Jonathan Freeman

Goldsmiths, University of London · Department of Psychology

User experience (UX) models present, in broad terms, the domains of influence affecting users’ experience of a given technology. Since the number of variables that could affect a user’s experience are manifold and context specific, UX models tend to specify broad categories of influence. Prominent models highlight technology form, content, context,...

Uncertainty is widely acknowledged as an engaging characteristic of games. Practice and research have proposed various types and factors of game uncertainty, yet there is little work explaining when and why different kinds of uncertainty motivate, especially with respect to ’micro-level’, moment- to-moment gameplay. We therefore conducted a qualita...

The use of implicit relevance feedback from neurophysiology could deliver effortless information retrieval. However, both computing neurophysiological responses and retrieving documents are characterized by uncertainty due to noisy signals and incomplete or inconsistent representations of the data. We present the first-of-its-kind, fully integrated...

Symbiotic systems are systems that gather personal data implicitly provided by the user, derive a profile/model of the user from such data and adjust their output/service according to their notion of what would be desirable to the user thus modeled. Because of these three characteristics, symbiotic systems represent a step forward towards facilitat...

This book is published open access under a CC BY license. This book constitutes the proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction, Symbiotic 2016, held in Padua, Italy, in October 2016. The 12 full papers and 3 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. The idea of symb...

Modern symbiotic and adaptive HCI paradigms include realtime algorithms capable of inferring user’s states. We present an experimental interface which aims to understand the information processing capacity of a human user and use this information to improve interaction in a database exploration task. We collected the electrodermal activity and pupi...

This paper describes an approach for improving the current systems supporting the exploration and research of scientific literature, which generally adopt a query-based information-seeking paradigm. Our approach is to use a symbiotic system paradigm, exploiting central and peripheral physiological data along with eye-tracking data to adapt to users...

Optimising communications to take account of user states is a nascent, huge and growing business opportunity for the retail and advertising worlds. Understanding people’s behaviours, thoughts and emotions to different messages in different contexts at different times, can inform the strategic planning and design of systems promoting positive custom...

With the emergence of interest in the human-computer symbiosis also rises the need to find input systems adequate to this paradigm. The present research aims to compare three different input systems during the interaction with virtual objects in a wide, immersive mixed-reality environment. The common interaction via keyboard and mouse is compared w...

Highlights key research currently being undertaken within the field of telepresence, providing the most detailed account of the field to date, advancing our understanding of a fundamental property of all media - the illusion of presence; the sense of "being there" inside a virtual environment, with actual or virtual others. This collection has been...

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction, Symbiotic 2015, held in Berlin, Germany, in October 2015. The 11 full papers and 8 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. The papers present an overview of the symbiotic relationships between hu...

This paper explores a high level conceptualisation (taxonomy) of human computer interaction that intends to highlight a range of interaction uses for advanced (symbiotic) systems. The work formed part of an EC-funded project called CEEDs which aims to develop a virtual reality based system to improve human ability to process information, and experi...

We propose a definition of symbiotic interaction that is informed by current developments in computing. We clearly distinguish this definition from previous ones and from selected paradigms that address the human-computer relationship. The definition is also informed by a variety of human-centered frameworks in human-computer interaction, including...

In this experiment we explored the relationship between Flow experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Nakamura, 2001) and Presence (e.g., Barfield et al., 1995) while playing a videogame. The main goal was to understand if embodied gaming would elicit higher presence and flow than a non-embodied playing experience. During the experiment 20 participants...

Since Köhler’s experiments in the 1920s, researchers have demonstrated a correspondence between words and shapes. Dubbed the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, these auditory–visual associations extend across cultures and are thought to be universal. More recently the effect has been shown in other modalities including taste, suggesting the effect is independent...

Computer games are ideally placed to form the content of future Immersive Media, but this prospect is faced with both technical and usability issues. This paper describes an experiment in immersive gaming using a state-of-the-art computer First Person Shooter (FPS) game, in which we analyze user experience and performance through a combination of i...

Abstract Action video game players have been found to outperform nonplayers on a variety of cognitive tasks. However, several failures to replicate these video game player advantages have indicated that this relationship may not be straightforward. Moreover, despite the discovery that problematic video game players do not appear to demonstrate the...

