The shortcomings of video conferencing technology, methods for revealing them, and emerging XR solutions

TL;DR

This paper reviews the limitations of current video conferencing technologies, discusses evaluation methods, and explores emerging XR solutions, aiming to guide future research and development in this area.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of video conferencing shortcomings, evaluation methods, and emerging XR solutions, encouraging future research and innovation.

Findings

Video conferencing has significant social and communicative limitations.

Current evaluation methods are crucial for assessing new technologies.

Emerging XR solutions offer promising alternatives to traditional video conferencing.

Abstract

Video conferencing has become a central part of our daily lives, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, so have its many limitations, resulting in poor support for communicative and social behavior and ultimately, Zoom fatigue. New technologies will be required to address these limitations, including many drawn from mixed reality (XR). In this paper, our goals are to equip and encourage future researchers to develop and test such technologies. Toward this end, we first survey research on the shortcomings of video conferencing systems, as defined before and after the pandemic. We then consider the methods that research uses to evaluate support for communicative behavior, and argue that those same methods should be employed in identifying, improving, and validating promising video conferencing technologies. Next, we survey emerging XR solutions to video conferencing's limitations, most off which do not employ head-mounted displays.