The camera position in Microsoft’s latest Enhanced Meeting Rooms (EMRs) causes great debate...
...and also underlines the need for having test or evaluation spaces.
As tempting as it is to seek cookie-cutter examples to copy from Microsoft’s Hive centre where they build next-gen MTRs, looking at the design principles behind the specifics they show is what bears the most fruit.
These Hive spaces might be leading edge, but maybe the most powerful benefit is the focus on simplicity, leaving others to develop (and complicate) these ideas according to their individual requirements.
This is nowhere more relevant than with the camera position. In this case the camera has been brought forward into free space. In this case the 180 degree composite sensor camera addresses the arc of the in-person participants around the table. In this case the camera is combined with the soundbar.
But the principle - the design concept - is moving the VC camera into free space. Small format cameras, of various FOVs (fields of view) can now be placed even in front of the screen. There's a whole new world of development opening out here.
Such liberation opens up concerns and things to check, of course. This is why, in the fast evolving world of hybrid, having evaluation spaces is a non-negotiable essential.
We need to be able to evaluate both the in-person experiences and that of the remote participants before deploying at scale. The good and bad news of UX design principles is that we’re never finished! We ideate, prototype, use, evaluate - it’s an iterative process. Rinse and repeat. Major breakthroughs are relatively rare, unfortunately, but continuous incremental improvement has the same inexorable benefit as compound interest on continuous pension contributions.
In my own consulting practice and in my Visual Displays team, we help users, AV consultants, integrators and vendors in practical ways to create, assess and develop evaluation spaces. I find it deeply satisfying!
If you’d like a copy of the White Paper on which these posts are based, click here.
Posted: 22nd August 2022