TELEPRESENCE IN POPULAR CULTURE
A study of portrayals of presence

Technologies that evoke presence (short for telepresence) - a sense of "being there" in a virtual or media environment, or more generally, an "illusion of nonmediation" - are increasingly available to and popular with the public. And even though the term itself is rarely used, portrayals of presence have become common in popular culture - in films (e.g., The Matrix), on television (e.g., the various Star Trek series), in novels (e.g., William Gibson's Neuromancer), and elsewhere.

We're conducting a systematic analysis of these portrayals in which fictional characters experience one or more types of presence (see the web site of ISPR, the International Society for Presence Research, , for detailed definitions) to better understand:

<> the possible forms and contents of future presence-evoking technologies and experiences

<> the types of presence-evoking technologies, experiences and applications that people want

<> the types of presence-evoking technologies, experiences and applications that people fear

<> the reasons humans desire presence experiences

<> the different ethical issues and perspectives raised by advanced presence-evoking technologies

<> the degree to which fictional portrayals have accurately predicted the form and content of new technologies

We've developed a short online coding instrument for a qualitative content analysis of portrayals of presence and linked the instrument with an online database to which entered information is stored. As the database of information about these portrayals grows, we'll examine the data for meaningful patterns, and eventually write a report of our findings.

--> What you can do (and why you might want to)

This is a fun but ambitious project that requires many hands - we really need and want your help.

When you encounter or remember a movie or TV show, novel, video game, comic book, or advertisement that includes a portrayal of presence, please visit the project web site () and fill out the short web form to add a new portrayal to the project's database.

There's also a list of portrayals that need to be added; if you're familiar with any of them, or would like to see/read one or more of them, please add them to the database as well. Or if you know of portrayals not in the database, please let us know so we can add them to the list.

If you teach a course (e.g., related to presence and/or research methods), please consider creating an assignment (e.g., for extra credit) in which students review the web site, read/watch a presence portrayal and enter the information into the database.

All contributors to the database will be acknowledged by name in all reports.

If you have any questions (and/or might be interested in becoming a project member and co-author on this project), please contact Matthew Lombard at lombard@temple.edu.

Project members

Matthew Lombard
Melissa Selverian
Karl Horvath
Sung Bok Park
Ha Sung Hwang

-- Matthew Lombard, Ph.D.
Temple University
President
International Society for Presence Research (ISPR)

(215) 204-7182
lombard@temple.edu
http://matthewlombard.com
http://ispr.info