The increasing popularity of online and multiplayer games has meant that for many, social interaction and cooperation are vital components of the gaming experience. Previous research has suggested that not only has this made gaming more attractive to socially oriented people but also that it may be socially beneficial in terms of social capital and...

In this paper we compare levels of presence between sighted audiences and those with a visual impairment accessing audiovisual media via Audio Description (AD). AD is a verbal commentary conveying visual information. Anecdotal evidence suggests AD is at its best when the user is unaware of it. The strength of this 'perceptual illusion of non-mediat...

For wayfinding at museums, galleries, and heritage sites, the majority of people who are blind or partially sighted favour verbal directions over tactile maps. Those who provide such directions are usually fully sighted. Can we assume that details considered important by those with vision are equally helpful to those without? This article presents...

This paper describes research to investigate the attitudinal and motivational factors that might facilitate or inhibit the uptake and use of cognitive training (CT) applications via interactive television (iTV) by both young and older people and to explore the profiles of potential users of such applications. A questionnaire was designed and distri...

'Presence' describes immersion in a mediated environment such that it seems unmediated. For people with visual impairment, audio description replaces missing visual information with a verbal commentary, transforming an audiovisual medium into audio. Media forms are more or less immersive, with audio-only at the bottom of the scale. Anecdotally, how...

Previous attempts at developing immersive versions of game engines have faced difficulties in achieving both overall high performance and preserving reusability of software developments. In this paper, we present a high-level VR middleware based on one of the most successful commercial game engines: the Unreal® Engine 3.0 (UE3). We describe a VR fr...

This paper describes an experiment comparinng immersive and non-immersive gaming using a state-of-the-art first person shooter game (FPS) in which we analyse user experience and performance through a combination of in-game metrics, questionaires and subjective reports. Our results show an overwhelming subjective preference for the immersive version...

Advanced interactive visualization such as in virtual environments and ubiquitous interaction paradigms pose new challenges and opportunities in considering real-time responses to subliminal cues. In this paper, we propose a synthetic reality platform that, combined with psychophysiological recordings, enables us to study in realtime the effects of...

Abstract Inthis paper, we argue that the experience of presence, i.e. the sense of “being there” in a mediated environment, provides us with a useful criterion to assess the global experiential impact of immersive,and perceptually realistic display and communication media in general, and 3-D displays in particular. Measuring presence in a reliable,...

Audio Description has increasingly been the focus of academic analysis. This paper responds to the call for more reception studies. It discusses the results of empirical research comparing the responses of blind, partially sighted and sighted participants to two styles of description for David Lean's 1945 classic film Brief Encounter: a ‘standard’...

This research investigated the associations between personality traits and both normal and problematic massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPGs) play, as measured by a self report scale. A total of 225 participants completed the online questionnaire, 66 of whom played MMORPGs. Correlational analyses indicated that low levels of funct...

Presence is affected by deficits in cognition and perception. It is also thought to be associated with a preference for the visual domain. However, presence has been little studied in those without sight. Audio Description (AD) is a verbal commentary conveying visual information, enabling blind and partially sighted people to access visual media. T...

The Collective Experience of Empathic Data Systems (CEEDs) project aims to offer a solution to the data deluge problem. With theoretical foundations in consciousness, information processing and creative discovery, the project proposes to develop a data analysis tool that harnesses and interprets the unconscious processes that influence our understa...

This paper outlines user needs and initial stakeholder research conducted as part of the Community Network Game (CNG) project. CNG aims to apply new network technologies to support community activities, particularly based on user generated content (UGC) within (massively) multiplayer online games. Seventeen interviews were conducted with multiplaye...

This paper explores the concept of the “social architecture ” of games, and tests the theory that it is possible to analyse game mechanics based on the effect they have on the social behaviour of the players. Using tools from Social Network Analysis, these studies confirm that social activity in games reliably follows a power distribution: a few pl...

Previous research has shown that using brain training PC software can help maintain and improve older people's quality of life and support their independence as they age. Because a majority of older adults are not computer literate but do engage with television, the ‘Vital Mind’ project is investigating the technical and user design challenges to f...

