HCI research has shown that ambient cues (like light) can help people manage time during meetings. By placing cues in VR we can offer new kinds of feedback not possible in the physical world, but thus far, research has not yet examined the efficacy of ambient cues for time management in VR meetings. This research explores how shared movement through an environment might affect meeting participants’ ability to manage time. To answer this question, our team has designed a novel VR application with a moving platform (the Time Barge) which moves through a virtual environment over the course of a meeting, displaying ambient cues to participants as they manage an experimental task. While data analysis is ongoing, preliminary results suggested that most participants didn’t notice time pasting and weren’t distracted by the environment. Interventions like the Time Barge point to opportunities for VR meetings to support social dynamics that go beyond what is possible in the physical world.

There’s been a shift to hybrid and remote work that have caused some challenges with meetings. VR meetings are an alternative that supports richer forms of embodied virtual copresence. HCI research has demonstrated that technology can assist people manage social dynamics in a work environment and more specifically in meetings. One of the technology interventions might include making the dynamic between people more pronounced in meetings. Another would be a way to address time management in meetings. The exploration of these ideas have not been explored in VR yet. The meeting possibilities in VR stretch wider than what might be available in a physical space. One of the challenges faced in meetings, in general, is time management.

— Participant June83281