An Ontology for Evaluation of Remote Collaboration using Augmented Reality

Abstract

Research on remote collaboration mediated by Augmented Reality (AR) has been mostly devoted to creating and exploring the enabling technologies to establish a shared understanding among distributed collaborators. Yet, a more in-depth consideration of the nuances of collaboration should be considered in order to improve the methods to support, as well as to evaluate such processes. However, evaluation is a particularly challenging endeavor given the multitude of aspects that may influence remote collaboration scenarios that should be assessed to understand how collaboration occurs through this new medium. In this context, integrating characterization and evaluation methods for characterizing the collaborative process is of paramount importance. We propose a knowledge-based ontology describing relations among dimensions of collaboration and the main concepts of the evaluation process to guide researchers in designing and conducting their evaluations, thus providing a more comprehensive perspective on the collaborative process and the value of AR in this context.