Am Montag, den 01. Juni 2026, um 16:15 Uhr hält

Jonah-Noël Kaiser
Universität Oldenburg

im Rahmen seiner beabsichtigten Dissertation einen Vortrag mit dem Titel

Scaling Social Presence in Extended Reality

Der Vortrag findet im OFFIS, Escherweg 2, Raum F02 und
online über https://bbb.offis.de/rooms/kai-xyk-kxw-eie/join statt.

Der Vortrag erfolgt in englischer Sprache.

Abstract:
Physical distance increasingly shapes how people maintain social relationships in both private and professional contexts. As remote work and global mobility become more common, many people spend less time co-located with friends, family, and colleagues, contributing to growing social isolation and negative effects on well-being.
Extended Reality (XR), including Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), has emerged as a promising approach for remote interaction. By enabling embodied and spatial communication, XR allows users to either meet in shared virtual environments or appear within each other’s physical surroundings. These interactions can foster the “sense of being with another,” referred to as social presence, which is considered a key factor for effective remote communication.
However, prior work suggests that higher social presence is not universally beneficial. Depending on the context and the individual, it can also increase anxiety, discomfort, or negative social experiences. Despite this, social presence is often treated as an inherently desirable outcome, without the possibility to adjust the feeling to users' personal needs.
My dissertation addresses this gap by investigating how social presence in remote XR interaction can be systematically scaled. Rather than maximizing social presence, the goal is to adapt it to the requirements of different situations and users. To this end, the work focuses on visual feedback in XR, leveraging the unique ability of XR systems to alter what users see. Since the relationship between visual feedback and social presence has already been extensively studied, it provides a strong foundation for exploring how social presence can be adjusted through visual design.
Specifically, the dissertation investigates three key components of remote XR interaction: avatars, objects, and environments. Avatars act as user representations whose realism influences social presence. Objects provide contextual and personal cues that can shape interpersonal processes. Environments influence how interactions are perceived, ranging from familiar real-world spaces to fully virtual settings. Across multiple empirical studies, these components are systematically evaluated following a human-centered design process.
The dissertation contributes a perspective on social presence as a scalable property rather than a fixed goal. The findings provide insights into how XR systems can adapt to different social presence needs through visual feedback, informing the design of future remote communication technologies.
Betreuerin: Prof. Dr. Susanne Boll