Thread by @kentbye

1/ THREAD👇
#IEEEVR2020 conference starts today.
They changed their venue from Atlanta to online in VR.
They kept the exact same schedule 9a-5p EDT Sun-Thu.
Livestreamed free on Twitch & social VR/posters/birds of feather in private instance of @MozillaHubs.
I'll be covering it.

2/ There are 9 simultaneous #IEEEVR2020 workshops about to begin at 9a EDT on the following Twitch Channels (links below).
Three are full day workshops.
2x half-day has 9 workshops & 3 tutorial sessions.
All free on Twitch livestream w/ no VODs.
Some available on YouTube later

3/ #IEEEVR2020 Workshops 9a-5p EDT
NIDIT Novel Input Devices and Interaction Techniques
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_nid…

WEVR: Workshop on Everyday Virtual Reality
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_wevr

Training XR: 3D Content Creation for Simulated Training in eXtended Reality
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_tra…

4/ #IEEEVR2020 Workshops 9a-12:30p EDT
SeatedVR: Seated Virtual Reality
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_sea…

KELVAR: K-12+ Embodied Learning through Virtual and Augmented Reality
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_kel…

ANIVAE: Animation in Virtual and Augmented Environments
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_ani…

5/ #IEEEVR2020 Workshops 9a-12:30p EDT
PERCAR: Perceptual and Cognitive Issues in AR
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_per…

Tutorial: X3D Quickstart
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_tut…

VR-in-VR: Virtual Reality in Virtual Reality
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_vr_…

6/ #IEEEVR2020 2p-5p EDT
SIVE: Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_sive

WISP: Workshop on Immersive Sickness Prevention
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_wisp

VHCIE: Virtual Humans and Crowds in Immersive Environments [NOTE: Starts at 1:30p]
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_vhc…

7/ #IEEEVR2020 2p-5p EDT
SEARIS: Software Eng & Architectures for Realtime Int Sys
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_sea…
Tutorial: Developing Embodied Interactive Virtual Characters for Human-Subjects Studies
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_tut…
Tutorial Smart Immersive Environments
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_tut…

8/ Details on the Tutorials here:
ieeevr.org/2020/program/t…

And more info on all of these #IEEEVR2020 workshops can be found here:
ieeevr.org/2020/contribut…

More soon...

9/ It's terrible idea to pre-record videos & then play them on Zoom for a conference.
It's SUPER annoying for a number of reasons:
#1 Bad audio, like a recording of a recording
#2 Bad audio mixing playing videos
#3 Feels stale & dead. I prefer live
#4 Shows wrong cam
#ieeevr2020

10/ I usually don't attend conf sessions because they're too slow, but I watched 4.6hrs of #IEEEVR2020 workshops in 2.5 hours by recording 9 Twitch streams w/ Streamlink & listening from 1.5x to 3x speed.
Enabling Twitch real-time VOD would allow everyone to time shift like this.

11/ I made easy-to-read #IEEEVR2020 schedule graphics for Mon-Thu.
I wanted an overview without having to scroll, be able to see the titles of the papers, & as a color-coded image that could be placed in VR.
What should a schedule look like in VR?
Link: ieeevr.org/2020/program/o…

12/ I prototyped a #IEEEVR2020 schedule room.

It's a stub that needs remixing & tweaking
hubs.ieeevr.online/MNYE7Bu/ieee-v…

Here are some high-res versions of the schedule for folks to remix:
ieeevr-assets.ieeevr-hubs-internal.net/files/9030a6e1…
ieeevr-assets.ieeevr-hubs-internal.net/files/f6dc33b2…
ieeevr-assets.ieeevr-hubs-internal.net/files/ee3c45da…
ieeevr-assets.ieeevr-hubs-internal.net/files/a2d584fd…

13/ I love how easy @MozillaHubs is to remix worlds.
This is my first scene that I prototyped in an evening, sent a link to @blairmacintyre & now it's an official space available at #IEEEVR2020.
More folks should be making worlds, experimenting, & sharing:
hubs.mozilla.com/kmpNkVD/puny-u…

14/ @MozillaHubs Tips:

Basic Controls for new folks by @elginskye


Hubs Presentations & Positioning objects


Building Scenes for Mozilla Hubs with Spoke


Learn Spoke in 5 Minutes

15/ Here's a @mozillahubs tutorial video for the #IEEEVR2020 admin moderators who can mute & kick people or delete objects from a room.
IEEEVR is running their own private instance of Hubs, & so they have tighter access control + a strict Code of Conduct:

16/ At the moment, the 2D interface for @mozillahubs is more fully featured. If you're in the Quest, you have to leave the room to get to preferences, you can't chat/text, you can't save or click on links that people send in chat. But for me the immersion is worth the tradeoffs.

