Metaverse Exploration: Standardizing Data, Interoperability, and Global Collaboration for Enhanced Workplace Research
Over the past two years, the metaverse, a term encompassing immersive virtual worlds where multiple users can simultaneously engage, has piqued the interest of both researchers and practitioners. However, the field of metaverse research is constrained by issues of interoperability and knowledge sharing, limiting our capacity to investigate how the metaverse can positively impact employees' work experiences.
Our project is driven by several primary objectives:
Establishing Standardized Open Research Data (ORD) Protocols: Our first goal is to develop standardized ORD protocols within the metaverse. These protocols will serve as a framework for data sharing and collaboration.
Curating and Sharing Virtual Assets and Meta-Data: In line with these ORD protocols, we will curate virtual assets and metadata, making them openly accessible to scholars through our platform. This step ensures that valuable resources are readily available for research and exploration.
Building a Global Community: We aspire to create a global community consisting of organizational researchers, educators, and practitioners. This community will work together, sharing data related to human interactions within virtual environments and co-creating experiences within the metaverse using our collection of interoperable assets.
Our efforts address several crucial challenges:
Enhancing Reusability: By promoting standardized data sharing and protocols, we aim to enhance the reusability of virtual environments and the data collected within them, streamlining and accelerating research processes.
Ensuring Replicability: Our project aims to ensure that studies conducted in the metaverse can be reliably replicated, enhancing the overall quality and credibility of research outcomes.
Facilitating Human-Centered Research: Our intention is to steer the direction of metaverse research toward human-centered projects, with the ultimate goal of making the metaverse a valuable asset for daily working life.
Promoting Sustainability: While the metaverse, particularly in the context of organizational research, is an evolving concept, our foundational infrastructure provides a sustainable framework that can adapt and grow organically as more users engage with this open science initiative.
In summary, our project's mission is to create a standardized foundation for the metaverse, promote open data sharing, and foster a collaborative global community. By doing so, we aim to unlock the full potential of the metaverse for the betterment of the working lives of individuals.
If you wish to review the entire proposal, kindly get in touch with Anand van Zelderen directly.