This paper provided empirical knowledge of the user experience for using collaborative visualization in a distributed asymmetrical setting through controlled user studies. With the ability to access various computing devices, such as Virtual Reality (VR) head-mounted displays, scenarios emerge when collaborators have to or prefer to use different computing environments in different places. However, we still lack an understanding of using VR in an asymmetric setting for collaborative visualization. To get an initial understanding and better inform the designs for asymmetric systems, we first conducted a formative study with 12 pairs of participants. All participants collaborated in asymmetric (PC-VR) and symmetric settings (PC-PC and VR-VR). We then improved our asymmetric design based on the key findings and observations from the first study. Another ten pairs of participants collaborated with enhanced PC-VR and PC-PC conditions in a follow-up study. We found that a well-designed asymmetric collaboration system could be as effective as a symmetric system. Surprisingly, participants using PC perceived less mental demand and effort in the asymmetric setting (PC-VR) compared to the symmetric setting (PC-PC). We provided fine-grained discussions about the trade-offs between different collaboration settings.

翻译：本文通过受控用户研究，为在分布式非对称环境中使用协作可视化提供了用户体验的实证知识。随着人们能够使用虚拟现实头戴显示器等多种计算设备，协作者在不同地点不得不或倾向于使用不同计算环境的场景日益增多。然而，我们仍缺乏对非对称环境中使用VR进行协作可视化理解。为获得初步认知并更好地指导非对称系统的设计，我们首先开展了包含12组参与者的形成性研究。所有参与者在非对称（PC-VR）与对称（PC-PC和VR-VR）设置下进行协作。随后基于首项研究的关键发现与观察结果优化了非对称设计。在后续研究中，另10组参与者对增强型PC-VR与PC-PC条件进行协作。我们发现精心设计的非对称协作系统能达到与对称系统同等的效果。令人惊讶的是，相较于对称环境（PC-PC），在非对称环境（PC-VR）中使用PC的参与者感知到更低的心智需求与努力程度。我们提供了关于不同协作设置间权衡的精细讨论。