000029529 001__ 29529 000029529 005__ 20180918115443.0 000029529 0247_ $$2urn$$aurn:nbn:ch:rero-006-110922 000029529 0248_ $$aoai:doc.rero.ch:20120703144337-DL$$punisi$$pthesis$$pthesis_urn$$pthesis_unisi$$prero_explore$$zreport$$zbook$$zcdu65$$zjournal$$zpostprint$$zcdu16$$zpreprint$$zcdu34$$zcdu1$$zdissertation 000029529 041__ $$aeng 000029529 080__ $$a65 000029529 100__ $$aSchmeil, Andreas$$d1980-03-19 000029529 245__ $$9eng$$aDesigning collaboration experiences for 3D virtual worlds 000029529 300__ $$a209 p. 000029529 502__ $$92012-06-05$$aThèse de doctorat : Università della Svizzera italiana, 2012 ; 2012COM002 000029529 506__ $$ffree 000029529 508__ $$aMagna cum laude 000029529 520__ $$9eng$$aWorking together benefits from colleagues, team members, or peers being at the same place. With collaborating teams being more and more dispersed in an increasingly networked world, people and organizations turn to the Internet as a medium to work and learn together. Collaborative virtual environments (CVE) in general attempt to provide settings in which the users or participants feel co-present, the sensation of ‘being there together’. Different types of CVE make for different intensities of co-presence. One type of CVE facilitating particularly immersive real-time activities is that of virtual worlds. Virtual worlds are three-dimensional CVE accessed with standard computers. People meet online in shared spaces, all represented through animated virtual characters, so-called avatars. Being in control of a highly customizable virtual embodiment, in a 3D environment configurable with virtually no limits, and the possibility of creating responsive environments and interactive tools, are some of the key distinct features of the medium. However, while virtual worlds have been around for years, it is still unclear what value virtual worlds can add to the existing modes of communication and collaboration, and which virtual world features should be made use of – and how – in order to maximize the benefit of using the medium for collaborative activities. This doctoral thesis addresses these issues by investigating the design of collaboration experiences for virtual worlds. The main goal of this dissertation is to improve collaboration practices in 3D virtual worlds, following the premise that making explicit use of the medium’s distinct features allows for innovative, valuable new forms of working and learning together. The work pursues a pattern-based approach in order to investigate and describe existing practices and to develop a structured framework for the goal-oriented design of novel collaboration patterns. It further empirically investigates the value of the visual character of the medium as well as different approaches for designing collaboration tasks and environments in it. With these two strands, the research addresses both the process and the product of the design of virtual world collaboration experiences. The thesis presents two controlled experiments and derived design guidelines, the conceptual development and an initial application of the Avatar-Based Collaboration (ABC) Framework, following the principles of design science research, and an illustrative exploration study. As one main contribution of the thesis, the ABC Framework is intended to help improve the process of designing for collaboration experiences and facilitate sharing and organizing of collaboration patterns. As the other main outcome of the thesis, the gathered empirical data indicate that making active use of the distinct features of virtual worlds can have a positive impact on collaboration in various ways. Applying a highly comprehensive approach, the work builds on an interdisciplinary theoretical background. 000029529 695__ $$9eng$$aVirtual worlds ; collaboration experiences ; design science research ; experiments 000029529 700__ $$aEppler, Martin$$eDir. 000029529 8564_ $$f2012COM002.pdf$$qapplication/pdf$$s6955036$$uhttps://doc.rero.ch/record/29529/files/2012COM002.pdf$$yorder:1$$zTexte intégral 000029529 918__ $$aFacoltà di scienze della comunicazione$$bVia Giuseppe Buffi 13, CH-6904 Lugano 000029529 919__ $$aUniversità della Svizzera italiana$$bLugano$$ddoc.support@rero.ch 000029529 980__ $$aTHESIS$$bUNISI$$fTH_PHD 000029529 990__ $$a20120703144337-DL