InterReality

The NEXR Cookbook

The NEXR Cookbook is a practical guide for creative organisations interested in using extended reality (XR) in meaningful and sustainable ways.

Project Summary

Next Extended Reality (NEXR) is a two-year Co-Research project by Business Finland and Tampere University RUNNING IN 2024-2025. The NEXR team is led by Mattia Thibault (PI) and includes Janset Shawash, Cláudia Mendes, Prageeth Amarasinghe, and Shuman Yang.

The project aims to boost the growth, enhance the competitiveness, and foster the sustainable development of the Finnish creative industries by developing an innovative paradigm for the design, deployment, and adoption of Extended Reality (XR) technologies. NEXR will tackle the current obstacles in the field thanks to a specific focus on the spatial dimension (increasing the meaningfulness of XR), the use of low-threshold XR technologies (facilitating seamless use), and the use of generative AI (multiplying the richness of content).

NEXR brings together researchers and industrial partners from across the supply chain, to include actors that develop platforms, technology, and tools for XR [Immersal, Virtual Dawn] and that create or benefit from XR content [Yle, Tampere City, Tactic Games, Vapriikki Museum Centre]. The collaboration between researchers and companies will locate symbiotic gaps and opportunities for future synergies, and develop new strategies, frameworks, and business models. In doing so, NEXR will reach two key objectives:

1 Devise a new applicable framework for the implementation of XR technologies in the Finnish cultural industries, expanding its offering and export potential.

2 Reinforce Finland’s reputation as a XR country, building and expanding on its excellent reputation in terms of telecommunications and gaming.

Members

Janset Shawash, Mattia Thibault, Cláudia Mendes, R. Prageeth Amarasinghe, Nima Sharafi Rohani, Xinyan ‘Shelly’ Zhao, Shuman Yang

Publications

Papers
Heljakka, K., & Thibault, M. (2024). Virtual Cockroaches? Envisioning Dimensions of VToys and Related Play Experiences. In L. T. De Paolis, P. Arpaia, & M. Sacco (Eds), International Conference on Extended Reality (Vol. 15027, pp. 285–292). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71707-9_23
– Mendes, C., & Thibault, M. (Forthcoming). “Once upon a time, there was a civil war”: Automatic Adaptation of Museum Object Descriptions for Different Age Groups with GenAI. Across Languages and Cultures.
– Pavavimol, T., Heiskanen, K., Yang, Q., Aura, I., Kerous, B., Ometov, A., Valkama, M., & Thibault, M. (2024). Focus At Play: Exploring Gamification through A Case Study Of Narrative-Based Focus Apps. Proceedings of the 27th International Academic Mindtrek Conference, 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1145/3681716.3681717
– Pavavimol, T., Ometov, A., Valkama, M., & Thibault, M. (2025). Transitions between Realities: A Systematic Review on the Usage of XR Systems for Bridging Reality and Virtuality. Proceedings of the 2025 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences, 158–174. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706370.3727858
– Sardo, M., & Thibault, M. (2024). “I like everything about it”- Perceived educational value of a digital gaming experience with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Discovery Tour. Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 32(3), 67-87. https://doi.org/10.17471/2499-4324/1399
– Shawash, J., Thibault, M., & Hamari, J. (2025a). Designing for Immersion: A Cross-Platform Evaluation Framework for XR Heritage Storytelling. Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on 3D Web Technology, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3746237.3746310
– Shawash, J., Thibault, M., & Hamari, J. (2025b). Reimagining Extended Reality (XR) Innovation: A Critical Study of the Finnish Ecosystem. Proceedings of the 28th International Academic Mindtrek, 186–199. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757980.3757983
– Shawash, J., Thibault, M., & Hamari, J. (2025c). Who Killed Helene Pumpulivaara?: AI-Assisted Content Creation and XR Implementation for Interactive Built Heritage Storytelling. Proceedings of the 2025 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences, 377–379. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706370.3731703
– Shawash, J., Thibault, M., & Hamari, J. (2026). Interactive Narratives in Physical Space: A Workflow for Implementing Spatial Augmented Reality in Cultural Heritage Interpretation. In J. Choudrie, E. Tuba, T.
– Perumal, & A. Joshi (Eds), ICT for Intelligent Systems (Vol. 124, pp. 209–220). Springer Nature Singapore. https://
doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-1353-6_18

Workshops
– Bujić, M., Thibault, M., & Hamari, J. (2025). Adaptive Media That Feels: A Futures Workshop Exploring Implications of Immersive Systems That Sense, Respond To, and Co-construct Perception. Proceedings of the 28th International Academic Mindtrek, 428–431. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757980.3758122
– Shawash, J., & Thibault, M. (2025). The Immersive Cookbook: Co-Designing Recipes for Spatial XR in the Creative Industries. Proceedings of the 28th International Academic Mindtrek, 445–448. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757980.3758011

Demo Papers
– Shawash, J., Thibault, M., & Hamari, J. (2025). Who killed Helene Pumpulivaara?: AI-assisted content creation and XR implementation for interactive built heritage storytelling. In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences (IMX ’25), Niterói, Brazil. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706370.3731703
– Amarasinghe, R. P., Shawash, J., & Thibault, M. (Forthcoming). Memory Lane: MAR for Location-Based Memory Preservation and Cultural Heritage Engagement International. ACM Proceedings of GamiFIN 2026

Posters and Extended Abstracts
– Demircan, B., Tu, X., Li, W., & Thibault, M. (2025). Playbour Camps and Virtual Sweatshops. Proceedings of the 28th International Academic Mindtrek, 410–414. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757980.3762125
– Thibault, M. (2024). Design Kitsch. Companion Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human InteractionPlay, 285–287. https://doi.org/10.1145/3665463.3678867

Theses
– Amarasinghe, R. P. (2024). Bridging Historical Narratives and Architectural Spaces through Mobile Augmented Reality: A Research through Design Exploration at the Näsilinna Castle. [Master’s thesis, Tampere University}. Trepo Repository. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-20241030966