I came across this news story here on ZDNet from two months back in January, and it caught my fancy. And might do so, as well, for others, most especially if you use Skype or Facetime a lot. Microsoft Research has been testing a technology they're working on called Room2Room. The point is to see how well "augmented reality" works, and whether people prefer it to basic online face-to-face communication -- or even how it compares to in-person meetings. For the test, Microsoft set up two rooms with Kinect depth cameras and projectors, and then sent life-size 3D images to each room. (Obviously. a 3D graphic isn't going to translate to everyday 2D content and will look flat, but here's the best we can do...) For the test, the participants were given a puzzle to solve jointly. When they were in the room together, the participants solved it in around four minutes. Using the Room2Room technology took longer, but a respectable seven minutes. Using a basic video chat with Skype, it took the partners nine minutes to solve the puzzle.
Obviously, this is hardly definitive results, and a very early stage. After all, maybe it took some participants longer because they weren't as good at solving puzzles. I couldn't tell from the article how many tests were done, and how many people took part. It read like there was one test for each format, but I have no idea. That said, these very early results don't seem out of line with what one might possibly expect -- though it's impressive that the Room2Room technology did as well as it did. The full article by Liam Tung and interesting details are here.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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