IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 38

Feature
the general public, and so on. We are learning a lot
about different world views; how to work together in
partnership with indigenous communities; and how
to design, integrate, and use the appropriate technology
in suitable forms, to achieve the mutual learning
and connectivity solutions we are aiming for. Every
end of an iterative step is a new beginning for all.
While the system in its current form is effective and
was received very positively, we consider a number
of future directions.
While the voxel resolutions used (typically 8 or
Figure 5. Storyteller within the virtual
wharerau.
Figure 6. Principle of two people meeting
in virtual wharerau with virtual storyteller.
4 mm, depending on the size of environment or the
person's interaction space) are sufficient to stimulate
a sense of presence and co-presence, finer
detail would be desirable. We are working on solutions
with 4-, 2-, and 1-mm resolutions leading to a
significant, nonlinear increase in bandwidth and
processing requirements. More importantly for teleco-presence
situations, we wish to overcome the use
of face-blocking head-mounted displays. For example,
optical seethrough displays could be used and
would allow for more of the faces of the participating
people to be seen.v
Figure 7. Tele-co-presence within virtual
wharerau involving playback of prerecorded
storyteller.
Lessons learned and future work
We have had the opportunity and privilege to
work with and to present to experts in tikanga and
te ao Ma¯ori (worldview). For instance, at a recent
major event in Bluff, the annual Nga¯i Tahu Waitangi
day celebrations which this year coincided with a
Treaty of Waitangi discussion on certain indigenous
rights, we were able to demonstrate many aspects of
our project to representatives of the wider Nga¯i Tahu
iwi, Ma¯ori communities, kauma¯tua (Ma¯ori elders),
38
More important are the cultural aspects of
the experience. Visitors to a marae are normally
required to partake in a welcoming protocol, known
as po¯whiri, before they may freely move around the
marae, in particular, within the wharerau. Knowledge
of the po¯whiri process is helpful and, in some
cases, essential. Using our virtual wharerau environment,
people are able to expose themselves to the
formal po¯whiri process, learn the protocols, and
rehearse the ceremony in a safe and nonembarrassing
way. In addition to using our system to learn
the real-world po¯whiri protocol, the question arises
whether a virtual po¯whiri is required before one is
free to enter the virtual wharerau. As a project team,
we are investigating the tikanga, and the possible
differences between the physical and virtual po¯whiri
requirements.
Multisensory experiences are believed to increase the
sense of presence, to lead to higher effectiveness, and
to be more fun (see [1]). We are investigating whether
the addition of vibro-tactile feedback, wind, smell, and
so on can be applied to our storytelling and tele-co-presence
context, which forms and in what combination are
culturally appropriate, and whether they deliver benefits
vHowever, this also means that more of the local physical environment is visible,
rendering some of the advantages of a fully immersive environment invalid. We are
following both technologies at the moment.
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022

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