  Recent commercial off-the-shelf virtual and augmented reality devices have
been promoted as tools for knowledge work and research findings show how this
kind of work can benefit from the affordances of extended reality (XR). One
major advantage that XR can provide is the enlarged display space that can be
used to display virtual screens which is a feature already readily available in
many commercial devices. This could be especially helpful in mobile contexts,
in which users might not have access to their optimal physical work setup. Such
situations often occur in a public setting, for example when working on a train
while traveling to a business meeting. At the same time, the use of XR devices
is still uncommon in public, which might impact both users and bystanders.
Hence, there is a need to better understand the implications of using XR
devices for work in public both on the user itself, as well as on bystanders.
We report the results of a study in a university cafeteria in which
participants used three different systems. In one setup they only used a laptop
with a single screen, in a second setup, they combined the laptop with an
optical see-through AR headset, and in the third, they combined the laptop with
an immersive VR headset. In addition, we also collected 231 responses from
bystanders through a questionnaire. The combined results indicate that (1)
users feel safer if they can see their physical surroundings; (2) current use
of XR in public makes users stand out; and (3) prior XR experience can
influence how users feel when using XR in public.
