Presence (telepresence)

see also: Telepresence

For humans, a sense of Presence is a phenomenon enabling people to interact with, and feel connected to, the world outside their physical bodies. The aim of Presence research is to understand, describe and recreate the experience of being situated in a particular spatial, emotional or social space.

Presence is a scientific and technological field focusing on understanding and achieving control over the experience of ‘being there’; of being in or acting in a physical place. Social presence also refers to the sense of being together with others.

Aided by new technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence (AI) and wearable displays, Presence research aims at empowering us to achieve realistic feelings and experiences when immersed in mixed reality environments. The feeling of being there is the result of a complex interaction of many technological, non-technological and personal factors. A fundamental understanding of these factors will allow for construction of virtual and augmented environments with greater effectiveness. It is clear that Presence research encompasses a wide range of disciplines including neuroscience, psychology and software engineering. These areas of work will ultimately impact on the design of future multimedia technologies, increasing their usability and effectiveness.

Presence research will lead to many new technologies and enable powerful applications that are more affordable and usable in the workplace, at home, in school and even on the move.

Peach

http://www.peachbit.org The Website of Peach

Peach is a three year FP6 Coordination Action (CA) on Presence, which started in May 2006. Its objective is to stimulate structure and support the Presence research community, with special attention to the challenges associated to the interdisciplinary character of the field, and to produce visions and roadmaps to support the construction of the Presence European Research Area (ERA). Secondly, because Presence research is set to produce disruptive technologies which can cause profound social impact and raise serious ethical issues, Peach will analyze the relation of Presence technologies with society (trends, ethics, legal aspects), foster the contact of researchers with the market and enhance the Public Understanding of Presence research and technology. Finally Peach will perform a Market analysis to define market trends and prospect and to identify future business opportunities for technologies, services, and applications in the field of Presence research.

The CA is financially supported by the European commission under the Future Emerging Technologies (FET) – Information Society Technology (IST) programme nursery of novel and emerging scientific ideas. It’s main objective is to stimulate structure and support the Presence research community (academic & industry), with special attention to the challenges associated with the interdisciplinary nature of the field, and to produce visions and roadmaps to support the construction of the Presence ERA.

Peach

Further Reading