17/ You have more control over your identity expression if you customize your avatar.

@MozillaHubs has some external tools for customizing a robot skin at tryquilt.io

Docs & refs:
hubs.mozilla.com/docs/intro-ava…
hubs.mozilla.com/docs/creators-…
github.com/mozillareality…
#IEEEVR2020

18/ I was asked if I could make my @IEEEVR schedule remix available as a spreadsheet, & I just made it available here:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

There are high-res PNGs here:

https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1241804108111048705

My original post of the #IEEEVR2020 schedule is here:

https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1241795333874540545

19/ The #IEEEVR2020 welcome started in Zoom, & moved into VR. @cs_uga's Kyle J. Johnsen & @blairmacintyre went into a @MozillaHubs room where they walked around showing images, posters, & welcome videos were on the wall. Hoping to recreate hallways in VR
twitch.tv/videos/5734512…

20/ There are 3 #IEEEVR2020 session tracks happening simultaneously throughout today that are being streamed on Twitch on these channels:

Great Room 1:
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_gre…
Great Room 2:
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_gre…
Studio 1:
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_stu…

I remixed the schedule here:

The opening #IEEEVR2020 keynote was from John Quarles titled "diVRersify or die" talking about the challenges of diversity within VR research, & how this bias can be propagated to the entire VR industry.

Here's the VOD of the talk:
twitch.tv/videos/5734512…

https://twitter.com/blairmacintyre/status/1242083223003422722

22/ The #IEEEVR2020 organizers turned on the Twitch real-time VOD feature in the middle of the day yesterday, & so if you check the Twitch links listed above & click on the Videos tab, then you may see a video archive.
There's VOD archives on 2 of 3 of the live sessions. Soon 3/3

23/ First 3 #IEEEVR2020 sessions + VOD links for 2:

[1] Avatar: Appearance
ieeevr.org/2020/program/p…
VOD: twitch.tv/videos/5734512…

[2] 3DUI: Selection/Exploration
ieeevr.org/2020/program/p…
No Twitch VOD yet

[3] Gaze and Attention
ieeevr.org/2020/program/p…
VOD twitch.tv/videos/5735252…

24/ At a normal conference, you have to move your body to get into a session. Virtually, you turn on a stream & may or may not have as much context. I think it's important for the conference chair to introduce the title & intention of a session to get everyone in the same context

25/ Hopefully at #IEEEVR2020, the attendees will spend some time in the conference hanging out in VR.

I wrote up some deeper reflections about the nature of conferences & transitioning into both virtual conferences & remote work in this Twitter thread:

https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1239671640885063682

26/ One of the most compelling part of the #IEEEVR2020 online conference so far is the poster session where the students stand by their poster & explain their research. It's hard to replicate in 2D teleconferencing, but works especially well in VR since it's a spatial experience.

27/ The #IEEEVR2020 conf is a very iterative process. I've fed @blairmacintyre & Kyle Johnsen suggestions & they're rapidly turning it around. In that sense, the dynamics of the conference are changing hour by hour as they push new architectural changes to hubs.ieeevr.online

28/ I talked with Connor about his research of recreating the feeling of walking up stairs in VR.
The text is too small to read either on PC or especially in the Quest. I can click on the room assets on PC (blocks with 15 in upper right) & select the image & see high-res version.

29/ @gfodor suggested trying the focus feature, but the text is still too small to read on both PC & Quest.
I was telling him that designing text content for VR will need to have new considerations. It's probably more similar to designing presentations

https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1242142348781355009

30/ But it'd be nice to have posters that work in both co-located physical confs & virtual confs. It may just need to be displayed bigger in VR like the Great Room 1 viewing room where people stand on a balcony to see it big enough at a distance away.
See:

https://twitter.com/blairmacintyre/status/1242083223003422722

31/ Being a journalist at a virtual conference feels a lot being like a QA tester.
Offering real-time feedback about how the technical architecture impacts my phenomenological experience of the gathering.
Afternoon sessions are starting up again now.

https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1242140241395249156

32/ #IEEEVR2020 Session VODs
[4] Avatar: Perception
ieeevr.org/2020/program/p…
VOD: twitch.tv/videos/5734512…

[5] 3DUI: Navigation - Redirected Walking
ieeevr.org/2020/program/p…
VOD: twitch.tv/videos/5736269…

[6] AR: Tools & Displays
ieeevr.org/2020/program/p…
VOD: twitch.tv/videos/5735252…

33/ Information dissemination for a distributed conference is challenging.
There's ephemeral birds of a feather sessions scheduled on the fly in a Google Doc, in private Hubs rooms, located on BoF website, notified via Slack Announcement (but not in VR).
ieeevr.org/2020/program/b…

34/ I was testing out the phone version of @MozillaHubs in a room with three audio isolated livestreams.
I had my first proper serendipitous collision in the metaphoric hallway between the screens with @anthony_steed at 11:55a PDT Portland for me & 6:55p GMT London for him.

