1. Children, Perceptions of Reality, and Telepresence
Matthew Lombard

2. 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?)
Example: ‘Reality TV’

3. Understanding TV and Reality
Step 1. “There are people in the box” (Ronald McDonald, popcorn examples of Flavell & Flavell)
Step 2. TV people/objects are different, but nature unknown
Step 3. TV is representation but always accurate (“What’s an actor?”)
Step 4. Not everything on TV is socially realistic

4. 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 b&w (documentaries)

5. 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

6. 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
?? ??

7. 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 to the misperception: telepresence

8. Telepresence
Topic of scholarly interest and research – causes, effects, implications

9. Telepresence
Illusion that occurs in many contexts that have commercial potential
Likely effects on people, organizations, societies

10. 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.

11. Defining Presence
Lombard & Ditton (1997): a perceptual illusion of nonmediation

12. Applications
Executive meetings
Sun Starfire

13. Applications
Distance education (K-12)
PEBBLES
ThereNow / DVE

14. Applications
Distance education (higher ed)

15. Applications
Medical training
Barrow Medical Institute

16. Applications
Telemedicine including telepsychiatry

17. Applications
Politics and government
Teleportec

18. Applications
Military
Freedom Calls

19. Applications Emergency command and coordination InterSTAR
Infra-Structures

20. Applications
Legal

21. Applications
Human Resources
HireVue

22. Applications
Telework / telecommuting
HeadThere

23. Applications
Customer service
DVE

24. Applications
Science and exploration

25. Applications
Arts
Dreamworks

26. Applications
Telepresence Art
Telematic Dreaming

27. Applications
Adult

28. Applications
Virtual bus tour

29. Applications
Future: Home
Accenture

30. Enhancements
‘3D’
Teleport
TelepresenceTech

31. Enhancements
Physical interaction / haptics

32. Enhancements
Physical interaction / haptics

33. Expanded Telepresence
Social vs. spatial telepresence
Interactive vs. noninteractive
Real vs. simulated people/places

34. Spatial Telepresence
Teleoperation

35. Spatial Telepresence
Virtual sports and games

36. Spatial Telepresence
Training simulators

37. Spatial Telepresence
Virtual therapy

38. Noninteractive Telepresence
IMAX 3D

39. Noninterative TelepresenceTV

40. Noninteractive Telepresence
Virtual nature

41. Simulated People/Places
Second Life
Cisco

42. Simulated People/Places
Military training

43. Simulated People/Places
Virtual receptionist
Carnegie Mellon U

44. Simulated People/Places
Robots
Riken
Honda

45. Simulated People/Places
Androids
Hanson Robotics
Osaka University

46. Future of Telepresence?
Holodeck

47. Presence Research Community
Interdisciplinary (computer sci to philosophy)
International
Growing (EU FETs 50+ mil euros)
ISPR
Presence journal, presence-l listserv
12th PRESENCE conference November in Los Angeles

48. 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

49. Presence Research Community
Research goals

50. 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?

51. Big Picture Questions