The motivation for this workshop stems from the realization that the true potential of Extended Reality (XR) lies not just in its technological capabilities but in its transformative impact on work processes and society. With the advancement of XR technologies, researchers have revealed many potential advantages. Users can naturally interact with virtual content using full-body interactions. They can freely navigate through the virtual environment by moving, walking or teleporting. XR supports immersive analytics, which enhances perception and intuitive exploration of complex data representations.
Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) can simulate real-life tasks in the virtual environment for training and education purposes, such as practicing surgery, learning aircraft control, or learning chemistry experiments, so that users can have active and interactive learning experiences with minimum risk. Moreover, XR can bring users from distributed locations together to make users feel as if they are physically present in the same space. Users can collaborate on tasks effectively with enhanced communication enabled by gestures, voice, locomotion, and sharing perspective. The advantages presented in the research literature indicate XR has the potential to revolutionize diverse industries. However, there needs to be more empirical evidence to support claims made about the advantage of serious XR, namely, more XR applications are needed to demonstrate their benefit in solving real-life tasks. Moreover, even though many authoring tools and technologies for developing meaningful XR experiences exist, there are still many open challenges in enabling end users ---being developers, domain experts (e.g., interaction designers, HCI researchers) or regular users--- to craft, program and tailor XR applications and experiences according to their goals, interests, needs and abilities.
This workshop aims to gather researchers dedicated to developing cutting-edge XR applications, uncovering novel uses in different fields and applications. We want to collect position papers on demo applications and initial prototypes that showcase the benefit of using or authoring XR applications for serious real-life tasks. Through this workshop, we aim to cultivate a community of forward-thinkers who will collectively contribute to shaping the next phase of XR innovation for industry and society.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
Serious applications of XR (Immersive Training and Simulation, XR in Architecture and Urban Planning, XR for Cultural Heritage Preservation, Health and Wellness
Applications, XR in Marketing, Advertising, and Retail)
XR for Accessibility
Data Visualisation in XR & immersive analytics
Environmental and Sustainability Applications
Human-Robot Interaction with XR
Digital Twins in XR
Cross-Reality Applications
XR in Remote Work and Telepresence
Virtual Tourism and Exploration
Tools, Approaches and Interfaces for Simplifying XR development and/or prototyping
Understanding users and behaviour for XR development and/or prototyping.
Evaluation, case studies and applications of XR authoring tools
We solicit position paper between 4 and 6 pages in the CEUR Article Template
Submissions in PDF format can be sent by email to Nanjia Wang (nanjia.wang1@ucalgary.ca). We will acknowledge the reception of the paper.
The review process will be single-blind and we will request authors to review submitted papers.
The workshop proceedings including all accepted papers will be submitted for publication to CEUR Workshop proceedings.
Submission Deadline: March 29, 2024
Notification: April 19, 2024
Camera Ready: May 7, 2024
Registration Deadline: May 10, 2024
Workshop Date: To be announced.