Laboratoire 1P1 | An Interdisciplinary XR Infrastructure
This presentation introduces the 1P1 Lab at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) as an infrastructure for the experimentation of extended realities. Currently under construction, the Lab will house a large isomorphic space allowing for the exploration, documentation, and analysis of extended reality experiences with groups of up to 15 participants.
Directed by Martin Lalonde (École des arts visuels et médiatiques, UQAM), Bertrand Gervais (Département d’études littéraires, UQAM) and Nathalie Lacelle (Département de didactique des langues, UQAM), and supported by a team of professional and graduate researchers, the 1P1 hosts a range of interdisciplinary practices. The presentation will present the three main poles: research-design, practice-led research, and theory. It will also highlight the scope of various disciplines of our team: video game studies and environmental design, embodiment and empathy studies, narratology in VR, educational and pedagogical development of AR and VR tools, 3D acoustics, semiotics and digital aesthetics, as well as artistic creation, museology and curation.
Furthermore, we are developing best practices for documenting XR works, aiming to facilitating cross-corpus analysis and the study of new cultural heritages. Lastly, I will present a selection of 1P1 activities that showcase how the interdisciplinary nature of the team nourishes the various fields in which we work.
Dene Grigar, Frode Hegland, Alexandra Martin, Rob Arscott, James, Jamie, Peter, Marc, Holly, Andrew, Jamie Blustein, Fabien Bénétou, Leon van Kammen, Peter Wasilko, Ayaskant Panigrahi, Jimmy Sixdof, Mark Anderson, Rob Swigart
AI: Summary
This meeting featured Alexandra Martin presenting the 1P1 Laboratory at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), moderated by Dene Grigar. The 1P1 lab is the successor to the NT2 lab, funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation to create research infrastructure for extended reality (XR) technologies in arts and education. The lab operates under three main axes: practice-led research in art creation, design-led research in education, and digital aesthetics research. Alexandra detailed their upcoming physical space with an isomorphic room for up to 15 simultaneous VR users, an adjacent analysis room for observation, and their work with school groups aged 14 and above. The lab is developing educational toolkits, creating a collection/database of XR works, working on French-English glossaries for XR terminology, and conducting research on XR literacy, empathy in VR, and narrative experiences. They collaborate with industry partner Trebuchet games and plan partnerships with museums, libraries, and archives.
AI: Speaker Summary
Dene Grigar served as the moderator and frequently asked clarifying questions about the lab’s work with young people, ambulatory experiences, and practical applications. She showed particular interest in how children respond to standing versus sitting in XR environments and shared examples of VR being used for empathy training in healthcare, specifically mentioning work with nurses for bedside manner training and helping people understand experiences of those with amputations.
Frode Hegland expressed concern about children using VR too early due to potential impacts on spatial development and addiction risks. He was supportive of the lab’s decision to work with older students (14+) and strongly endorsed the importance of developing XR terminology in French rather than just English, emphasizing the value of different linguistic perspectives. He also inquired about XR literacy testing environments and whether it matters which specific XR platform is used.
Alexandra Martin delivered the main presentation, comprehensively explaining the 1P1 laboratory’s structure, research axes, team composition, physical spaces under construction, and various research projects. She demonstrated deep knowledge of the technical and ethical considerations around working with minors in VR research, discussed translation challenges between French and English XR terminology, and showed enthusiasm for collaboration opportunities with the international community.
Jamie Blustein engaged extensively about glossary development, sharing their expertise in technical translation for AI terminology with the federal government. They discussed the complexity of translating technical terms and offered insights about how different audiences use different terminology for the same concepts, particularly noting how security terminology differs between experts and the general public.
Fabien Bénétou contributed by sharing their personal experience with body swapping experiments in Paris with Philippe Bertrand, providing practical context for the theoretical discussions about immersive experiences and empathy research.
Leon van Kammen asked specific questions about immersive body swapping examples and artist spaces, showing interest in the practical applications and physical infrastructure of the lab.
Peter Wasilko asked multiple practical questions about the lab’s setup including smart glass windows, YouTube channels, collaborations with urban planning, and textbook development. He also shared relevant resources like the Open Multilingual Wordnet project and expressed interest in online participation for future events.
Rob Swigart focused on narrative aspects, asking about driving narrative in VR experiences and agreeing with others about the potential for XR in urban planning applications.
Jimmy Sixdof contributed by asking about connections with the SEER Lab and Dr. Frank Maurer at University of Calgary, sharing relevant links to help expand the lab’s network.
Holly Slocum, Andrew Thompson, Ayaskant Panigrahi, and Mark Anderson made brief supportive comments, with Holly expressing excitement about the lab’s work and Andrew thanking Alexandra for the presentation.
