Titles
A-C
D-G
H-K
L-O
P-S
T-Z
A contemporary chiffonier: new models for photographic resea...A New Archive: Design Processes for Illusory ExperiencesAI textbook, a true classroom revolution?Air, Light, Action: Exploring Inflatable Workspaces in Post-...Among Rocks and Peeling Paint: The Role of Production Design...Approaches to Keep Hong Kong’s Shek Kip Mei Park Fountain ...Architecture as Immersive Media: Pre-History to Populous’s...Automated Floor Generation and Thermal Comfort Optimization ...Between Othering and Owning: Pierre Loti’s Ramuntcho as Fu...Beyond Smart: Inclusivity through Grassroot Initiatives in U...Can Virtual Nature Replace Real Nature? The Impact of Living...Citizen Empowerment in Urban Planning and Design: A Comparat...Collecting Collective Memories – Using 3D Media as Immers...Conversations with Trees: A Biophilic Dialogue between Natur...Dark Spaces: U.S. Border Architecture, Public Representation...Decoding the Dynamics of Urban Resilience of BapunagarDesign Practice as Design FocusDigital Democracy in Environmental Stewardship: Participator...Digital Fabrication and Making in Education: Expanding Pedag...Digital Labor Practices Among Rural Mothers in China: A Crit...Disrumpo in the Vuja De: Breaking the Doldrums of Screen Tim...Doors Open & Check-inDreamscape LearnDynamic Emotion Mapping for Smart Cities: A CNN-TCN Framewor...Echoes of the LiesbeekEmpathy in Action: Integrating Community and Innovation in D...Enchanting Destinations with Eudaimonic Brand StorytellingEnhancing Sanitation Education: User Interaction with Electr...Envisioning Justice: A Speculative Narrative for Addressing ...Evaluation of Design Qualities for Public Open Space in Futu...Fauxtanical: Machinic Co-creation with the More-than-less-th...Fertile Virtuality: Expanding Interior Design Through Media ...Focus PullerForm Interprets Agency: Parc de la CitéFrom BTS to Squid Game: Can K-pop and K-dramas Build Interra...From Metaverse to Hyperreality: The Role of Immersive Techno...From Objects to Networks: An Object-Oriented Ontological Cri...From “Cold” Calculations to “Hot” Interaction: How D...GenSync: Bridging Intergenerational Communication Gaps with ...Humanities–informed Media Design in Spatial Computing (Aug...Hybrid Third Places as Catalysts for Innovative Placemaking:...I Was Never There: The Pan Optics of SurveillanceImagined Shanghai: A Case Study of Television Dramas Support...Imagining the Biggest Movie Ever MadeInfrastructural VoidsIntegrating Eye-Tracking and Immersive Virtual Environments ...Interactive Media in Urban Redevelopment: A Toolkit for Comp...Interrogations of Consumption: The Territory of Late-Stage C...Jaywalking Index: Visual and Socio-demographic Patterns in L...Kowloon’s ‘Walled City’ as de jure Retrospective: Dig...Legacy Code : Broadcasting the Bracero LettersLessons of Donald Judd for ubiquitous computingMapping Blackness: Exploring Place, Memory, and Digital Narr...Media, strategic litigations (legal mobilizations) and the p...MEDIAted Membranes: Environmental Data Resonance in UrbanSca...Mediating Urban Life: Interiority and Digital-Physical Exper...Metacinematic Vulnerability in 'Notes on Blindness'Museum of Anthropocene: Architecture, Politics, and Ecologic...Museum virtual tours as sequences of gaps: The Red LodgeMusic & Dance as Storytellers of the Erosion of Place & Peop...Narratives of social change: food and empowerment in the MTS...Navigating Attention and Distraction: A Study on User Immers...Objectifying the Cache – On Forgetting and Spatializing Me...Our New Situationship: Screen-Based Technology and Embodied ...Perceived Benefits of Immersive Technology Skills For Margin...Preparing the Design Student to be "Everything Everywhere Al...Preserving Heritage Amidst Technological Advancements: A Mix...Private Spaces, Public Performances: Smartphones, Youth Cult...Re-Enchanting Disintermediation: Exploring Techno-Spirituali...Real-Time Generative Storytelling through Tangible AI: An e...Reassessing Form and Content in Housing Design in The Hyper ...RECLAIMING SPACE: Addressing Urban Stratification in Atlant...Reconstructing the "Interface" of Digital Public Art: From F...Redefining Spaces: Immersive Storytelling through Multi-Scre...Reimaging the Past: Utilizing AI for Visual Preservation of ...Reimagining Islamic Literary Classics: Enchantment through C...Renewing Urban Narratives: A Case of Public Toilets as Inter...Rethinking the Surface of Classic Genre Film in the Era of L...Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Rumsu V...Screen Studies with the Perspective of ‘Double Logic’ Screening Spaces: Cinematic Urban Landscapes as a Tool for S...Screens on Surface, Past in Projection: The Spectacle of the...Shallow vs. Deep Gamification: Striking a Playful but Purpos...Social Gathering - Cider CorpsSocial Gathering - Espiritu Bar and RestaurantSpeculating the Virtual Polis through archiveThingStellarScape - Immersive Multimedia Performances and Install...Superblocks in Abu Dhabi: Improving Neighborhood Level and W...Tactility (or, Why We Love the Humanity of Hand-Drawn Images...Technology Infused Public Art in Albuquerque: IoT, Data and ...Textile architecture: innovative building components for sma...Textiles as a Complement to Architecture: Tradition and Tech...The Body of the CityThe Cone and The Treetop: Notes on Timeline ObservationsThe Gaze: An Architectural Fiction Reconceiving Sight in Arc...The importance of both CAD drawings and hand drawn sketchesThe Intersection of Space and Identity in Memphis' Latinx C...The Lone Wolves in the Shared Forest: Mobilities and Practic...The Mouse and Keyboard: Peripheral devices at the centre of ...The Outernet: The Now Building, Tottenham Court Road, London...The Phenomenology of Space and Body in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s...The Spaceship Ziggurat and The Ripped ConcreteThe Spectator as Speculator – mediated architecture and ig...The Techno-Sublime of Media Spectacle: From Screen-Interfac...VR binocular rivalry cinema: An art-science interdisciplinar...Weaving and Wayfinding: Navigating Power, People, and Places...Welcome and introduction: In-personWelcome and Introduction: VirtualWelcome to Uncanny Valley: Interrelations and Image Hybrids ...
Schedule

