This paper presents results of the longitudinal usability and network trials that took place throughout the COVEN (COllaborative Virtual ENvironments) Project. To address the lack of understanding about usability design and evaluation for collaborative virtual environments (CVEs), a deductive analysis was used to systematically identify areas of inquiry. We present a summary of the analysis and the resulting framework through which various complementary methods were utilized during our studies. The objective of these studies was to gain a better understanding about design, usability, and utility for CVEs in a multidisciplinary setting. During the studies, which span four years, we undertook longitudinal studies of user behavior and computational demands during network trials, usability inspections of each iteration of the project demonstrators, consumer evaluations to assess social acceptability and utility of our demonstrators, and continuous preparations of design guidelines for future developers of CVEs. In this paper, we discuss the need for such activities, give an overview of our development of methods and adaptation of existing methods, give a number of explanatory examples, and review the future requirements in this area.

An experimental program of research was carried out to assess the potential health and safety effects of participating in virtual environments (VEs) via head-mounted displays (HMDs). This paper presents the results obtained from nine experiments examining the effects experienced during and after participation in a variety of VR systems, VE designs, and task requirements, for a total participant sample of 148 individuals. A combination of methods including self-report scales, performance measures, physiological indicators, observation, interview, and user attitude/opinion questionnaires were used to measure simulator (VE) sickness, postural instability, psychomotor control, perceptual judgment, concentration, stress, and ergonomics effects. Greatest effects across the different systems, VEs, and exposure times were found for sickness symptoms and physiological measures, with some concern over postural instability and physical ergonomics, also. Although many of the effects were relatively minor and short lived, they were serious for five percent of participants and irritating for a considerable percentage more. The aetiology of the effects is sufficiently different to that for simulators or transport systems to justify us using a new term, virtual reality-induced symptoms and effects (VRISE). Implications are drawn for VR system design, VE specification, and the ways in which industrial use of VR/VE should be planned and supported.

Investigations of the potential impact of virtual environments on user health and safety require a methodological framework to identify both the effects of VE participation and the role of influential factors in causing those effects. This first in a series of 12 experiments was designed to evaluate methods, but also provided preliminary data regarding psychological and physiological effects. This discussion centers upon the value of self-reports and performance measures and the general methodological problems of evaluating participation in virtual environments.

During the past 2 years, the way in which industry views virtual reality (VR) has changed. Previously, only a few large companies were assessing virtual environments either as “internal marketing exercises” or through demonstration worlds built for them by outside consultants or universities; most other industrialists may have seen VR as only having entertainment applications. Now there is some evidence that parts of industry, and manufacturing industry in particular, see VR as an increasingly affordable technology with potentially wide-ranging applications. This paper briefly describes a recent U.K. research program MOVE (Manufacturing Operations in Virtual Environments) consisting of an industrial VR user survey and demonstration applications built to allow potential users to make informed assessments of virtual environments. Two particular applications—training for maintenance and rapid prototyping for product design—are described in greater detail as examples of industrially relevant environments, before an assessment is provided of potential VR application in manufacturing.