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Our goal was to create an enhanced spectator experience to better engage the rapidly growing audience for Esports, through the use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology. In this study, we delve into the ways in which VR can do this. To test this hypothesis, we created a VR spectator add-on for a game and gathered data using semi-structured interviews. The data from the interviews were then analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of our study show that VR provides more engagement through a combination of possible factors including proximity to the action, novelty of VR experiences and the harder controls in VR. The results also show that the terms "immersion" and "spatial presence" were quite possibly used interchangeably by the participants and also that there may not be a correlation between the terms "engagement" and "spatial presence". In conclusion, we believe that the increased sense of engagement through VR technology can be taken even further and has the potential to be something more than what traditional modes of spectating can offer.

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Maps are essential tools for providing tourism information. Hence, it is imperative for tourism marketers to understand how tourists perceive spatial information and sense physical places virtually presented in digital maps. Based on sense of place, spatial cognition, and virtual reality literature, this study constructed a conceptual framework to measure how different interactivity levels of a digital map interface affect potential tourists' experience when exploring maps. In addition, the study explored how individual characteristics such as place attachment and spatial ability affect virtual-spatial experiences. An experiment was conducted to test the developed Virtual Spatial Experience model. Google Earth maps were manipulated using two experimental conditions: low level (satellite view map only) vs. high level (three dimensional (3D) dynamic objects). The questionnaire included self-report items regarding perceived map interactivity, spatial ability, affective place attachment, spatial orientation, spatial imagery, and spatial presence. Responses from 211 students were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study results showed that map interfaces influence human perceptions of map interactivity. Perceived map interactivity positively affected virtual spatial experiences: spatial orientation, spatial imagery and spatial presence. Spatial ability positively influenced spatial orientation which in turn led to greater spatial imagery and ultimately greater spatial presence. The results further demonstrated that affective place attachment positively influenced spatial presence. The findings provided evidence that sense of place in the real world, such as affective place attachment to the experimental setting (Walt Disney World, Florida), influences spatial experiences of an environment virtually presented in the map. Therefore, by applying place attachment to virtual environment studies, this study expanded the scope of theories used in exploring human spatial experience. Moreover, evaluating the influence of map interactivity, this study provided practical implications for designing destination maps. By applying 3D dynamic objects as a design feature in an interactive map, tourism marketers can produce enhanced virtual spatial experiences. As this study used Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Park presented on Google Earth as the experimental setting, the collected data also informs the understanding of virtual experiences and perceptions of the park.

Research over the past several decades suggests there are persistent political knowledge gaps among electoral cohorts in the United States. Of particular concern to many scholars is a generational gap in political knowledge that appears to be widening. The current generation of young voters has lower levels of political knowledge than any of its cohorts of past generations despite having higher levels of formal education. Although formal education is a significant predictor of political knowledge, the strength of this relationship has declined in recent years. Since the 1950s, overall levels of formal education in the United States have significantly increased, yet there has not been a proportionate increase in overall levels of political knowledge. Some scholars attribute this decline in the relationship between formal education and political knowledge to a preceding decline in the quality of civic education in our primary and secondary schools. Quality civic education is important because it provides young people with civic knowledge—knowledge of how their system of government functions and how they can become effective participants within that system. Civic knowledge is important because it also provides a context for a deep understanding of information disseminated in the media about current political issues. Although voters can learn about political issues by encountering information in various types of media, there is a strong correlation between consumption of text-based news media and levels of political knowledge. Newspaper readership has declined, however, especially for traditional print newspapers, which is at its lowest level since 1945. Digital readership is difficult to assess, but there is some evidence that digital newspaper readership is not nearly enough to account for the decline in readership for traditional print newspapers. Civic background knowledge and interest in reading about political issues can enhance