The SASP-SPSP Sponsored Teaching Fellowship
Social
Psychology
Virtual Reality Workshop
Professor James Blascovich and
Dr. Andrew Beall
RECVEB
University of California at Santa Barbara
20-24 May, 2002
at
the
Social
Psychology Laboratory
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
For details, contact:
Professor Kipling Williams | Cassie Govan | |
Department of Psychology | Department of Psychology | |
Macquarie University | Macquarie University | |
Sydney NSW 2109 |
OR |
Sydney NSW 2109 |
(02) 9850 8067 (office) | (02) 9850 6713 (office) | |
(02) 9850 8601 (fax) | (02) 9850 8601 (fax) | |
kip@psy.mq.edu.au (email) | cgovan@psy.mq.edu.au (email) |
Virtual
Reality Workshop Summary
The
task seemed easy enough ö bring two VR experts out to Australia and get them
to teach a group (with little or no computer programming skills) everything
there is to know about VR technology·in a week! Well, perhaps not
ãeverythingä there is to know about VR technology, but enough to do the
programming and design of a few virtual environment experiments by the end of
the week. We also sought to bring media attention to the workshop and to hold a
public forum.
As
unrealistic as these goals might sound, we actually did it. Professor James
Blascovich and Dr. Andrew Beall (from the University of California at Santa
Barbara) came to Macquarie University in Sydney for a week and held the workshop
for 12 social psychology post-graduate students and academics. The workshop was
the first SASP-SPSP teaching fellowship sponsored event, hosted by Kip Williams
at Macquarie University. The group met at the Social Psychology Lab from early
in the mornings until late in to the evenings ö working hard at learning
programming, discussing implications and ethics, making 3D heads, designing
experiments, and drinking lots of coffee. This is a summary of what we achieved
in a week·
Monday
May 20:
Jim
gave an introductory lecture on what VR is about (and how we shouldnât call it
VR, but we should call it Immersive Virtual Environments...sorry Jim!). It all
sounded very interesting and Matrix-esque·We also got to experience the worlds
for ourselves ö then we thought we were in the Matrix! We all got to have a go at walking
across a ravine bridge, playing ping-pong ball, visiting a casino, jumping off a
cliff, and swimming in a room of killer whales. By this time we were all
wondering how on earth we would be able to make these types of worlds. This is
where Andy stepped in. Andy is the Director of Systems Development at RECVEB
(Research Center for Virtual Environments and Behavior at UCSB, and developer of
VRUT ö a key VR programming language). It was his job to teach a bunch of
novice programmers how to program VR worlds using Python and VRUT. When he asked
how many of us had any programming skills, he was probably wishing he was back
in sunny Santa Barbara! Nevertheless, he persisted and began with a lecture on
the various programming languages weâd be getting very familiar with over the
week, and then we started the programming tutorials. By the end of the first
tutorial, most of the group were wishing they were in sunny Santa Barbara too,
but Andy convinced us that we just had to keep working·.
Tuesday May 21
To
motivate us to learn the programming, the group was divided into two teams.
These teams worked together on a group project to be tested out on the last day
of the workshop. At first it was suggested that we make the teams Aust vs. the
Rest of the World, but there were a few defections and trades and we end up with
Aust/US vs. NZ/Aust.
Once
the teams were sorted out, we settled down for a lecture by Jim on his VR Social
Influence Theory and how we can use VR technology to test the hypotheses. This
included lots of interesting discussion and questions.
The
groups were keen to get back to working on their projects·Team Aust/US had
decided to develop a virtual ball-tossing game to extend Kipâs work on
ostracism to the VR world. Team NZ/Aust had decided to do a VR version of the
chicken study where a person has to decide when to get out of the way of an
on-comer walking down a narrow corridor. Before we got too carried away, Andy got
us to do some more programming tutorials·we were trying to make avatars throw
balls on a beach and walk down narrow hallways before we had mastered the more
basic skills of making shapes bounce·
Once
the tutorials were over for the day, each group keenly worked on their projects.
