Katerina Stepanova

profile

Position:

Phd Student

Contact:

erstepan [at] sfu.ca
http://ispace.iat.sfu.ca/person/Katerina-Stepanova

Affiliations:

Biography

Katerina grad­u­ated from a cog­ni­tive sci­ence pro­gram with honors from SFU and con­tin­ued into a grad­u­ate pro­gram at iSpace lab.

She strives to under­stand how the immer­sive powers of modern tech­nol­ogy can be lever­aged to help people become more con­nected with each other and the world around them.  She explores the pos­si­bil­ity of cre­at­ing trans­for­ma­tive expe­ri­ences though the use of Virtual Reality, and study­ing them in con­trolled lab con­di­tions as well as in a public set­ting in a form of artis­tic instal­la­tions set in Culture Spaces.

Projects

Body RemiXer

Body RemiXer

Body RemiXer connects bodies through movement. It is an experiential projection based Virtual Reality installation that explores novel forms of embodied interaction between multiple participants where their bodies mix into a shared embodied representation producing a playful interaction that aims to support the feeling of connection and self-transcendence. Body RemiXer is both an artistic installa...

By john desnoyers stewart, katerina stepanova & bernhard riecke Read more
Connecting through JeL – bio-responsive VR for interpersonal synchronization

Connecting through JeL – bio-responsive VR for interpersonal synchronization

Can a bio-responsive generative art installation foster interpersonal synchronization and connection? JeL is a bio-responsive, immersive, interactive, generative art installation designed to encourage physiological synchronization between the immersants. In this project, we will be exploring how novel forms of interaction can be included in immersive technology to foster the feeling of connection...

By katerina stepanova, john desnoyers stewart, alex kitson, bernhard riecke, philippe pasquier & patrick pennefather Read more
Connected through "AWE": creating immersive experiences for social connection

Connected through "AWE": creating immersive experiences for social connection

Do you get enough “awe” in your life? In our busy day-to-day lives, we often take our experiences for granted. While we have the technology to connect with one another, like smart phones, we don’t necessarily get outside with nature, or stargaze. Such activities may consist of common awe-inspiring moments, and we now understand that feeling awe is associated with all sorts of social and well...

By bernhard riecke, denise quesnel, katerina stepanova, alex kitson, ivan aguilar, john desnoyers stewart, noah miller & patrick pennefather Read more
Virtual Earthgazing - towards an overview effect in Virtual Reality

Virtual Earthgazing - towards an overview effect in Virtual Reality

How can we use immersive VR to give people pivotal positive experiences without having to send them out into space?   “We went to the Moon as technicians, we returned as humanitarians” reflected Edgar Mitchell after his space flight. This describes the overview effect – a profound awe-inspiring experience of seeing Earth from space resulting in a cognitive shift in worldview, le...

By bernhard riecke, katerina stepanova, denise quesnel, alex kitson, ivan aguilar & mirjana prpa Read more
Lean and Elegant Motion Cueing in VR

Lean and Elegant Motion Cueing in VR

How do we best design locomotion interfaces for VR that provide "enough" physical motion cues (vestibular/proprioceptive) while still being effective, affordable, compact, and safe? Despite amazing progress in computer graphics and VR displays, most affordable and room-sized VR locomotion interfaces provide only little physical motion cues (e.g., vestibular & proprioceptive cues). To provide...

By bernhard riecke, ernst kruijff, daniel feuereissen, alex kitson, timofey grechkin, markus von der heyde, jake freiberg, abraham hashemian, thinh nguyen vo & katerina stepanova Read more
Immersive & Embodied Teleoperation Interfaces

Immersive & Embodied Teleoperation Interfaces

Developing virtual interfaces for embodied tele-operation and locomotion. How can we best design and implement an embodied telepresence system for tele-robotics, so we can safely explore remote, hard-to-reach, or potentially hazardous areas or situations? The goal of the "TeleSpider" project is to design and implement a telepresence system where users can remotely operate a robotic spid...

By bernhard riecke, alex kitson, abraham hashemian, markus von der heyde, katerina stepanova, amber choo & derek chen Read more
Spatial Updating With(out) Physical Motions?

