[IDD Webinar 06] Communication and Collaboration Among DHH People in a Co-located Collaborative

Communication and Collaboration Among DHH People in a Co-located Collaborative Multiplayer AR
Sanzida Mojib Luna
Ph.D. candidate at Rochester Institute of Technology


Sanzida is a second-year Ph.D. student in Computer and Information Sciences and works as a graduate research assistant at the Niantic x RIT Geo Games and Media Research Lab at RIT. She specializes in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), with a focus on accessibility. Her goal is to empower the mixed-ability community by exploring how they can effectively collaborate and cooperate in a shared augmented reality (AR) environment.


Prior to her current role, she completed her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) in Bangladesh. This academic journey not only equipped her with a solid foundation in programming but also nurtured her love for problem-solving. She finds immense joy in leveraging her programming skills to tackle complex challenges and create innovative solutions. As a driven researcher, she continually seeks opportunities to expand her knowledge and contribute to the progression of HCI and accessibility. She is eager to collaborate with like-minded professionals, industry leaders, and organizations that share the same passion for inclusive technology and are committed to making a positive impact on people's lives.



Abstract

One of the most recent developments in augmented reality (AR) technology is co-located collaborative multiplayer AR environments, yet little research has been done to determine how communication and collaboration function in these settings. There is a gap in our understanding of whether these environments are currently accessible for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people. Although technical aspects, such as design, implementation, accuracy, etc., of the technologies and users’ behavior with assistive AR technologies, have been covered in plenty of prior literature, very few studies have paid attention to how DHH people communicate and collaborate in co-located collaborative AR environments. As an initial step toward addressing the gap in current literature, our ongoing research focuses on how DHH people communicate and collaborate in a co-located collaborative multiplayer AR environment. As part of our study, we conducted gameplay experiments and one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 17 DHH participants. In this piece of work, among the prominent themes that stood out in our findings, we further discuss communication and collaboration, specifically multi-modal communication (verbal and non-verbal) among users and how multi-modal communication affected their collaboration in the environment.