Abstract
In his latest book, Ralph Schroeder presents a research framework and a well-constructed multidimensional approach for the study of collaborative virtual environments (CVEs). In a nutshell, the book focuses on how people interact in multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs). Schroeder is the author of extensive research studies on presence and co-presence, as well as state-of-the-art edited books on collaboration and interaction with avatars. His new study focuses on the issues of co-presence and connected presence in virtual environments (VEs) and covers a wide range of research findings on collaboration and social interaction, as well as inspiring methodological reflections on using MUVEs as research laboratories for social and computer sciences. While CVEs and immersive media spaces become more accessible, efficient and affordable, research findings on design and use contexts of these ‘third places’ continue to be ambiguous and dispersed over disciplinary borders. In this book, Schroeder’s theoretical framework combines research in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) and social psychology of computer-mediated communication with the sociology of new technologies and their use as tools to carry out social research. What makes his perspective remarkable is that issues around interaction and collaboration in CVEs are undertaken in a wide-ranging approach in Schroeder’s framework of ‘being there together’, including not only use of verbal and non-verbal communicative tools and their affordances but also ways of collaborative problem-solving and meaning-making in small and large groups.
The book sets out to accomplish three major aims: First, it presents an extensive overview of previous research on co-presence, social interaction and collaboration with avatars in CVEs. With this inclusive overview, Schroeder also provides a helpful resource for students and researchers who are striving to gain familiarity with the growing amount of literature on virtual environments. Secondly, experiences of being together in immersive CVEs are compared to other media (immersive video conference, Instant Messaging (IM), social media) in larger contexts. Finally, the author presents ideas about the emerging social implications of pervasive usage of these media, which is crucial to understand how these technologies affect and shape the ways in which people create their online social environments to communicate, collaborate and learn together.
Schroeder’s insightful theory of the three dimensions of ‘presence, co-presence and connected presence’ that constitute mediated communication experience is robustly argued around a consistent overview of theoretical and empirical findings on how people experience the feeling of self presence, presence of and with others, and awareness of the virtual environments in which social interactions take place. His emphasis is not on the technology itself, but on how people interact by using these technologies and participate in mediated social interaction with others through their avatars.
Schroeder builds his analytical framework on two particular technological end-states, which he discusses extensively throughout the book; namely, immersive MUVEs and immersive videoconferencing systems. Schroeder argues that these are the only two alternatives currently available, which allow people at a distance to be there together in the same environment. In the survey of literature, the author examines concepts of presence and co-presence, as the appearance of avatar bodies and collaborative experiences in virtual spaces through mediated presence. What makes the analysis of avatars and virtual space significant is the emphasis on the importance of the visual landscape or built environment, and the extent to which nonverbal communication and interaction can take place by the affordances (and limitations) provided by the space. In fact, this aspect of CVEs places them at the center of the study, and such affordances of MUVEs make them useful for collaborating on spatial tasks. Schroeder supports his thesis on how MUVEs bear particular affordances for users to navigate, communicate and co-create/modify virtual objects by discussing the existing research literature and his own research studies with a number of collaborative object-oriented tasks in immersive CVEs.
Schroeder discusses the modalities of communication that are often included in CVEs, including not only the verbal modes of communication such as speech and text, but also non-verbal aspects such as avatar appearance, gestures and performances in virtual space. By doing so, his study contributes to the study of social interaction in VEs, because it examines not only what affordances are available in virtual environments but also how their use affects collaboration in VEs. Although Schroeder emphasizes the role of the ‘nontechnical’ aspects of interaction as more important than the ‘technical ones’, theoretical arguments on how affordances can be defined and observed; how they are constructed by individual and social processes; and how their perception could change through learning and use are not discussed in detail. Nonetheless, by following Schroeder’s analysis of context-specific affordances and limitations, it is possible to analyze possible contexts of use and affordances which enable users to accomplish their purposes.
Although Schroeder prefers to explain some aspects of his theory by employing rather controversial distinctions (such as gaming versus social uses, or description of ‘spaces’ for instrumental uses versus long-term inhabited ‘places’), the ideas and discussions on why the author preferred to articulate these distinctions are well constructed. Schroeder’s writing style allows the reader to speculate further about certain aspects of the issue, while the book often lives up to its promise and presents an extensive coverage of the speculative aspects and many possible dimensions in various related fields. The author often includes counter-arguments to his hypotheses, which makes the analysis sounder and more comprehensive.
By examining research uses of MUVEs, Schroeder sets his aim as bringing computer science and social sciences together, and reaching a multidisciplinary understanding of how people interact in MUVEs. Through his discussions on the benefits and limitations of conducting lab studies in CVEs and investigating naturalistic behavior in virtual settings for long-term collaborations among ‘users’, Schroeder offers new perspectives for further research. He also emphasizes the potential of VEs as laboratories for social research, where observations can be done in natural settings and by studying existing ‘natural’ performances. At this point, Schroeder very accurately mentions ethical and other social considerations.
Through a systematic and comprehensive study of how people interact in MUVEs, Schroeder contributes to the social scientific understanding of connected presence and collaboration in VEs. Rather than proposing a ground-breaking new understanding of VEs in general, Being There Together focuses on a fundamental aspect of social interaction in virtual worlds and presents a thorough analysis with coherent discussions on possible social implications. In this respect, Schroeder’s study introduces refreshing new perspectives for further examination and offers a valuable resource for researchers who are looking to find a rewarding field in which they could generate new research questions.