Spatial Updating With(out) Physical Motions?

How important are physical motions for effective spatial orientation in VR? Most virtual reality simulators have a  serious flaw: Users tend to get easily lost and disoriented as they navigate. According to the prevailing opinion, this is because physical motion cues are absolutely required for staying oriented while moving. In this study, we investigated how physical motion cues contribute ...

By bernhard riecke, markus von der heyde, salvar sigurdarson, daniel feuereissen, daniel sproll, andrew milne, alex kitson & katerina stepanova Read more

Publications

Kitson, A., Riecke, B. E., & Stepanova, E. R. (2015). Influence of Movement Expertise on a Virtual Point-to- Origin Task (pp. 100–103). Presented at the MOCO’15 – 2nd International Workshop on Movement and Computing, Vancouver, Canada: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2790994.2791014
Riecke, B. E., Stepanova, E. R., & Kitson, A. (2016, May). New response patterns in point-to-origin tasks depending on stimulus type and response mode. Talk presented at the International Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Granada, Spain. Retrieved from http://www.ps2016.org/
Stepanova, E. R., Heyde, M. von der, Kitson, A., Schiphorst, T., & Riecke, B. E. (2017). Gathering and Apply Guidelines for TeleSpider Design for Urban Search and Rescue Applications on a Mobile Robot. In M. Kurosu (Ed.), Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Contexts (HCI 2017) (Vol. 10272, pp. 562–581). Cham: Springer.
Stepanova, E., Quesnel, D., & Riecke, B. E. (2018). Transformative Experiences become more accessible through Virtual Reality (pp. 1–3). Presented at the Virtual and Augmented Reality for Good Workshop (AR/VR4Good) at IEEE Virtual Reality 2018, Reutlingen, Germany: IEEE.
Stepanova, E. R., Quesnel, D., Kitson, A., Prpa, M., & Riecke, B. E. (2017, November). Virtual Reality as a Tool for Inducing and Understanding Transformative Experiences. Poster presented at the Psychonomic Society 58th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Quesnel, D., Stepanova, E. R., Aguilar, I., Pennefather, P., & Riecke, B. E. (2018). Creating “AWE”: Combining artistic intuition and research-based design for an emotionally-profound art installation. Presented at the 2018 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM) (full paper), Galway, Ireland: IEEE.
Kitson, A., Buie, E., Stepanova, E., Chirico, A., Riecke, B. E., & Gaggioli, A. (2019). Transformative Experience Design: Using Interactive Technologies and Narrative to Support Transformative Experiences. In ACM CHI 2019 Special Interest Group (pp. 1–4). Glasgow, United Kingdom: ACM.
Kitson, A., Stepanova, E. R., Aguilar, I., Wainwright, N., & Riecke, B. E. (2019, June). Transcending the Lab: Using Storytelling and Theatre Practices to Support Self-Transcendent Experiences in Virtual Reality. Talk presented at the 24th Annual CyberPsychology, CyberTherapy & Social Networking Conference (CyPsy24), Norfolk, VA, USA. Retrieved from https://easychair.org/my/conference.cgi?conf=cypsy24
Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Stepanova, E. R., Pasquier, P., & Riecke, B. E. (2019). JeL: Connecting Through Breath in Virtual Reality. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–6). Glasgow, United Kingdom: ACM.
Wrainwright, N., Stepanova, E. R., Aguilar, I., Kitson, A., & Riecke, B. E. (2019, June). Transcending the Lab: Supporting Self-Transcendent Experiences in VR. Talk presented at the FCAT Undergraduate Conference, Surrey City Hall, BC, Canada. Retrieved from https://www.sfu.ca/fcat/events/ugc.html
Stepanova, E., Quesnel, D., Kitson, A., Prpa, M., Aguilar, I., & Riecke, B. E. (2018, June). A framework for studying Transformative Experiences through VR. Symposium presentation presented at the 23rd Annual CyberPsychology, CyberTherapy & Social Networking Conference, Gatineau, Canada. Retrieved from http://interactivemediainstitute.com/cypsy23/
