At this point, my Research Assistant partner and I have gotten used to the entire procedure. We’ve gotten used to our scripts. We are learning so much from our participants, and so many of them come from different backgrounds. Their different experiences really result in different reactions to the experiment. My favourite participants are the ones who come in initially very apprehensive, and then end up leaving as some of the most enthusiastic about virtual reality. Just yesterday, we had someone come in very shy and unconfident in their technology skills. She had seemed on the quieter side on the phone, and mentioned how she gets frustrated at TV remotes. By the end of the session, she had gotten so excited about virtual reality that she called their friend on the car ride home, raving about the experience. Less than 20 minutes after that participant had left the experiment room, I received a call from the friend asking about how she could sign up.

At the same time, I’ve begun a second wayfinding project with the lab. This has been really fun, as I had never considered studying what makes someone feel confused, or how good design can make or break someone’s experience in a building, but it makes perfect sense now. I got to go on a walk around the campus looking for wayfinding tasks, so I’m not complaining – campus is beautiful right now.