AI: Topics Discussed
What was discussed regarding WebXR? WebXR was not specifically discussed in detail, though the lab’s work encompasses web-based XR experiences as part of their broader extended reality research and their planned online database/collection of XR works.
What was discussed regarding gestures? The discussion touched on gesture-based interactions in the context of XR literacy development and competencies. Alexandra mentioned that XR literacy includes “gestural” skills and “techno-gestural” abilities as part of the broader skill set needed for XR environments. Frode also referenced their work on designing interaction languages for the Sloan Foundation project, mentioning decisions about whether actions should be through gestures, menus, or connections to objects in space.
Were other topics discussed? Yes, several other topics were extensively discussed including: XR literacy definitions and competencies, empathy research in VR environments, body swapping experiences, French-English translation challenges for XR terminology, glossary development methodologies, ethics considerations for working with minors in VR research, ambulatory versus stationary XR experiences, narrative development in VR, collaboration with educational institutions and museums, motion capture and data collection methods, the physical infrastructure of XR research spaces, and partnerships between academic labs and industry.
Were there any interesting anecdotes? Fabien shared their personal experience participating in body swapping experiments in Paris with Philippe Bertrand. Dene mentioned using VR to train nurses in bedside manner, including scenarios where patients can’t speak properly but need to communicate about medical errors. Peter Wasilko suggested writing “THIS ARM” on your arm before going to the hospital. Jamie Blustein shared an anecdote about working with a PhD student on security terminology translation, discovering that technical experts and the general public use completely different terms for the same concepts.
AI: Concepts Introduced
XR Literacy – Defined by Natalie LaSalle and Michel Grennan (as reported by Alexandra Martin): “XR literacy refers to the ability to use, understand, interpret and evaluate experiences in XR environments general skills cognitive, subjective, semiotic, multimodal, social and critical, derived from a more conventional approach to literacy and those more specific to digital technology. So technical, gestural, semi technical, techno, literary and techno documentary applied to the new experiences unique to XR training and XR literacy involves developing new skills, representational abilities, spatial multimodal arrangements, perceptual abilities, presence and immersion, sensory abilities, esthetic emotional navigational abilities. Movement. Maneuvering. Manipulation, orientation, action, usability and accessibility, interaction, human and human object, and critical and ethical skills specific to the potential of object experiences in XR.”
Practice-Led Research – Explained by Alexandra Martin as methodology that “links the constructivist nature of the artistic creation process to the analytical and systemic properties of a research approach” with contributions taking “the form of works, experiments, performances, devices or creative tools.”
Traversal Methodology – Referenced by Alexandra Martin as developed by Dene Grigar with Stuart Lothrop for documenting artworks through user performance, often used for obsolete or inaccessible works.
AI: People Mentioned
Bertrand, Burton, Beth Hai, Madame Lalonde, Natalie LaSalle, Martha Leland, Stuart Lothrop, Frank Maurer, Filippo Barghouti, Matthew Leslie, Emma Huebner, Odie Laporta, Rosemary Larocque, Giovanni Paolo, Dora Claude, Barbara Maya, Melanie Thomson, Priscilla Ananya, Specify Leclerc, Claude, Michel Grennan, Philippe Bertrand, Nikola Nova
AI: Product or Company Names Mentioned
Trebuchet (Montreal-based video game company serving as industry partner), Microsoft (forms platform), VRChat (field of research for student projects), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Université de Montréal, NT2 lab, Five Center Montreal, Mac (Modern Art Museum), SEER Lab, University of Calgary, Open Multilingual Wordnet project, Texas Women’s University
AI: Other
The meeting demonstrated strong international collaboration interests, with Alexandra expressing openness to working with the global community despite language barriers. The lab represents a significant infrastructure investment in Canada for public XR research, being the first and only public isomorphic XR space in Montreal. There’s a notable emphasis on ethical considerations around working with minors and a sophisticated approach to multilingual terminology development. The lab’s interdisciplinary approach combines arts, education, technology, and cultural institutions in ways that could serve as a model for other similar research infrastructures.
Chat Log URLs
Chat Log Summary
The chat log reveals additional context and engagement from participants throughout the meeting. Frode shared the Future Text Lab schedule early in the meeting. Peter Wasilko joined from New York during brunch and made several practical inquiries about the lab’s infrastructure and setup. There were reactions to comments about weather conditions (“second winter in May”). Participants showed strong support for multilingual approaches to XR research, with Frode emphasizing the importance of non-English perspectives. Several participants shared relevant resources, including the Open Multilingual Wordnet project and links to body swapping research. The chat showed active engagement with participants asking follow-up questions about smart glass windows, YouTube channels, and collaborations. Fabien shared links to their own body swapping research in Paris. Some participants had to leave early but expressed appreciation for the presentation. There were also practical exchanges about the upcoming London symposium and questions whether online participation would be available.