In this paper, we describe the design and development of a social game called Familiars. Inspired by the daemons in Pullman's "Dark Material" trilogy, Familiars are animal companions that sit on your Facebook profile and change into different animal forms based on your social activity within the social network of Facebook. Familiars takes advantage...

This poster aims to give an overview of the concept behind a project called Vital Mind, which is investigating the user design and technical challenges to facilitate the delivery of cognitive training to older people via interactive digital television.

This study was designed to explore the usability of three remote controls that operate a specific digital set top box (Logik LDR V3) amongst consumers who may have more difficulty than most in accessing and using digital television equipment. Participants were UK consumers (a) aged over 75 years with various sensory, physical and/or cognitive impai...

This paper describes the development and piloting of a user-centered design method which enables participants to actively engage in a creative process to produce intuitive representations and inspire early design concepts for innovative mobile and ubiquitous applications. The research has been produced as part of the EC funded project PASION, aimin...

This paper proposes a theory generating predictions for when presence and emotion are related, and when they are not. The theory explains apparently conflicting reports on the relation between presence and emotion that have appeared in the literature – some reporting a relationship, others reporting no relationship. The key assertion of the theory...

Theory and research presented in a special issue of Interacting with Computers (Vol. 14) on affective-computing is concerned with the way in which computer interfaces could be better designed to meet emotional needs. This commentary on the special issue suggests that traditional media, such as film and television, may also meet some emotional needs...

This paper describes a four phase research study into the ease of use of DTT (digital terrestrial television) remote controls, focusing on button labelling. The aim was to identify intuitive remote control button labels, thereby enhancing the ease of use of DTT remote controls. In phase 1, a series of brainstorming (discussion) groups was run invol...

VISTA is a multidisciplinary/cross-sectoral project aimed at developing a 'virtual assistant' embodying a speech based interface between digital television viewers and the content and functions of an electronic programme guide (EPG). While it is anticipated that the resulting interface will make EPG access easier for all, the main target groups are...

This paper describes a four phase research study into the ease of use of DTT (digital terrestrial television) remote controls, focusing on button labelling. The aim was to identify intuitive remote control button labels, thereby enhancing the ease of use of DTT remote controls. In phase 1, a series of brainstorming (discussion) groups was run invol...

1. Summary: Emotions are key factors to consider when examining people's experience of and interactions with mediated environments. This paper explores the concept of presence in relation to enhanced television and film presentations, which are often designed to produce emotional reactions. It is proposed that in emotive mediated environments, auto...

The extent of sensory information presented to a user within a mediated environment has been proposed as a determinant of presence. (e.g., Sheridan, 1992). While a large proportion of presence research has focused on visual manipulations, research on manipulations of auditory characteristics is currently limited. In this paper the effects of severa...

Recently, we reported that group subjective measures of presence as well as observers' postural responses are sensitive to increasing the realism of a display with motion content, by the addition of stereoscopic information, using a 20-inch stereoscopic screen with an effective horizontal field of view of 28 deg. (Freeman Avons, Meddis, Pearson, &...

Recently, we reported that group subjective measures of presence as well as observers’ postural responses are sensitive to increasing the realism of a display with motion content, by the addition of stereoscopic information, using a 20-inch stereoscopic screen with an effective horizontal field of view of 28 deg. (Freeman, Avons, Meddis, Pearson, &...

The presence research community would benefit from a reliable and valid cross- media presence measure that allows results from different laboratories to be com- pared and a more comprehensive knowledge base to be developed. The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory (ITC-SOPI) is a new state questionnaire measure whose de- velopment has been informed by p...

How do users generate an illusion of presence in a rich and consistent virtual environment from an impoverished, incomplete, and often inconsistent set of sensory cues? We conducted an experiment to explore how multimodal perceptual cues are integrated ...

Presence is a user's subjective sensation of "being there" in a mediated environment. Its determinants include the extent of sensory information within a mediated environment, the user's ability to control their sensors and modify content within the environment, and individual-difference based factors. Although direct subjective ratings of presence...

