Evaluating Social Acceptance of eXtended Reality (XR) Agent Technology: A User Study (Extended Version)

TL;DR

This study evaluates social acceptance of a web-based XR training system with virtual avatars for journalists, extending the Almere model to include dependability and security, through a real-world user experiment.

Contribution

It introduces an extended social acceptance model for XR agents and provides empirical data on user perceptions in a professional training context.

Findings

XR system is generally accepted by users

Dependability and security are key factors influencing acceptance

User perceptions highlight areas for system improvement

Abstract

In this paper, we present the findings of a user study that evaluated the social acceptance of eXtended Reality (XR) agent technology, focusing on a remotely accessible, web-based XR training system developed for journalists. This system involves user interaction with a virtual avatar, enabled by a modular toolkit. The interactions are designed to provide tailored training for journalists in digital-remote settings, especially for sensitive or dangerous scenarios, without requiring specialized end-user equipment like headsets. Our research adapts and extends the Almere model, representing social acceptance through existing attributes such as perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, along with added ones like dependability and security in the user-agent interaction. The XR agent was tested through a controlled experiment in a real-world setting, with data collected on users' perceptions. Our findings, based on quantitative and qualitative measurements involving questionnaires, contribute to the understanding of user perceptions and acceptance of XR agent solutions within a specific social context, while also identifying areas for the improvement of XR systems.