Investigating presence in VR-Cave environments for historical sites. By: Ms Nour Sharkasi (BZU), Dr. Ramzi Hassan and Dr. Caroline Hagerhall (UMB).
Presence in VR environments is usually defined as “being there”, with high consideration of the physical ether of the virtual environment, the definition confines attention to the sensation of place. This study calls for expanding the attention to the dimension of time that is made possible by innovative design of VR environment. The study argues that virtual reality technology does not only provide a 3-D experience to subjects, it can also add a fourth dimension by conveying the unconsciousness of man from the meanwhile moment to a different timeframe. Based on the current knowledge on presence in virtual environments, we will use a questionnaire to measure subjective presence for the two VR theatre systems. The study will make use of the following factors in order to determine the degree of presence in the virtual environment: (1) naturalness of interface design and involvement, (2) control and interaction, (3) quality of technical capabilities, and (4) negative effects.
