MultiView: spatially faithful group video conferencing

ABSTRACT

MultiView is a new video conferencing system that supports collaboration between remote groups of people. MultiView accomplishes this by being spatially faithful. As a result, MultiView preserves a myriad of nonverbal cues, includ-ing gaze and gesture, in a way that should improve com-munication. Previous systems fail to support many of these cues because a single camera perspective warps spatial char-acteristics in group-to-group meetings. In this paper, we present a formal definition of spatial faithfulness. We then apply a metaphor-based design methodology to help us spec-ify and evaluate MultiView's support of spatial faithfulness. We then present results from a low-level user study to mea-sure MultiView's effectiveness at conveying gaze and ges-ture perception. MultiView is the first practical solution to spatially faithful group-to-group conferencing, one of the most common applications of video conferencing.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Computer-supported cooperative work

Keywords:
deixis, eye contact, gaze, spatial faithfulness, video conferencing