Investigating presence in remote meetings; a case study testing extended reality (XR) technology

Sammanfattning: During times with global pandemics and climate change, the need for companies to be able to conduct their business without travelling is essential. Upholding social distancing and complying to restrictions on travel both globally and nationally have not only forced everyone to conduct their business from home but to do so regardless of technological maturity. While also doing so for an unforeseeable future. In times of change, resilience is key. Having more durable and resilient teams and workers are essential now, tomorrow, and most likely in the future too. Improving the usability of remote collaboration has never been as important. Disregarding the fact that this has been a forced act of measure from the government, the aftermath of this for many companies will surely include reduced costs for travel, improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Undoubtedly, there is incentive from a business perspective, but what are the effects from the user's perspective? Derived from previous literature on presence, video communication, quality of experience (QoE) and interaction, this case study set out to examine the following research questions; What current factors influence the remote meetings of employees in a telecommunication company? In what way can extended reality (XR) technology potentially improve their experience? Extended reality (XR) technology refers to all real-and-virtual combined environments including augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR) and other areas that exist among them.With obtained data from interviews and a series of tests, the results indicate that factors from every category; human, system and context factors influence the QoE. Additionally, in its current state, XR technology does not provide enough, especially in terms of quality, to significantly improve anything for these employees. The XR technology has potential to heighten the experience in respects such as mobility, but for presence and social context it did not gain much attraction.