Today, when developers design and implement AR or VR experiences for delivery in a fully self-contained application, they author original graphics and designate user interface parameters that evolve with context, but remain generally consistent throughout their apps. They may follow conventions and design guidelines for specific devices and interaction modalities, but, it is assumed that the user will stay in one app and control their experiences exclusively using the developer’s “packaged” user interface.
In the future, Web browsers will provide effective support for Virtual and Augmented Reality experience delivery, allowing access to various user interface paradigms ranging from traditional WIMP-style interaction over location-based AR to fully immersive VR and AR with full spatial tracking and semantic reconstruction of the environment. As they have grown accustomed to doing on the current Web, users of web-based Virtual and Augmented Reality will expect to control their exploration and enjoy a wide variety of experiences, without leaving the browser. They may experience, without running multiple simultaneous apps or “windows,” the interaction of the digital and physical worlds composed of content from multiple sources. Just as many current web sites support user-generated and user-edited content, and the ability to mashup elements from different sources, users of web-based Virtual and Augmented experiences may have the option to search for, combine and change the content they experience and to author new experiences. However, at present, developers of Virtual and Augmented Reality experiences face several challenges in realizing this vision of seamless experience delivery through the Web.
This workshop brings together experts from various domains such as Web technologies, computer vision, human-computer interaction or software engineering, to:
1. discuss the state of the Immersive Web
2. Discuss the possible paths to full support of new Web-based
- interfaces,
- interaction models and
- conventions compatible with Web-based Virtual and Augmented Reality.
3. Increase awareness in the research and development communities for the disruptive impacts of Web-based Virtual and Augmented Reality.
In advance of the workshop, registered participants will receive, by way of the workshop web site, recommended reading and other materials developed by the co-organizers.
This workshop is timely and relevant because Augmented Reality is already possible in mainstream browsers and Virtual Reality is possible in many of them, too. All the major Web browser vendors are currently collaborating in the context of the W3C Immersive Web Community Group, on the definition of a WebXR Device API specification that will provide cross-platform access to Virtual and Augmented Reality displays and interaction devices in Web browsers, expanding the previous draft WebVR specification to include AR devices. WebXR will appear in mainstream browsers in the near future, and is another great step along the path to Web browsers providing with extensive support for Virtual and Augmented Reality capabilities.