Investigating the use of Different Visual Cues to Improve Social Presence within a 360 Mixed Reality Remote Collaboration*

In this paper, we investigate the social aspects and effects of various visual cues in a 360 panorama-based Mixed Reality remote collaboration system. We conducted a series of user studies using a prototype system to compare the effects of different combinations of visual cues including hand gestures, ray pointing and drawing in a remote collaborative task. We found that adding ray pointing and drawing can enhance the social aspects of a remote collaborative experience and also can lower the required task mental effort. We discuss the findings and suggest directions for future research.