Behavior – Proxemics as a Signal
Literature Interviews
• Non-verbal communication has • Not found in interviews!
a strong potential to enhance
interaction. (Antonijevic, 2008)
• Persons hold an interpersonal
distance that is typical for them
in real life also between avatars
and distance signals e.g., liking
or prejudice. (Bailenson et al., 2003;
j di
Bailenson et al., 2008; Yee et al., 2007;
Dotsch & Wigboldus, 2008)
Mismatch: Personal space, which affects proxemics was hard to be
conscious of. Moreover, persons are not as good
at perceiving their behavior as their feelings.
p g g

9. 2.
2 Technological Enablers of Innovative
Collaboration

10. Avatars
Literature Interviews
• Avatar-task alignment • VENDORS: “So for business, a
enhances t k performance.
h task f virtual b i
i t l business meeting,
ti
(Teigland et al., 2010) people try to dress their avatar
• Possibilities to manipulate according to the type of
avatars has p positive effects on situations.” “The more realistic
creativity. (Ward and Sonneborn, 2009) it looks to what you actually
• Avatars that are similar to look in real life, the better it is.”
people are liked. (Bailenson & Yee, • “Sometimes the avatar is
2005;Nowak & Rauh, 2005; Yee &
Rauh completely i l
l t l irrelevant.”
t”
Bailenson, 2009)
• Avatar customization is the way • “I wanted to display my Celtic
to shape one’s virtual identity. heritage … I use kilt.”
(Talamo & Ligorio, 2001)
Mixed: Alignment and liking aspects were mostly confirmed by VW
vendors. Some users considered avatar appearance as trivial and
pp
some used it to build their virtual identity.

11. Import of 3D Objects
Literature Interviews
• Useful for collaborative design. • “You create this 3D
(Gu and Tsai, 2010)
Tsai representation of th d t and
t ti f the data d
• Becomes more important as you have the team of experts
VWs develop. (Ahma-aho et al., 2011 from around the globe, their
= next presentation) avatars are there, and then
,
they walk around the 3D image
and they say, what is this over
here…”
• VW environment can help t
i t h l to
visualize models, drawings,
objects, and data in 3D which is
more difficult when using more
traditional media for distributed
work.
Match of growing importance.
importance

12. Physical Clues Help Collaboration
Literature Interviews
• The potential of VWs to embed • For professional distributed
a shared place with symbolic collaboration, the security and
meaning (e.g., seating) makes authentication of people in the
them superior to other remote- VW were necessities in order to
synchronous collaboration
h ll b ti work together: “Y know, you
kt th “You k
platforms. (Larach and Cabra, 2010) meet there with your company
• Personalization of environment names [above avatars]. People
work experience enhances
k i h are much more confident ”
confident…
creativity and make each
person’s own experience more
engaging. (Ward S
engaging (W d & Sonneborn, 2009)
b
Partial match and enrichment: The symbolic meaning was not strongly
perceived and personalization was related to security
security.

13. 3.
3 Forms of Innovative Collaboration

14. Co-creation
Literature Interviews
• Visual, auditory and haptic • “Concurrent activity allows
cues and b tt social
d better i l people t feed off of each
l to f d ff f h
presence make VWs better other. And that’s really where
platforms of co-creation than the productivity—or the
old tools (Kohler et al.,, 2009;; Teigland et
( g creativity in a brainstorming
y g
al., 2010) session comes from.”
• Playful elements of VWs • “Teams create things, leave
contribute to creativity (Kohler, them, and then expect them to
Füller, Stieger, & Matzler, 2010)
be
b modified b th next t
difi d by the t team
who’s going to come along and
modify them and play with them
and leave them. This is a new
team practice.”
Partial match and enrichment: Cues are not seen as so crucial as in literature
and also asynchronous co-creation was emphasized
co creation emphasized.

15. Training
Literature Interviews
• Major reason for using VWs: • “I’m going to be presenting, and
e.g. new recruits are trained in this is really hard to do. And
VWs by current and retired then they were getting
employees (e.g., Pollitt, 2007) feedback that was right away.
• Simulations are used in training They
Th wanted to try over and
t dt t d
medicine, history and cross- over and over again.”
cultural skills (Protopsaltis et al., 2010; • Many notions of benefits of
Zielke et al., 2009)
al VWs i
VW in medical and accident
di l d id t
• 3D multiplayer games teach simulations that couldn’t be
business skills (O’Connor & Menaker, done in real life (e.g., fire in oil-
2008; Reeves et al., 2008; Reeves & Read,
; , ; ,
2009)
drilling rig – shore and off shore
off-shore
distribution).
Partial match: Gaming was not (yet) acknowledged
acknowledged.

16. Small and Large Meetings etc…
Literature Interviews
• Not dominant trends in the VW • Many saw the benefits of VWs
literature!
lit t ! in meetings without limitations
due to time-zones,
geographical boundaries or
burdens and costs of t
b d d t f traveling.
li
• “We’ve used VWs within our
big annual meeting. We set up
a bi meeting space so that
big ti th t
people could with people they
hadn’t connected with through
the year ”
year.
• Used for knowledge sharing
and as a knowledge repository.
Major enrichments to the VW literature!

17. Conclusions

18. Expanded Model of Innovative
Distributed VW Collaboration
1. Psychological and behavioral
y g
enablers of innovative collaboration
• Immersion, engagement and co-presence 3. Forms of innovative collaboration
are important but so is psychological safety • Different cues were not seen as so crucial
• Trust can develop in VWs better than with more for co-creation as in the literature
traditional tools • Both synchronous asynchronous co-creation
• However, proxemic behaviors were not were emphasized.
seen as signals • Training and simulation are majors drives for
distributed workers to use VWs but lessons from
3D games were not acknowledged.
• Literature has not discussed as much the
benefits of VWs in distributed meetings,
2. Technological features as enablers of
in organizing large events and in the use of
innovative collaboration
VWs in knowledge storing and sharing as
• Avatars were modified for virtual identity purposes our interviewees did
did.
but they were not seen as important as in the literature
• Import of 3D objects will be increasingly important
• The symbolic meaning of physical clues was
not so strongly stressed as in the literature
• VW personalization was related to security.

19. Future Directions
• There are numerous potential benefits of VWs for
innovative distributed collaboration!
• M
More research i di t ib t d work settings i needed
h in distributed k tti is d d
• This is possible when more companies use VWs
• The major obstacles to wider VW use are technological
problems, such as adaptation, usability and safety
(Bosch-Sijtsema & Sivunen, In review)
• More about VW platforms in next presentation!

20. Thank you!
marko.hakonen@aalto.fi
@