JONATHAN FREEMAN, JANE LESSITER and WIJNAND IJSSELSTEIJN provide an introduction to 'presence' - a sense of being there -based on the research of the Immersive Television Project at Goldsmiths College.

In this paper 'presence' (a sense of 'being there' in a mediated environment) is proposed as a global quality metric with which to evaluate advanced multi-modal media systems. The development of a new presence selfreport measure, the ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory (ITC-SOPI), is described that comprises four empirically derived scales: Sense of Ph...

In this paper 'presence' (a sense of 'being there' in a mediated environment) is proposed as a global metric with which to evaluate audio displays that are part of advanced multi-modal media systems. An evaluation of different audio mixes using a self-report measure of presence, the ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory, and standard audio/visual quality...

Introduction The current pace of technological development in networks, computing power and displays, as well as improvements in human-system interfaces, enable the creation of services that are capable to elicit a sense of presence in the user. The concept of presence has relevance and implications for the design and evaluation of a broad range of...

The concept of presence, i.e. the sensation of `being there' in a mediated environment, has received substantial attention from the virtual reality community, and is becoming increasingly relevant both to broadcasters and display developers. Although research into presence is still at an early stage of development, there is a consensus that presenc...

We recently reported that direct subjective ratings of presence are potentially unstable and can be biased by previous judgements of the same stimuli (Freeman et al., 1999). Objective measures of the behavioural realism elicited by a display offer an alternative to subjective ratings. Behavioural measures and presence are linked by the premise that...

We recently reported that direct subjective ratings of the sense of presence are potentially unstable and can be biased by previous judgments of the same stimuli (Freeman et al., 1999). Objective measures of the behavioral realism elicited by a display offer an alternative to subjective ratings. Behavioral measures and presence are linked by the pr...

Summary

We report three experiments using a new form of direct subjective presence evalua- tion that was developed from the method of continuous assessment used to assess television picture quality. Observers were required to provide a continuous rating of their sense of presence using a handheld slider. The first experiment investigated the effects of man...

On the 6th and 7th of April 1999, the Second International Workshop on Presence was held at the University of Essex. The event was organized by Jonathan Freeman (currently at Goldsmiths College, University of London and at the University of Essex during the workshop) and Wijnand IJsselsteijn (IPO, Center for Research on User-System Interaction) as...

The present study investigates the subjective feeling of presence elicited by 3DTV and its relationship to perceived depth and image content. Subjective methods of assessing presence that have been used or proposed to date do not provide a measure of temporal variation. To overcome this limitation, we have applied the continuous assessment methodol...

Presence, a sense of ‘being there’ evoked by a display, can be regarded as a concept of central importance in the evaluation of broadcasting and entertainment services in general and virtual reality applications in particular. Subjective methods of assessing presence that have either been used or proposed to date do not provide a measure of tempora...

Methods of assessing presence, a sense of ‘being there’ within a displayed virtual environment, include post-test subjective measures, discrimination tests, and monitoring reflexive responses. Each is limited—either they do not provide a measure of temporal variation, are not feasible with current display technology or are overly content-specific....

The contributions to this volume, the sixteenth in the prestigious Attention and Performance series, revisit the issue of modularity, the idea that many functions are independently realized in specialized, autonomous modules. Although there is much evidence of modularity in the brain, there is also reason to believe that the outcome of processing,...

Studies of how stereo and texture depth cues are integrated have often used stereograms to present binocular disparity information about surface shape. However, we have found that quite different patterns of stereo and texture cue integration can be observed for surfaces portrayed by stereograms and by real 3-D objects of putatively identical shape...

It is demonstrated that lightness perception can be affected by shape from stereopsis. The starting point was a report by Knill and Kersten that the perceived lightness of a monocularly viewed surface can be affected by outline-contour cues indicating that the surface is three-dimensional (3-D). In that study stimuli consisted of two equally sized...

As people grow older, their cognitive ability tends to decline, which can result in mental, physical and social hardships. Recent research has shown that cognitive training can provide a cognitive stimulation which slows down the decrement in capacities related to the ageing process. Our work aims at using cognitive psychology and Interactive Digit...