Team NZ/Aust were out taking digital photographs of hallways to make their world
look just like a real hallway, team Aust/US were trying to work out how to get their avatars to wear bikinis as they throw the ball on the beach·obviously it
was getting late·
Wednesday May 22
To
begin the day, Jim gave us a lecture on Ethics in VR research. There are the
standard ethical considerations that go for any type of social psychology
research, but there are also a few considerations unique to VR research (for
example, anyone using this technology has to carefully screen participants for
sea-sickness and motion sickness).
After
some more coffee, we were back to our group projects. After a while, Andy saw
the need for some more tutorials and we continued with these until it was time
to attend Jimâs colloquium.
Many
interested staff and students from Macquarie and surrounding universities turned
up to listen to Jimâs talk. He gave a great talk and showed lots of
interesting video clips of the various worlds. Everyone seemed very excited when
Jim invited them all back to the lab to have a go at experiencing the worlds for
themselves (well, everyone except Andy, who saw a line of 30 people waiting to
have a go!).
Once
the visitors left the lab, the workshop participants continued on their projects
for a little while longer·
Thursday May 23
Another
morning lecture from Jim·this time on Archiving issues. As more and more
people begin to use VR technology, how can we share the worlds that are being
created? Sharing of worlds will facilitate replication of studies, and the less
time spent on programming, the more time spent on coming up with ways to
effectively use that world for good research. But there are ownership issues. We
have to make sure that the person who spent hundreds of hours programming a
world is credited by anyone who uses that world for research.
Everyone
was keen to get back to the group projects, so a few more coffee
top-ups and it was back to alley walking and ball-tossing·
After
lunch, Andy gave a lecture on the various software and programs that are needed
if we were to set up a VR lab. We looked at photo programs, 3D modelling
programs, programs to make individualised 3D heads, and the essential
programming software of VRUT and Python (with which, by this stage, we were
intimately related!).
The
groups were then left to finish up their projects·and both teams looked like
they would be ready to show off their worlds tomorrow (with a bit of help from
Andy·!)
Friday
May 24
Before
we got to the fun part of testing out the worlds, we sat down and talked about
the week. This was the first time Jim and Andy had run a workshop like this, so
they were keen to hear our feedback·which was overwhelmingly positive.
As
we began testing out each groupâs world, we realised how much we had learnt
in such a short time. Put the HMD (head mounted display) on for the team NZ/Aust
world, and youâre standing at one end of an alley with two agents (Roy and
Lili) at the other end. Lili begins to walk towards you·the DV is how close
youâll let her get to you. As soon as sheâs gone, Roy begins to saunter down
the alley·again, waiting to see how close he can get to you. Impressive stuff
from team NZ/Aust. Then it was time to see what team Aust/US came up with. On
with the HMD and suddenly youâre no longer in a lab in Macquarie Uni, but on a
beach with two people standing nearby (who look remarkably similar to a few of
the people from team Aust/US·that 3D head program is really good!). You press
a button on your game pad and you see that youâve just thrown a beach ball to
one of the others. This game of catch continues for a little while, until our
two agents decide they donât want to throw it to you anymore·so, you stand
there watching the agents throw a beach ball to one another for a few more
minutes. Feeling ostracised, you take off the HMD and realise that youâre back
in the lab·Good work team Aust/US (although the agents werenât wearing
bikinis!).
A
reporter from Australiaâs top science radio program (The Science Show, ABC)
came to give the VR worlds a try. She was impressed by how ãrealä it felt
(you can listen to the story she presented here: The
Science Show (The VR
story is about 40 minutes into the show from Saturday June 1st).
So,
there you have it ö a week in the life of learning VR ö successfully! On
Friday night we finally got to go out and have a few drinks to celebrate the end
of a long (but very enjoyable!) week·yes, this was the first night we got to
go out to celebrate ö a record surely?! Making up for lost socialising time,
we also had a reception at Kipâs house on the Saturday night.
Our
aim is to get the projects we started fully functional and ready to be used for
a real study. An unintended bonus is that the two worlds could be incorporated
ö i.e. if a participant got ignored on the beach, would they be more or less
likely to act aggressively in the alley?
So,
HUGE thanks to Jim and Andy for a fascinating week ö we learnt a lot and had a
great time!