{"id":3469,"date":"2025-09-15T11:01:51","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2025-09-28T18:49:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T23:49:43","slug":"exploring-bichronous-collaboration-in-virtual-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/2025\/09\/15\/exploring-bichronous-collaboration-in-virtual-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Bichronous Collaboration in Virtual Environments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Virtual environments (VEs) empower geographically distributed teams to collaborate on a shared project regardless of time. Existing research has separately investigated collaborations within these VEs at the same time (i.e., synchronous) or different times (i.e., asynchronous). In this work, we highlight the often-overlooked concept of bichronous collaboration and define it as the seamless integration of archived information during a real-time collaborative session. We revisit the time-space matrix of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and reclassify the time dimension as a continuum. We describe a system that empowers collaboration across the temporal states of the time continuum within a VE during remote work. We conducted a user study using the system to discover how the bichronous temporal state impacts the user experience during a collaborative inspection. Findings indicate that the bichronous temporal state is beneficial to collaborative activities for information processing, but has drawbacks such as changed interaction and positioning behaviors in the VE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View of the collaborative virtual environment from the desktop (A&F) and the participant’s field of view (B-E). A<\/strong>: The cuboid-lattice inspection object. B<\/strong>: Recorded avatar annotation menu. C<\/strong>: Asynchronous collaboration with playback control interface and pink, semi-transparent avatar annotation. D<\/strong>: Bichronous collaboration with pink, semi-transparent avatar annotation and orange, opaque live collaborator. E<\/strong>: Bichronous collaboration with live collaborator and their avatar annotation. F<\/strong>: An example defective strand in a cell of the cuboid-lattice inspection object.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The proposed collaborative time continuum. The arrows represent the extremes of the continuum turning into the continuous range of the bichronous intermediary state.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virtual environments (VEs) empower geographically distributed teams to collaborate on a shared project regardless of time. Existing research has separately investigated collaborations within these VEs at the same time (i.e., synchronous) or different times (i.e., asynchronous). In this work, we highlight the often-overlooked concept of bichronous collaboration and define it as the seamless integration of …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":383,"featured_media":3478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[453,78],"ppma_author":[479,400,502,556,554,511,539,540,521,391],"class_list":["post-3469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-projects","tag-collaboration","tag-virtual-reality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/09\/BichronousFeatured-1.png","authors":[{"term_id":479,"user_id":383,"is_guest":0,"slug":"agiovannelli","display_name":"Alexander Giovannelli","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/05\/IMG_6776-e1651771320966.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2022\/05\/IMG_6776-e1651771320966.jpg"},"author_category":"1","user_url":"https:\/\/agiovannelli.github.io\/","last_name":"Giovannelli","first_name":"Alexander","job_title":"","description":"My expertise lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction, extended reality, and computer-supported cooperative work. I investigate how immersive environments can support effective remote and cross-temporal collaboration, with a growing focus on integrating AI assistance into collaborative XR workflows."},{"term_id":400,"user_id":254,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sdavari","display_name":"Shakiba Davari","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2020\/11\/sdavari.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2020\/11\/sdavari.jpg"},"author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Davari","first_name":"Shakiba","job_title":"","description":"With a background spanning human-computer interaction (HCI), applied machine learning (ML), and UX\/UI design, my work bridges AI and design, creating frameworks and principles to address real-world challenges and deliver meaningful user experiences.\r\nDuring my Ph.D., I focused on intelligent Augmented and eXtended Reality (AR\/XR) interfaces exploring ways to make AR more adaptive and user-centered. I developed context-aware AR solutions to enhance usability, efficiency, and social interaction while addressing AR challenges such as spatial layout, occlusion, and social intrusiveness in dynamic scenarios. My dissertation provides a roadmap for integrating AI with AR design and establishes frameworks and design principles for effective AR across various contexts."},{"term_id":502,"user_id":394,"is_guest":0,"slug":"cconnor22","display_name":"Cherelle Connor","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/812eb62a033c454fd7426cfc8e01d25ca21226e5c95ec5e0801899ad518aff52?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Connor","first_name":"Cherelle","job_title":"","description":"I am a third-year Computer Science Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech. My current research focuses on the exploration of cognitive load reduction and cognitive flow support in Immersive Spaces to Think."},{"term_id":556,"user_id":485,"is_guest":0,"slug":"fionncmurphy","display_name":"Fionn Murphy","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51d1a9b8877d2575fbbbf21e0a58310dfb2ebcee5405900d453243a7c6b1557d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Murphy","first_name":"Fionn","job_title":"","description":"I am an undergraduate Computer Science major at Virginia Tech."},{"term_id":554,"user_id":486,"is_guest":0,"slug":"dtrey05","display_name":"Trey Davis","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56118f72dccde862b89457f9da42edf4b159a71d0627a219bebbb248991c73ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Davis","first_name":"Trey","job_title":"","description":"I am a sophomore undergraduate student studying Computer Science at Virigina Tech. My current work focuses on developing networked VR solutions using HCI design processes."},{"term_id":511,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"haichao-miao","display_name":"Haichao Miao","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":539,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"vuthea-chheang","display_name":"Vuthea Chheang","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":540,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"brian-giera","display_name":"Brian Giera","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":521,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"timo-bremer","display_name":"Timo Bremer","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":391,"user_id":331,"is_guest":0,"slug":"dbowman","display_name":"Doug Bowman","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2021\/01\/professional_photo2_2019-cropped-square-smaller-scaled.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2021\/01\/professional_photo2_2019-cropped-square-smaller-scaled.jpg"},"author_category":"1","user_url":"","last_name":"Bowman","first_name":"Doug","job_title":"","description":"Doug A. Bowman is the Frank J. Maher Professor of Computer Science<\/a> at Virginia Tech<\/a>. He is the principal investigator of the 3D Interaction Group<\/a>, focusing on the topics of three-dimensional user interfaces, VR\/AR user experience, and the benefits of immersion in virtual environments.\r\n\r\nDr. Bowman is one of the co-authors of 3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice<\/a>. He has served in many roles for the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference<\/a>, including program chair, general chair, and steering committee chair. He also co-founded the IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (now part of IEEE VR). He received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for his work on 3D Interaction, and has been named an ACM Distinguished Scientist. He received the Technical Achievement award from the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee in 2014 and the Career Impact Award from IEEE ISMAR in 2021.\r\n\r\nHis undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science is from Emory University, and he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.\r\n\r\nCurriculum vitae (PDF)<\/a>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3469"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3482,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3469\/revisions\/3482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3469"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.cs.vt.edu\/3digroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}