deep-level comprehension of text-based political information. Finding ways to make civic background information interesting for young voters could stimulate their interest in reading about political issues and result in increasing their levels of political knowledge. If the Millennial generation continues to be less knowledgeable than their predecessors, it could erode this cohorts’ ability to effectively represent its interests and could eventually result in a polity in which the “vox populi” is reduced to a mere whisper. This study examined text comprehension and interest within the context of an embodied cognition perspective in which the abstract symbols of language are viewed as fundamentally grounded in our bodily responses to our environment. Emerging media, such as interactive computer simulations and virtual environments, provide a way to ground unfamiliar and complex political text-based information in embodied, experiential contexts that could increase comprehension of abstract concepts. These media often evoke the perception of “being there,” in a virtual space. The sense of “being there,” or virtual spatial presence, creates a degree of spatial uncertainty that can result in an increase in arousal that stimulates interest in the information encountered in the virtual space. A within-subjects experiment was conducted to determine whether providing civic background information in a more embodied media format (i.e., an interactive desktop computer simulation) versus a less embodied format (i.e., an onscreen document) for newspaper articles about Obamacare increased interest in and comprehension of the articles. The data were analyzed with paired t-tests and repeated-measures ANOVA. Other statistical tests were also performed to determine relationships among the variables of text comprehension, virtual spatial presence, situational interest, self-reported core affect, and physiological arousal. The findings indicate that surface-level text comprehension of a newspaper article about Obamacare was significantly higher when civic background information for the article was presented in the more embodied format; however, format did not have a significant effect on deep-level comprehension. The findings also indicate that levels of virtual spatial presence and self-reported core affect were significantly higher when participants read information in the more embodied format. Although the results did not reveal a significant effect of format on situational interest in the information, there was a significant order effect of format on situational interest. This was likely the result of a novelty effect and not specifically a result of the level of embodiment the format provided. Within the more embodied format, significant positive correlations emerged between virtual spatial presence and situational interest and between virtual spatial presence and self-reported core affect (i.e., subjective feelings of arousal and enjoyment); however, a negative correlation emerged between virtual spatial presence and skin conductance level. Significant positive correlations also emerged across format conditions between situational interest and self-reported core affect and between situational interest in civic background information for a newspaper article and situational interest in the article itself. The main predictors of overall text comprehension of the newspaper articles about Obamacare were posttest civic knowledge and situational interest. / Media & Communication

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Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Auswirkung von reichhaltigen, natürlichen Eingabe- und Ausgabeinformationen in virtuellen Umgebungen in Form von Natural Mapping und Stereoskopie. Dabei steht insbesondere die Kombination der Ein- und Ausgabemodalitäten mit dem damit verbundenen Interaktionsgegenstand im Fokus. Auf Basis von mentalen Modellen werden Transferprozesse von Wissen und Fertigkeiten bezüglich realer Handlungen auf virtuelle Handlungen angenommen. Diese resultieren in einer potenziell höheren User Experience und Performance bei der Interaktion. Spatial Mapping wird als Konzept der räumlichen Übereinstimmung von Wahrnehmungsräumen der Ein- und Ausgabeinformationen eingeführt und damit als holistische Erweiterung von Natural Mapping verstanden. Spatial Mapping bezeichnet in der vorliegenden Arbeit den Grad der Verknüpfung der physikalischen und virtuellen Umgebung, sodass Nutzer im Idealfall eine isomorphe Abbildung der beiden Wahrnehmungsräume erfahren und notwendige Transformationsprozesse für die Verarbeitung der virtuellen Umgebung minimiert werden können. Im Resultat stehen mehr kognitive Ressourcen für andere Inhalte zur Verfügung. Auf Basis des Spatial-Mapping-Ansatzes wurde ein Pfadmodell konstruiert, das experimentell überprüft wurde. In zwei Experimenten wurden Effekte von Natural Mapping und Stereoskopie in Szenarien mit hohem Spatial Mapping untersucht. Das erste Experiment nutzte dafür ein kommerzielles Computerspiel, bei dem Spatial Mapping für die Interaktion nicht handlungsrelevant war. Beim zweiten Experiment kam ein Virtual-Reality-Simulator zum Einsatz, bei dessen Aufgabenstellung Nutzer vom hohen Spatial Mapping deutlich profitieren konnten. Meist wird Stereoskopie auf existierende mediale Inhalte angewendet, ohne die Inhalte entsprechend darauf anzupassen. Diese Vorgehensweise lässt sich sowohl bei kommerziellen Computerspielen als auch in der Filmindustrie beobachten. Die Experimente zeigen, dass Stereoskopie keinen Einfluss auf UX und Performance hat, wenn das verfügbare Spatial Mapping für den Interaktionsgegenstand nicht handlungsrelevant ist. Die Arbeit diskutiert den Einsatz von Stereoskopie und Natural Mapping in Abhängigkeit des verwendeten Interaktionsgegenstandes und liefert damit einen Erklärungsansatz, der Eingabe- und Ausgabemodalitäten kombiniert betrachtet.