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Virginia Tech

An Examination of Presence and Engagement in Video Conferencing Systems and Virtual Environments

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Extended Reality (XR) is an upcoming field of technology that has garnered interest from researchers in the last few decades. This increased interest is largely due to the development of powerful hardware like the Microsoft HoloLens, Oculus Quest and the Magic Leap. Several companies like Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple and Nvidia are touting the rise of a new "metaverse'' - the next generation of the internet, that will blur the lines between physical and virtual presence. This thesis explores the use of web-based XR platforms in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) as an alternative to contemporary video conferencing tools. We conducted a user study with 15 subjects to evaluate web-based XR platforms (Mozilla Hubs) with video conferencing (Zoom) and examined subject attention and success in remote collaborative tasks. We also proposed a new system design to support embodied interactions in XR. This system was tested by measuring the communication latency between two collaborators separated by varying distances. Our system performance evaluation suggests the feasibility of support embodied interactions, with a minimal latency of 120ms across a distance of 4700 miles.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Computer Science and Applications
Department dc:contributor.department
Computer Science
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2022

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Manuel, Mark Balfour
Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Gracanin, Denis
  • Knapp, Richard Benjamin
Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Martin, Thomas L.

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:33579
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/107960

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Manuel, Mark Balfour. An Examination of Presence and Engagement in Video Conferencing Systems and Virtual Environments. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/107960