PRESENCE 2003
The 6th Annual International Workshop on Presence
Aalborg University, Denmark, 6-7-8 October 2003

Academics and practitioners with an interest in research, theory, and applications related to the concept of presence are invited to submit their work for presentation at PRESENCE 2003, at Aalborg University, October 6-7-8, 2003.

PRESENCE 2003 is the sixth in a series of highly successful International Workshops on Presence. PRESENCE 2003 will provide an open discussion forum to share ideas regarding concepts and theories, measurement techniques, and applications regarding presence, the psychological state or subjective perception in which a person fails to accurately and completely acknowledge the role of technology in an experience, including the sense of 'being there' experienced by users of advanced media such as virtual reality.

PRESENCE 2003 is organised by the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) and supported by the European Union's FET Presence Research Initiative through the IST BENOGO and IST OMNIPRES projects.

Full details regarding PRESENCE 2003 are available on the website below.

Important dates:
Submission Deadline: 1 August 2003
Notification of acceptance: 1 September 2003
Registration start: 1 September 2003
Conference dates: 6-7-8 October 2003

Appropriate Topics

Submissions of papers, videos, and demonstrations regarding completed or ongoing work are encouraged in areas including (but not limited to):

• Explications of the presence concept
• Presence evaluation/measurement methodologies
• Causes and consequences (effects) of presence
• Presence in shared virtual environments and online communities
• Social/affective interfaces, virtual agents, parasocial interactions
• Presence-associated technologies:
  • Immersive, interactive, multimodal displays
  • Advanced broadcast/cinematic displays (stereoscopic TV, HDTV, IMAX,OMNIMAX)
  • Virtual environments/simulators
  • 3-D sound
  • Haptic/tactile displays
• Presence applications:
  • Education and training
  • Medicine and therapy
  • Entertainment
  • Communication
  • Teleoperation
• Presence and design
• Presence in art
• Presence and philosophical issues (e.g., the nature of 'reality')
• The ethics of presence
• Presence in the future: Media experiences in the 21st century and beyond

Conference Format:

The goal of the PRESENCE 2003 conference is to bring together academic researchers in the area of media and presence, content and technology developers, and interested commercial parties so they can meet, share experiences, present research, and exchange ideas.

Following the format of the earlier succesful PRESENCE workshops, we envision an informal, highly interactive conference, with a number of distinguished invited speakers, paper presentations, special sessions on specific topics, poster sessions, technology and project demonstrations, and moderated discussions. The facilities allow for plenary as well as parallel sessions on technology and measurements, respectively. Of course, ample time will be reserved for informal interactions between all participants, and a social event will be organised that will fascilitate this.

How To Submit Work To Be Presented:

Potential contributors are invited to submit an extended abstract (no more than 4 pages when printed) until August 1. The abstracts should be in HTML format and submitted online at the conference website.

The abstracts will be blind-reviewed through the http://ispr.info/ web site. At least two selected reviewers will read each submission and contributors will be notified regarding acceptance on or before September 1.

A collection of documents based on the workshop presentations and discussion will appear as an electronic publication. Authors of presentations may also be invited to write up full papers for submission to a special issue of the journal Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments.

Conference location:

The Workshop will be hosted by Aalborg University in Denmark. See: http://www.auc.dk/english/index.htm. Founded by the Vikings, Aalborg is today Denmark's fourth largest city with 160.000 inhabitants. It is located at the centre of North Jutland, a region blessed by nature with the most hours of sunshine. Aalborg is a charming, lively, green city on the Lim Fjord, well-known for its specialities in the Danish Distilleries (for more information on Aalborg see: http://www.visitaalborg.com/showpage.asp?ID=53).

Local currency is the Danish Krone (DKK). Local time is Central European Time (one hour ahead of GMT).

Registration

Registration begins September 1, 2003. Please visit the PRESENCE 2003 web site for the registration and payment forms and procedures.

Contact

For further information on local arrangements write to: presence2003@benogo.dk, or to the Local Chair, Erik Granum, eg@cvmt.dk, of Computer Vision and Media Technology Lab.

For more information regarding the scientific programme, please contact Wijnand IJsselsteijn, w.a.ijsselsteijn@tue.nl.

For more information about presence, visit http://ispr.info, the web site of ISPR: The Int'l Society for Presence Research