Stepanova, E. R., Quesnel, D. T., & Riecke, B. E. (2019). Space - a Virtual Frontier: How to Design and Evaluate a Virtual Reality Experience of the Overview Effect Promoting The Feeling of Connectedness. Frontiers in Digital Humanities - Human-Media Interaction, 6(7), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2019.00007
Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Stepanova, E. R., & Riecke, B. E. (2019, June). Body RemiXer. Curated & peer-reviewed Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the Fun Palace Carnival of Mixed Realities, Center for Digital Media (CDM), Vancouver, BC, Canada. Retrieved from https://thecdm.ca/events/2019-06-25/the-fun-palace-carnival-mixed-realities
Stepanova, E. R., Quesnel, D. T., & Riecke, B. E. (2019). Understanding AWE: Can a virtual journey, inspired by the Overview Effect, lead to an increased sense of interconnectedness? Frontiers in Digital Humanities - Human-Media Interaction, 6(9), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2019.00009
Kitson, A., Nguyen-Vo, T., Hashemian, A. M., Stepanova, E. R., & Riecke, B. E. (2017, November). A User Study Comparing Two Low-Cost Chair Interfaces for Embodied Virtual Locomotion. Talk presented at the Psychonomic Society 58th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Stepanova, E. R. (2018). Virtual Reality as a Medium for Designing and Understanding Transformative Experiences: The Case of the Overview Effect (MSc Thesis). Simon Fraser University, Surrey, BC, Canada. Retrieved from https://theses.lib.sfu.ca/4847/show
Stepanova, E. R., Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Riecke, B. E., & Pasquier, P. (2019, June). JeL – bio-responsive VR for interpersonal connection. Curated & peer-reviewed Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the Fun Palace Carnival of Mixed Realities, Center for Digital Media (CDM), Vancouver, BC, Canada. Retrieved from https://thecdm.ca/events/2019-06-25/the-fun-palace-carnival-mixed-realities
Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Stepanova, E. R., & Riecke, B. E. (2019, September). Body RemiXer. Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the Help my Grandma Day Launch, Surrey, BC, Canada.
Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Stepanova, E. R., & Riecke, B. E. (2019, November). Body RemiXer. Curated Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the 2019 Provincial Summit on Aging, Richmond, BC, Canada.
Kitson, A., Stepanova, E. R., Hashemian, A. M., Riecke, B. E., Nagy, G., Choo, A., & Chen, D. (2016, May). TeleSpider: investigating motion-cueing interfaces for control of a remote robotic spider. Project exhibition presented at the Consumer Virtual Reality (CVR) conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Kitson, A., Hashemian, A. M., Stepanova, E. R., Kruijff, E., & Riecke, B. E. (2017). Comparing Leaning-Based Motion Cueing Interfaces for Virtual Reality Locomotion. In Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces 3DUI (pp. 73–82). Los Angeles, CA, USA. https://doi.org/10.1109/3DUI.2017.7893320
Desnoyers-Stewart, J., Stepanova, E. R., Riecke, B. E., & Pennefather, P. (2020, April). Body RemiXer. Curated Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the Recto VRsa: Intenational Art and Virtual Reality Festival, Laval, France. Retrieved from https://rectovrso.laval-virtual.com/en/home/
Prpa, M., Stepanova, E. R., Schiphorst, T., Riecke, B. E., & Pasquier, P. (2020). Inhaling and Exhaling: How Technologies Can Perceptually Extend our Breath Awareness. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–15). Honolulu, USA: ACM. Retrieved from https://chi2020.acm.org/
Quesnel, D., Stepanova, E. R., Aguilar, I., Kitson, A., & Riecke, B. E. (2017). AWE. Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the TEDxSFU, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Quesnel, D., Stepanova, E. R., Aguilar, I., Kitson, A., & Riecke, B. E. (2017). AWE. Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the SPLASH, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Quesnel, D., Stepanova, E. R., Aguilar, I., Kitson, A., & Riecke, B. E. (2017). AWE. Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition presented at the TEDxEastVan, Vancouver, BC, Canada.