TelePresence: Theory, Research, and a Temple M'I'N'D' Lab

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Defining (Tele) Presence
Matthew Lombard Matthew T. Jones September 16 2005
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What Is Presence?

• The evolution of media technologies -
  drawings, print, radio, film, television,
  computers, IMAX, simulator rides, virtual
  reality, AI agents

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What Is Presence?

• has produced mediated experiences that seem
  increasingly natural, intuitive, comfortable,
  easy, automatic, and real because the
  technology seems increasingly less like
  technology.

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What Is Presence?

• Lombard Ditton (1997)
• The illusion of non-mediation
• A failure to acknowledge technology
• Two types
• Physical presence
• Social presence

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What Is Presence?

• Physical Presence
• Transportation (you are there, it is here, we are
  together)
• Immersion
• Realism

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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Presence in Audio
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Transportation
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Physical Presence Immersion
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Physical Presence Immersion
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Physical Presence Immersion
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Physical Presence Immersion
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Physical Presence Realism
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Physical Presence Realism
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Physical Presence Realism
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Presence as Social Realism

• Documentaries and news
• High quality of acting
• Lack of type-casting
• Natural dialogue
• Non-formula plots
• No 555 telephone numbers

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What Is Presence?

• Social Presence
• Social richness
• Social actor within medium
• Medium as social actor

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Social Presence Social Richness

• Social presence theory
• Media richness theory
• Match communication media and organizational
  tasks to create appropriate levels of intimacy
  and immediacy

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Social Presence Social Actor Within Medium

• Parasocial interaction (Horton Wohl, 1956)
• Digital actors
• Avatars
• Agents
• Virtual characters and pets

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Social Presence Social Actor Within Medium
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Social Presence Social Actor Within Medium
Virtual newscaster Ananova
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Social Presence Social Actor Within Medium
Virtual Characters

• Lara Diki T-babe
  Webbie-
• 
  Tookay

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Social Presence Social Actor Within Medium
Virtual Pets
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Social Presence Medium As Social Actor
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Social Presence Medium As Social Actor
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Social Presence Medium As Social Actor
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Social Presence Medium As Social Actor
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Social Presence Medium As Social Actor
Sonys Aibo From the first day you play with
Aibo, it will become your new companion for the
Millennium.
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Social Presence Medium As Social Actor
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Social Presence Medium As Social Actor
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What Is Presence?

• Perceptual illusion of non-mediation
• Occurs in diverse contexts
• Real time during media use
• Not a disorder or abnormal
• Property of media user
• Result of media form and content, media user
  characteristics

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What Is Presence?

• If only it were that simple...
• Lots of people have lots of ideas about how to
  define this concept or phenomenon

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Defining Presence

• a sense of "being there" in a displayed scene or
  environment (Barfield, Zeltzer, Sheridan,
  Slater, 1995)
• subjective sensation of being there (Sheridan,
  1992 Slater Wilbur, 1997)
• perceptual illusion of non-mediation (Lombard
  Ditton, 1997)
• "tantamount to successfully supported action in
  the environment (Zahoric Jenison, 1998)
• presence arises when we mostly attend to the
  currently present environment (Waterworth
  Waterworth, 2000)

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Unifying our Definition

• the subjective sensation of being there in a
  mediated environment, yielding a perceptual
  illusion of non-mediation
• or
• a perceptual illusion of non-mediation yielding a
  subjective sensation of being there in a mediated
  environment
• a complex construct

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Similarities in Factor Structures ?
Transportation
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and to structures derived differently ?
(g) given in the real world
restricted to media
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What Is Presence?

• So were writing a book chapter categorizing the
  many definitions preview.

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Why is Presence Important?

• Its central relates to many fields and
  endeavors
• It will be increasingly common
• It has many potential effects learning,
  enjoyment, persuasion, social judgments

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Presence as Central Concept

• Art new venues for expression
• Business e-commerce, interactive advertising
• Education distance learning, AI teachers
• Entertainment all media, including interactive
  TV, IMAX, VR, simulator rides
• Ethics journalism, virtual ads
• Health/Medicine telemedicine, virtual surgery,
  phobia treatment, pain control, public
  information campaigns

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Presence as Central Concept

• Military training (including flight, battle)
• Philosophy nature of reality, why we want
  presence, social isolation vs. virtual
  communities
• Politics engaging apathetic electorates
• Psychology explain responses, psychological
  problems and treatments

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What Is the Status of Presence Research and
Theory?

• Near the beginning
• Still fragmented, disorganized
• Major conceptualization and measurement issues
  being resolved
• Preliminary causes and effects

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Where Can You Find Out More?

• International Society for Presence Research
  (ISPR)
• PRESENCE Workshops
• Presence-L listserv
• Presence journal (MIT Press)
• Presence-connect.com
• Presence-research.org
• Presence M.I.N.D. Lab at Temple U.

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ISPR Web Site ispr.info
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Presence-l Listserv
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Presence Journal
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Presence-connect.com
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Presence-research.org
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The M.I.N.D. Labs
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• For more information
• Matthew Lombard
• lombard_at_temple.edu
• http//matthewlombard.comhttp//ispr.info
• http//www.mindlab.org