Exploring the Role of UX Influencing Factors in Virtual Reality for Natural Hazards Prepardness: A Disign-Based Approach

Abstract

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our time, and its complexity makes finding innovative solutions challenging. One of the ways that climate change poses a challenge is by reshaping the earth’s natural ecosystem and increasing the frequency and severity of Natural Hazards (NH), such as floods and landslides, that affect millions of people and cause substantial losses. One potential solution is to leverage digital transformation and explore the use of narratives and immersive media technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), to communicate scientific information about NH and enable change. However, traditional methods of communication, such as reports and maps, may not be sufficient or accessible to a broader audience. Therefore, there is a need to develop transformative and immersive experiences that can facilitate the comprehension and communication of scientific information about NH. This research project created immersive and engaging Virtual Reality Environments (VRE) that communicated NH using digital transformation technology as part of an interdisciplinary project called World of Wild Waters (WoWW). VR offered a unique opportunity to create digital twins of NH by integrating numerical simulations of geophysical phenomena that users could explore and manipulate. However, to create engaging VR, it was crucial to explore the factors that influenced User Experience (UX) within VR. To address this challenge, the work adopted a design-based research (DBR) approach, which consisted of three iterative cycles, each addressing a specific objective. DBR Cycle 1 explored the factors that could enhance user-perceived quality in Immersive Media Experiences (IME). A conceptual framework was formulated by integrating Interactive Digital Narratives (IDN) as an important dimension to be investigated in VR. Based on the proposed framework, a case study was designed to explore the role of IDN and its impact on UX in VR. DBR Cycle 2 evaluated the impact of affordances on user-perceived experiences in VR. It developed a VR that integrated wayfinding cues as affordances for NH preparedness. The VR prototype implemented three VREs with several types of wayfinding cues: no cues, static cues, and dynamic cues, and it evaluated the psychological and psychometric effects of wayfinding cues on UX within the VR. DBR Cycle 3 designed and evaluated a VR framework for visualizing numerical simulations of geophysical flows (i.e., floods) to enhance risk communication of NH in VR. We implemented a VR prototype that used the VR framework to visualize and interact with simulations of NH. Furthermore, DBR cycle 3 evaluated the influence of emotions and identity on UX in VR. The research demonstrated the novelty and originality of using VR to enhance the understanding and communication of NH and foster risk awareness and resilience among diverse audiences and stakeholders. The results showed how UX influencing factors such as IDN, affordances, emotions, and identity enhanced the VR experience, thus contributing to the advancement of knowledge and practice in the fields of VR, UX, and NH. Moreover, this research provided insights and guidelines for creating effective and engaging VR for communicating complex and uncertain scientific information about NH.