Children,%20Perceptions%20of%20Reality,%20and%20Telepresence

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Children, Perceptions of Reality, and
Telepresence

• Matthew Lombard

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Real vs. Unreal Not So Simple

• Types of reality distinctions
• Mediated vs. nonmediated (by technology)
• Actual vs. not actual(nonfiction news vs.
  fiction entertainment)
• Live vs. recorded
• Plausible vs. implausible (if not actual, could
  it be?)
• Ex Are reality TV or WWE Wrestling real?

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Step 1. (0-3 years) There are people in the
  box (Ronald McDonald, popcorn examples of
  Flavell Flavell)

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Step 2. (by 3 years) TV people/objects are
  different, but their nature is unknown
• Please turn on TV so I can see my Big Bird!

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Step 3. TV is representation of objects and
  people but 100 accurate everything is real.
• Whats an actor?

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Step 4. Not everything on TV is accurate
  reflection of (social) reality assessment based
  on experience in addition to cognitive
  development.
• Thats not the way people really behave!

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Children have to learn to use form cues and
  content cues to determine realism
• Actual live news Actual - recorded news
• bad sound anchors at desk
• sloppy speaking narrator/voice-over
• no background music special graphics
• no special effects bw (documentaries)

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Children have to learn to use form cues and
  content cues to determine realism
• NOT actual drama NOT actual - sitcom
• close-ups of faces laugh track
• mood-setting music
• good sound NOT actual - cartoon
• adult voices animation fast pace
• sound effects

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Children have to learn to use form cues and
  content cues to determine realism
• Actual live news Actual - recorded news
• crime, weather crime, politics, history,
• breaking news health, science
• NOT actual drama NOT actual sitcom
• ?? ??

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Understanding TV and Reality

• Seems likely that as media technologies evolve,
  children will find it harder and/or take longer
  to make reality distinctions
• Screen size, picture quality, graphics realism,
  sound quality, surround sound, interactivity,
  augmented and virtual reality, robots!
• Not limited to children even when we know the
  truth, we want the misperception telepresence

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Telepresence

• Topic of scholarly interest and research
  causes, effects, implications

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Telepresence

• Who cares?
• Its an illusion that occurs in many contexts
  that have commercial potential
• It has many likely effects on people,
  organizations, and societies
• Its just really interesting!

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Defining Presence

• ISPR (2000) Presence (a shortened version of the
  term "telepresence") is a psychological state or
  subjective perception in which even though part
  or all of an individual's current experience is
  generated by and/or filtered through human-made
  technology, part or all of the individual's
  perception fails to accurately acknowledge the
  role of the technology in the experience.

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Defining Presence

• Lombard, M. Ditton, T. B. (1997). At the Heart
  of It All The Concept of Presence. Journal of
  Computer Mediated Communication, 3(2) a
  perceptual illusion of nonmediation

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Applications

• Executive meetings

Cisco
Sun Starfire
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Applications

• Distance education (higher ed)

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Applications

• Medical training

Barrow Medical Institute
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Applications

• Telemedicine including telepsychiatry

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Applications

• Politics and government

Teleportec
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Applications

• Military

Freedom Calls
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Applications

• Emergency command and coordination

InterSTAR
Infra-Structures
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Applications

• Legal

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Applications

• Human Resources

HireVue
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Applications

• Telework / telecommuting

HeadThere
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Applications

• Customer service

DVE
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Applications

• Arts

Dreamworks
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Applications

• Telepresence Art

Telematic Dreaming
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Applications

• Adult

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Applications

• Virtual bus tour

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Enhancements

• 3D

Teleport
TelepresenceTech
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Enhancements

• Physical interaction / haptics

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Enhancements

• Physical interaction / haptics

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Expanded Telepresence

• Examples so far have been social, interactive,
  with real people, but it can be
• Social vs. spatial
• Interactive vs. noninteractive
• Real vs. simulated people/places

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Spatial Telepresence

• Teleoperation

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Spatial Telepresence

• Training simulators

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Spatial Telepresence

• Virtual therapy

Virtual Iraq
Spider anxiety
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Noninteractive Telepresence

• IMAX 3D

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Noninterative Telepresence

• TV

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Noninteractive Telepresence

• Virtual nature

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Simulated People/Places

• Second Life

Cisco
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Simulated People/Places

• Military training

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Simulated People/Places

• Virtual receptionist

Carnegie Mellon U
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Simulated People/Places

• Robots

Riken
Honda
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Simulated People/Places

• Androids

Hanson Robotics
Osaka University
Data (Star Trek)
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Complicated Telepresence

• Virtual Incident Command

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Future of Telepresence

• Immersive Collaborative Virtual Environments

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Future of Telepresence

• Home

Accenture
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Future of Telepresence

• Holodeck

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Applications - Children

• Distance education (K-12)

PEBBLES
ThereNow / DVE
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Applications - Children

• Science and exploration

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Applications - Children

• Interactive virtual/physical games

Fisher-Price Smart Fit
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Applications - Children

• Virtual sports and games

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Applications - Children

• Pseudo-interactive TV shows

Blues Clues
Dora the Explorer
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Applications - Children

• Interactive toys Actimates

Lets ActiMates Talk and Play with your PC!
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Applications - Children

• Virtual worlds for kids (see J. Owyang blog)
• Barbie Girls (6-16)
• Club Penguin, Disney (8-12)
• Cyworld (South Korean youth, now global))
• Dizzywood (youth games)
• Gaia (teens)
• Habbo Hotel (European youth)
• Neopets (youth virtual pets)
• Piczo (teens)
• Pixie Hollow, Disney (young girls virtual pets)
• Puzzle Pirates (youth gaming)
• Shining Stars, by Russ (youth name a star
• Stardolls (girls 10-17 virtual dolls)
• Teen Second Life (teens)
• WeeWorld (youth avatar based social network)
• Zookazoo (6-10)

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Applications - Children

• Virtual worlds for kids (see J. Owyang blog)
• Webkinz (youth virtual and physical pets)

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Applications - Children

• Robot toys Aibo

From the first day you play with Aibo, it will
become your new companion for the Millennium.
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Applications - Children

• Robot toys Pleo video

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Applications - Children

• Robot toys Wowee video

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Presence Research Community

• Interdisciplinary (computer science to
  philosophy)
• International
• Growing (EU FETs 50 mil euros)
• International Society for Presence Research
• Presence journal, presence-l listserv
• 12th PRESENCE conference November in Los Angeles

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Presence Research Community

• Research goals
• Identify and manipulate causes (media
  form/content, user characteristics)
• Identify and understand consequences (learning
  and task performance, productivity, enjoyment,
  involvement, persuasion, desensitization,
  arousal/relaxation, emotion, effectiveness of
  communication, Work Live Learn Play)
• Develop cohesive theory of cognitive, affective,
  and behavioral processes of telepresence

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Presence Research Community

• Research goals

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Big Picture Questions

• How to maximize usefulness of telepresence?
• What forms do people want and fear?
• Where will technology evolution take us? (utopia
  vs. dystopia)
• How to deal with ethical challenges?

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Big Picture Questions
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