35/ It'd be a lot better to be able to navigate to VR rooms from WITHIN VR. It's these interstitial spaces where the best conference collisions happen. The only way to navigate to a room is to use the 2D interface that's usually focused on content. I wish there were room portals.

36/ The good news is @anthony_steed & I were able to have a conversation in the metaphoric VR hallway & still have enough audio isolation from the other screens as to not bother them. Having large VR spaces lows for the audio spatialization & roll-off happen as it does in reality

37/ I'm about to participate on a #IEEEVR2020 panel on XR ethics & privacy while in VR within @MozillaHubs.

Panelists:
ieeevr.org/2020/program/p…

Livestream *should* be on Twitch starting at 1p PDT 🤞:
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_gre…

VOD link should work after 1p
twitch.tv/videos/5734512…

38/ We're not having a live audience to prevent it from getting overloaded, but we're going to be inviting people into the room for Q&A, but I'll post the link once it comes to that point. Available for #IEEEVR attendees.
We're the only session in VR so it's all new here.

39/ Livestream is here: twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_gre…

40/ We had a great #IEEEVR2020 panel on ethics & privacy. I'll post the full link once it's online.

Checking out a Birds of Feather about Collaboration. AdHoc gatherings like this are the heart of a conference gathering.
We took a group photo below:

https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1242214980713316352

41/ Participated in my 1st in-VR conference panel at #IEEEVR2020 today. Felt like any other panel I've been on with a few glitches with choppy audio in Quest & some glitches streaming from XR.
Here's the last 75 min & full vid soon:
twitch.tv/videos/5736269…

https://twitter.com/What2DoNext/status/1242236445944881154

42/ Ran into @BenMcNulty a couple of times today. He's a front-end dev looking for remote work & networking at #IEEEVR2020.
It's hard to collide with people w/o in-world hallways & have to context switch to a 2D interface.
For me, the magic happens in unplanned, in-between spaces

43/ I stayed up late to create a proper #IEEEVR2020 hallway space that links to half of the poster sessions.
I wanted to create an interstitial/liminal space of transition to hang out in & increase the likelihood of conference collisions within VR.
hubs.ieeevr.online/5V3UPDN/alert-…

44/ Without automatic sharding in @MozillaHubs, then the load capacity needs to be managed by context switching from VR to a 2D interface outside of VR & then back into VR. I built an in VR solution in Hubs, but @blairmacintyre points out the limitations:

https://twitter.com/blairmacintyre/status/1242460751735992320

45/ If you'd like a spatial VR interface to explore the #IEEEVR2020 poster session from 12-1:30p, I built an experimental Hallway to go from room to room.
I'll be coming in & out of this room for 90 minutes.
Feel free to use it & see if you have collisions
hubs.ieeevr.online/5V3UPDN/alert-…

46/ There are some ways to implement sharding, & it's on the list of features for the @MozillaHubs team to automatically handle load balancing. I personally appreciate how @VRChat has solved it making it possible to join popular rooms if folks leave them.

https://twitter.com/blairmacintyre/status/1242480965857030145

47/ I spent most of the day finding liminal places for emergent conversations within VR, but 95% of the #IEEEVR2020 virtual conference participation is happening on 2D platforms like Twitch & Zoom.
Here's an example of some hybrid experimentation:

https://twitter.com/blairmacintyre/status/1242545658860654592

48/ We're meeting up in this room I created. Come on by!
hubs.ieeevr.online/5V3UPDN/alert-…

49/ @Mozilla's Chief R&D Officer @seanwhite is starting the final #IEEEVR2020 Keynote on Mixed Reality in a Highly Connected World.

Live feed:
twitch.tv/ieeevr2020_gre…
VOD Link: twitch.tv/videos/5759273…

50/ #IEEEVR2020 is over & I'm going to try to recap some of my experiences on Days 3-5.
95% of the conf was on Zoom/Twitch, but I was more interested in the hallway track & the unplanned collisions.
I gave feedback, & they changed the architecture, & with it the social dynamics.

51/ @PaisleyYasmine interviewed me & others on the impact of COVID-19 on the XR industry for @immersenow before I started covering #IEEEVR2020.

The Golden Era of VR Conferences is now over & one of my goals is to recreate serendipitous collisions in VR.
immerse.news/immersive-crea…

52/ The Greeks had two words for Time.

Conference sessions are in Chronos time: scheduled, planned, fated, linear, hierarchical.

Hallway conversations are in Kairos time: unscheduled, unplanned, serendipitous, non-linear, grassroots, emergent in the in-between threshold spaces.