i# SYMPOSIUM OF ATTENTION AND PERCEPTION IN XR (HYBRID)
Organised by XR and Attention Research Group and supported by the Centre for Attention Studies, King’s College London, the symposium on Attention and Perception in XR (Extended Reality) is a hybrid event that combines presentations, discussions, immersive project showcases, and networking activities across two days. It brings together scholars and creatives to discuss the problem of attention and perception in XR, and explore what XR means for us at this present historical and technical moment. Structured around three intersecting themes, the symposium seeks to open up discussion and further research into the physiological and socio cultural mechanisms of making and shaping attention in and with XR; into how we might use those to make XR spaces more body-caring and human-centred and how performing arts might inform the design of those spaces; and, last but not least, into how we might reshape the knowledge of cultural heritage and create new centres of attention across disciplinary boundaries.
On Day 2 of the symposium, we plan to run a brief virtual meeting session on the RecRoom platform which can support particpants on VR headsets, desktop computers, and phines and tablets. To make this session run efficiently we highly recommend that you take a few minutes to install RecRoom and run through the onboarding.
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Install RecRoom for your platform of choice (Download Rec Room)
RecRoom is available for iOS, PC, Quest, Steam, Android. (There is currently no Mac OS client) -
Register a username with the format firstname-organisation-platform.
For example, my username will be "neil-kcl-quest". This format means that other participants can quickly identify me by name, see where I come from, and make affordances for the platform I am joining on -
Complete the 5-minute orientation exercise.
Before you can free play on RecRoom there is an 'on-rails' onboarding phase where you learn the basic movement and interaction controls.
We have prepared a meeting space that you will be able to join with a code. The meetup code will be shared just before this part of the symposium begins. Unfortunately it is impossible to share the code in advance as it is auto-generated by RecRoom when it is needed.
It would be useful to have a pair of headphones or earbuds if you will be sharing a physical space with other participants. This should help avoid confusion between in-game dialogue and the people's voices in the space around you.
When you enter the space take a moment to look around - we have left some objects around to interact with. There are crossbows, glitter guns, random decorative objects, and white boards which you are able to draw on. Try doodling!
The reason for congregating in this virtual space is to test and reflect on the dynamics of personal interaction across different devices. To provide a focus for this short session, we will organise a hide and seek game. How easy or hard is it to keep track of your fellow participants?