Jaeeun Shin

Augmented Reality (AR) is regarded as an innovative storytelling medium that presents novel experiences by layering a virtual narrative space over a real 3D space. However, understanding of how the virtual narrative space and the real space are connected with one another in the design of augmented narrative spaces has been limited. For this, we conducted a systematic literature review of 64 articles featuring AR storytelling applications and systems in HCI, AR, and MR research. We investigated how virtual narrative spaces have been paired, functionalized, placed, and registered in relation to the real spaces they target. Based on these connections, we identified eight dominant types of augmented narrative spaces that are primarily categorized by whether they virtually narrativize reality or realize the virtual narrative. We discuss our findings to propose design recommendations on how virtual-real connections can be incorporated into a more structured approach to AR storytelling.

The surging interest in the metaverse reflects a broader shift toward more immersive and interactive forms of digital platforms. Given the complex and multifaceted nature of these newly developing services, a systematic means to assess their technological dimensions, effectiveness, and impact is required. We thus present the status, direction, and challenges of establishing an evaluation framework for metaverse platforms. Based on a review of prior attempts to define and evaluate the metaverse, we propose our own definition of the metaverse-as-platform and derive six factors as a viable direction for metaverse platform evaluation. We address the challenges of developing these factors as a practical tool to assess, analyze, and shape the metaverse platform industry.

We report on a qualitative study in which 22 participants created Augmented Reality (AR) stories for outdoor cultural heritage sites. As storytelling is a crucial strategy for AR content aimed at providing meaningful experiences, the emphasis has been on what storytelling does, rather than how it is done, the end user’s needs prioritized over the author’s. To address this imbalance, we identify how recurring patterns in the spatial trajectories and narrative compositions of AR stories for cultural heritage sites are linked to the author’s intent and creative process: While authors tend to bind story arcs tightly to confined trajectories for narrative delivery, the need for spatial exploration results in thematic content mapped loosely onto encompassing trajectories. Based on our analysis, we present design recommendations for site-specific AR storytelling tools that can support authors in delivering their intent while leveraging the placeness of cultural heritage sites as a creative resource.

Virtual Reality (VR) provides curators with the tools to design immersive 3D exhibition spaces. However, manually positioning artworks in VR is labor-intensive, and most existing automated methods are limited in considering both artwork content and spatial characteristics, as well as accommodating curators’ design preferences. To address these challenges, we present a virtual exhibition authoring system that automatically generates optimized artwork placements for thematic space layouts, where exhibits are grouped by conceptual themes and arranged as clusters. Our approach clusters artworks based on five content similarity factors: color, material, description, artist, and production date, and allows curators to adjust the importance of each factor and set limits on cluster sizes according to their design goals. A genetic optimization algorithm is employed to determine the placement of artworks, using four cost functions: intra-cluster distance, inter-cluster distance, intra-cluster intervisibility, and occupancy, to evaluate the arrangement with respect to spatial characteristics. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated through a series of practical scenarios and an expert evaluation with curators.

A critical yet unresolved challenge in designing space-adaptive narratives for Augmented Reality (AR) is to provide consistently immersive user experiences anywhere, regardless of physical features specific to a space. For this, we present a comprehensive analysis on a series of user studies investigating how the size, density, and layout of real indoor spaces affect users playing Fragments, a space-adaptive AR detective game. Based on the studies, we assert that moderate levels of traversability and visual complexity afforded in counteracting combinations of size and complexity are beneficial for narrative experience. To confirm our argument, we combined the experimental data of the studies (n=112) to compare how five different spatial complexity conditions impact narrative experience when applied to contrasting room sizes. Results show that whereas factors of narrative experience are rated significantly higher in relatively simple settings for a small space, they are less affected by complexity in a large space. Ultimately, we establish guidelines on the design and placement of space-adaptive augmentations in location-independent AR narratives to compensate for the lack or excess of affordances in various real spaces and enhance user experiences therein.

This paper evaluates factors of social presence during a dynamic remote collaboration task in a technologically asymmetric Mixed Reality (MR) setting for two spatial layouts. While active movement during MR remote collaboration is afforded by how the shared 3D space is mediated and configured, studies investigating the impact of these conditions on user experience have been scarce. In a between-group study $(\mathrm{n}=48)$, a host user in Augmented Reality (AR) and a remote user in Virtual Reality (VR), both wearing Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), simultaneously moved around the shared space to find and assemble parts of a Mars exploration rover together, one group in a Peripheral layout and the other in a Scattered layout with disparate levels of spatial affordance. Results show that while VR facilitates higher co-presence and spatial presence than AR through HMDs, the Peripheral layout enables users to pay more attention to one another than the Scattered. We analyze the results and derive implications aimed at bridging the AR-VR gap in social presence for dynamic MR remote collaboration through the adaptive placement of virtual content in shared spaces.