Society. Spaces. Screens

Part of the Mediated Cities Conference Series
Navigating Attention and Distraction: A Study on User Immersion in Interactive Virtual Reality Content
S. Chung
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Abstract

This article explores user immersion and engagement in interactive virtual reality (VR) content as a continual shift between attention and distraction. Unlike traditional discussions of VR immersion, which often emphasize complete presence or flow, interactive VR storytelling engages users in a dynamic process that stimulates both attention and distraction. The prevailing discourse on VR immersion focuses on presence—where users feel transported to another space—or flow, a deep state of focus with minimal awareness of the real world. However, interactive VR films and animations, especially in the realm of VR art, feature complex narratives and user interactions that, combined with gaming elements, challenge these established frameworks. This study suggests that immersion progresses through varying levels of engagement, where users alternate between attention and distraction, rather than experiencing a continuous, uninterrupted flow. The study also examines the relevance of Walter Benjamin’s concept of “reception in distraction” to these experiences. Using the interactive VR animation From the Main Square as a case study, user experiences are analyzed through in-depth interviews with participants. Ultimately, exploring the in-betweenness of attention and distraction shifts in user immersion is expected to broaden the understanding of user experiences in interactive VR content with gaming elements and contribute to the design and conception of storytelling and interaction in such content.

Biography

Saehae Chung is an assistant professor at Korea University of Media Arts since 2022, specializing in immersive media arts and design. She holds a BFA from Hongik University (2007), an MFA from Purchase College, SUNY (2011), and a second MFA (2014) and DFA (2020) from Yonsei University. Starting her career in traditional 2D media, she has since expanded into digital media, including video, performance, and immersive VR. Her research interests include Contemporary Art, Art & Technology.