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Auswirkung von reichhaltigen, natürlichen Eingabe- und Ausgabeinformationen in virtuellen Umgebungen in Form von Natural Mapping und Stereoskopie. Dabei steht insbesondere die Kombination der Ein- und Ausgabemodalitäten mit dem damit verbundenen Interaktionsgegenstand im Fokus. Auf Basis von mentalen Modellen werden Transferprozesse von Wissen und Fertigkeiten bezüglich realer Handlungen auf virtuelle Handlungen angenommen. Diese resultieren in einer potenziell höheren User Experience und Performance bei der Interaktion. Spatial Mapping wird als Konzept der räumlichen Übereinstimmung von Wahrnehmungsräumen der Ein- und Ausgabeinformationen eingeführt und damit als holistische Erweiterung von Natural Mapping verstanden. Spatial Mapping bezeichnet in der vorliegenden Arbeit den Grad der Verknüpfung der physikalischen und virtuellen Umgebung, sodass Nutzer im Idealfall eine isomorphe Abbildung der beiden Wahrnehmungsräume erfahren und notwendige Transformationsprozesse für die Verarbeitung der virtuellen Umgebung minimiert werden können. Im Resultat stehen mehr kognitive Ressourcen für andere Inhalte zur Verfügung. Auf Basis des Spatial-Mapping-Ansatzes wurde ein Pfadmodell konstruiert, das experimentell überprüft wurde. In zwei Experimenten wurden Effekte von Natural Mapping und Stereoskopie in Szenarien mit hohem Spatial Mapping untersucht. Das erste Experiment nutzte dafür ein kommerzielles Computerspiel, bei dem Spatial Mapping für die Interaktion nicht handlungsrelevant war. Beim zweiten Experiment kam ein Virtual-Reality-Simulator zum Einsatz, bei dessen Aufgabenstellung Nutzer vom hohen Spatial Mapping deutlich profitieren konnten. Meist wird Stereoskopie auf existierende mediale Inhalte angewendet, ohne die Inhalte entsprechend darauf anzupassen. Diese Vorgehensweise lässt sich sowohl bei kommerziellen Computerspielen als auch in der Filmindustrie beobachten. Die Experimente zeigen, dass Stereoskopie keinen Einfluss auf UX und Performance hat, wenn das verfügbare Spatial Mapping für den Interaktionsgegenstand nicht handlungsrelevant ist. Die Arbeit diskutiert den Einsatz von Stereoskopie und Natural Mapping in Abhängigkeit des verwendeten Interaktionsgegenstandes und liefert damit einen Erklärungsansatz, der Eingabe- und Ausgabemodalitäten kombiniert betrachtet.:1. Einführung: Spatial Mapping in virtuellen Umgebungen 2. User Experience und Zustände fokussierter Aufmerksamkeit 3. Two Step Process Model of Spatial Presence Formation 4. Stereoskopie in virtuellen Umgebungen 5. Natural Mapping in virtuellen Umgebungen 6. Spatial Mapping von Wahrnehmungsräumen 7. Experiment 1: Spatial Mapping bei niedriger Task Adequacy 8. Experiment 2: Spatial Mapping bei hoher Task Adequacy 9. Fazit und Ausblick

During face-to-face meetings, humans use multimodal information, including verbal information, visual information, body language, facial expressions, and other non-verbal gestures. In contrast, during computer-mediated-communication (CMC), humans rely either on mono-modal information such as text-only, voice-only, or video-only or on bi-modal information by using audiovisual modalities such as video teleconferencing. Psychologically, the difference between the two lies in the level of the subjective experience of presence, where people perceive a reduced feeling of presence in the case of CMC. Despite the current advancements in CMC, it is still far from face-to-face communication, especially in terms of the experience of presence. This thesis aims to introduce new concepts, theories, and technologies for presence design where the core is actions for creating presence. Thus, the contribution of the thesis can be divided into a technical contribution and a knowledge contribution. Technically, this thesis details novel technologies for improving presence experience during mediated communication (video teleconferencing). The proposed technologies include action robots (including a telepresence mechatronic robot (TEBoT) and a face robot), embodied control techniques (head orientation modeling and virtual reality headset based collaboration), and face reconstruction/retrieval algorithms. The introduced technologies enable action possibilities and embodied interactions that improve the presence experience between the distantly located participants. The novel setups were put into real experimental scenarios, and the well-known social, spatial, and gaze related problems were analyzed. The developed technologies and the results of the experiments led to the knowledge contribution of this thesis. In terms of knowledge contribution, this thesis presents a more general theoretical conceptual framework for mediated communication technologies. This conceptual framework can guide telepresence researchers toward the development of appropriate technologies for mediated communication applications. Furthermore, this thesis also presents a novel strong concept – presence through actions - that brings in philosophical understandings for developing presence- related technologies. The strong concept - presence through actions is an intermediate-level knowledge that proposes a new way of creating and developing future 'presence artifacts'. Presence- through actions is an action-oriented phenomenological approach to presence that differs from traditional immersive presence approaches that are based (implicitly) on rationalist, internalist views.