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prof. dr. Tilo Hartmann


Full Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Communication Science

Full Professor, Network Institute

Full Professor, Research Programmes - Social Sciences, Communication Choices, Content and Consequences (CCCC)

Personal information

Tilo Hartmann is Professor for Virtual Reality and Communication at the Department of Communication Science at the VU Amsterdam. He studied Communication Science and obtained his PhD in 2005 at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. He has worked at the Annenberg School for Communication at University of Southern California Los Angeles, and communication departments at the University of Erfurt, and University of Zurich.

In his work, Hartmann applies media psychology and related approaches of Communication Science. In the past, he examined users' subjective experience of media, and particularly their perceptual illusions (presence, parasocial interaction and relationships, social perceptions of video game characters, media awareness) and their sometimes biased sense of reality (e.g., hostile-media bias, cyberchondria, online credibility). Extending this work, Hartmann now focuses particularly on Immersive Technologies like Virtual Reality in his research. His core aim is to understand the determinants and effects of the experience of presence in highly immersive media like Virtual or Augmented Reality.  

In a second line of research, Hartmann examines how people use media for entertainment and their personal wellbeing.

He published in the major scientific journals of the field (e.g., Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Media Psychology), and several books, including "Media Choice: A theoretical and empirical overview." He served as member of the editorial boards of “Journal of Communication”, “Media Psychology”, “Human Communication Research”, as elected co-chair of the “Audience and Reception Studies Division” of the German Communication Association DGPuK, ECREA's audience and reception studies division, and as secretary of ICA's game studies interest group. Hartmann is also co-founder of the Immersive High Tech Group at the VU's Network Institute.

Research

"I am fascinated by how immersive media trigger intense user experiences. A deeper understanding of how users experience highly immersive media like VR allows to better assess their potential effects, and design more effective applications."

Examples of research projects and collaborations

  • Understanding the XR experience. I test the idea that the immersive XR experience consists of both presence (this feels real) and media awareness (I know it's not real). I elaborate how people's sensory-driven sensation of presence and their cognitive awareness "that this is not truly happening" relate to each other - and jointly shape their experience and behaviour (e.g., here or here). 
  • Understanding effects of XR. Among the many relevant effects, I'm currently interested in how immersive content affects what people believe, and how XR use affects people's wellbeing. I am interested in any social implication of XR use, and investigate downstream effects on personal wellbeing (e.g., here).    
  • Understanding applications of XR. Many interesting and relevant applications of XR exist. For example, I examine using virtual reality as a learning platform to promote sustainable behaviour. For instance, we developed and tested an educational VR intervention application to reduce plastic waste.
Teaching
  • Teaching experience includes development, coordination, and teaching of more than 12 different seminar/lecture classes provided at different universities in different countries
  • Curriculum development
  • Regular BA/MA/PhD theses supervision
  • BKO (basic teaching qualification) and SKO (advanced teaching qualification) certificate holder
Ancillary activities

No ancillary activities

Ancillary activities are updated daily

prof. dr. Tilo Hartmann

Keywords

  • H Social Sciences (General), A General Works, Communication, Communication Scien...

Publications

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