This study investigates the utility of creating and hosting online interactive exhibitions in a 3D desktop virtual world. The project involves Interior Design students from a Masters level design studio (IDES 7200), who will be invited to have their course project work showcased in an online gallery created by our research team in the Spot Virtual platform. A gallery opening event will be held that will be open to the public. Visitors to the virtual gallery during this event will be invited to participate in a short anonymous online survey about their experience. After the gallery opening event, the students who had work in the gallery will be invited to participate in a 30 minute semi-structured interview about their experience and perceptions of having their work showcased in the gallery.
Investigators
Dr. Celine Latulipe (Lead investigator, Department of Computer Science)
Professor Jason Shields (Co-investigator, Department of Interior Design)
Tessa Horn (Research Assistant, Department of Interior Design)
Recruitment
Eligible students from the Fall 2023 IDES 7200 class will be invited to participate by email. Questions can be directed to Celine Latulipe (celine.latulipe@umanitoba.ca).
Gallery visitors will have access to a link to the anonymous online survey during the gallery opening event. The survey link will also be posted here after the event.
This research has been approved by the University of Manitoba Research Ethics Board, Fort Garry Campus. If you have any concerns or complaints about this project you may contact any of the above-named persons or the Human Ethics Coordinator at 204-474-7122 or humanethics@umanitoba.ca.
Consent Form
Consent form link Study now over.
Final Report
We conducted an investigation of using the web-based 3D virtual world platform, Spot Virtual, for exhibiting the work of interior design students. We built an exhibition gallery in Spot Virtual, recruited interior design graduate student participants to showcase their work, and installed their work in the gallery. The work included images, videos, PDF documents and 3D scanned objects. We then held an online public opening event for the exhibition, which was attended by approximately 30 people. We analyzed data from interviews with student participants (n=5), anonymous survey responses from gallery visitors (n=12), and our own curator reflections (n=3). Our findings show that the exhibition was positively experienced by student participants and visitors, and supported dynamic engagement, both socially and around the student work. Students particularly appreciated the scale, fidelity, and amount of their work that could be exhibited. Hosting an interior design work exhibition in this way offers significant benefits related to time, cost, flexibility, sustainability, and accessibility.
Computing Creatively 