SyncMeet: Virtual Work Environment for Collaborative Manga Creation

In recent years several efforts using technologies to improve collaborative work have been made in fields such as education, training, entertainment, and technology; however, there has been limited research for collaborative creative thinking and art. In this study, we explore the opportunities within virtual collaboration in creative activities via a virtual work environment named SyncMeet. This virtual environment aims to support the discussion of artistic ideas and effective collaboration during a brainstorming session for a storyboard of Japanese comic (manga) between two people who have different narrative abilities such as a writer and illustrator, and who work in distant locations. In this approach, we demonstrated that working inside an immersive environment could improve the users’ collaboration, creative skills, and communication. We handled three different experiment sessions that allowed us to compare effectiveness in face-to-face environments, Skype, and SyncMeet. The results indicated that SyncMeet supports verbal and non-verbal communication as a fundamental part of collaboration in a creative task, and the users who were able to immerse themselves inside the environment showed active participation when they worked in distant locations.