IDEATExR Workshop
IEEEVR is hosting their first ever rendition of the Workshop on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Transparency, and Ethics in XR (IDEATExR) at IEEEVR ’24 in Orlando, Florida! To be held on Saturday, 16 March 2024, this workshop is a wonderful extension of the IDEATExR workshop at held at ISMAR since 2022.
The schedule is below, with background on what IDEATExR’s goals and why the workshop is timely following. You can download a pdf version of the schedule here.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 08:30 – 08:40 | Welcome & Opening Remarks |
| 08:40 – 09:40 | PAPER SESSION I: ACCESSIBILITY |
| 1. Supporting Individuals with Photophobia in VR: A Case Study of VR Shades, an Accessible VR Application with Feature Prototype – Aaron Gluck, Boise State University | |
| 2. An Online Survey Assessing the Accessibility Barriers Encountered by Users of Virtual and Augmented Reality – Per Ola Kristensson, University of Cambridge | |
| 3. Ergonomic Hand Motion Assistance and AR Rehabilitation: Bridging the Gap in Tremor Disorder Therapies through DEI-focused Mixed Reality – Xinjun Li, Cornell University, & Zhenhong Lei, Rhode Island School of Design | |
| 4. Work-in-Progress: Lessons Learned from Using Exergame, 3D Avatar-Based Feedback for Yoga-Self Training in a Preparatory Study – Clarissa Anjani, University of Cambridge | |
| 5. Improving Inclusion of Virtual Reality Through Enhancing Interactions in Low-Fidelity VR – Kristen Grinyer, Carleton University | |
| 09:40 – 10:00 | A Guide on XR Access – Dylan Fox (XRAccess) |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Coffee Break |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | LIGHTING TALKS |
| 1. ASL Champ: A New Dimension of Learning American Sign Language in Virtual Reality – Md Shahinur Alam, Gallaudet University | |
| 2. XR Research Avenues for Deaf Users – Abraham Glasser, Gallaudet University | |
| 3. Immersive Serious Games and Bio-signals in the Cognitive Therapy of People with Intellectual Disabilities – Jesús Gutiérrez, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid | |
| 11:00 – 12:00 | Discussion Session I: Accessibility in Mixed Reality |
| 12:00 – 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 – 14:30 | Keynote Speaker – Dr. Guo Freeman (Clemson University) |
| Designing Inclusive and Safe Social VR Systems to Protect Marginalized Communities | |
| 14:30 – 15:30 | PAPER SESSION II: DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND ETHICS |
| 1. Don’t Forget Our Presence: Exploring VR for Older Adults – Aaron Gluck, Boise State University | |
| 2. Navigating Gender Biases in XR: Towards Equitable Technological Future – Jayasri Sai Nikitha Guthula, University of Arkansas at Little Rock | |
| 3. EthnoVR 3.0: Fostering Ethnocultural Empathy and Mitigating Ethnocentrism through Immersive Virtual Environments and Virtual Reality Perspective Taking – Daria Hemmerling, AGH University of Science and Technology | |
| 4. ARELE-bot: Inclusive Learning of Spanish as a Foreign Language Through a Mobile App Integrating Augmented Reality and ChatGPT – Gustavo Marfia, University of Bologna | |
| 5. Deceptive Patterns and Perceptual Risks in an Eye Tracked Virtual Reality – Gabriella Nicole Ramirez, Virginia Tech | |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 16:20 | Creating a Diverse and Supportive Lab – Dr. Aleshia Hayes (University of North Texas) |
| 16:20 – 17:20 | Discussion Session II: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Mixed Reality Research |
| 17:20 – 17:30 | Closing Remarks |
Due to the important, evolving, and shifting nature of inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, transparency, and ethics in XR, this workshop has five main goals:
- To provide a vehicle through which to understand better the pulse of the community surrounding these issues of inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, transparency, and ethics in XR,
- To shine a spotlight on these issues for community members who perhaps haven’t given them much consideration,
- To celebrate those that are engaging in research either true to the spirit of inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, transparency, and ethics in XR, or those engaging in research about these topics specifically,
- To help researchers better understand how to ensure their work are more inclusive, diverse, equitable, accessible, transparent, and ethical,
- And to bring together disparate perspectives and research foci together under a shared goal to be inclusive, diverse, equitable, accessible, transparent, and ethical in XR. This goal can be shared by software, hardware, and human-focused researchers.
The potential benefits of XR should be for all, regardless of their cultural background, gender identity, race, neurodiversity, ethnicity, economical status, age, etc. However, our community is still facing challenges preventing everyone from being involved in xR.
Most research within this space relies on the M-WEIRD population and researchers (Male, White, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic), effectively missing 95% of the world’s population [1], thus hindering generalizability of findings and diversity of ideas. In fact, approximately 95% of the global population is excluded from VR research and only 15% of first-paper authors at ISMAR and IEEEVR are women [2]. Moreover, the ethics informing XR research have been identified as one of the grand challenges facing human-computer interaction research today, with the replication crisis featuring transparency as a critical step for remediation. These factors make formal discussions surrounding inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, transparency, and ethics in XR not only timely – but necessary. And we want you to be a part of them.
Premier venues for AR/VR (or XR) research do not have a clear code of ethics including issues surrounding diversity that could help provide greater DEI initiative consistency between conferences and guidance to researchers. It’s important to note that these concerns are also relevant to technical work not involving human participants as they also play a role in research teams, ideas, proposed solutions, conduct, etc.
Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to provide their insights on what is working for our community, as well as what isn’t – effectively helping to shape the future of IEEEVR and ISMAR.
Best Paper Award
Congratulations to Aaron Gluck of Boise State University for winning the first ever IDEATExR Best Paper Award for his work Don’t Forget Our Presence: Exploring VR for Older Adults.
IDEATExR had 18 paper submissions and 10 paper acceptances, leading to a 55% acceptance rate.
The IDEATExR Organizers
Lee Lisle, Ph.D., Virginia Tech, llisle@vt.edu
Cassidy R. Nelson, Virginia Tech, cassidynelson@vt.edu
Nayara de Oliveira Faria, Virginia Tech, nfaria@vt.edu
Rafael N.C. Patrick, PhD; Virginia Tech, rncp@vt.edu
Dylan Fox, XRAccess, dylan@xraccess.org
Aleshia Hayes, PhD; University of North Texas, aleshia.prof@gmail.com
John Quarles, PhD; University of Texas San Antonio, john.quarles@utsa.edu
Missie Smith, PhD; Meta
CITATIONS
T. C. Peck, K. A. McMullen, J. Quarles, K. Johnsen, C. Sandor, and M. Billinghurst, “DiVRsify: Break the Cycle and Develop VR for Everyone,” IEEE Comput. Graph. Appl., vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 133–142, 2021, doi: 10.1109/MCG.2021.3113455.
T. C. Peck, L. E. Sockol, and S. M. Hancock, “Mind the Gap: The Underrepresentation of Female Participants and Authors in Virtual Reality Research,” IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph., vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 1945–1954, 2020, doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2020.2973498.