[Air-L] Social Presence Theory - latest studies?

Mon Dec 8 18:45:26 PST 2008

I haven't followed all of this thread, but I transcribed an interview that the virtual realist Michael Heim held with Moira Gunn (TechNation) back in 1994.

It's worth reporducing a couple of sentences about what Michael Heim called "being elsewhere" - although he later refers to it as 'telepresence':

". . .the metaphysics of virtual reality has to do with that invisible dimension where out ATM money is stored, where phone conversations takes place, where we are when we're talking on the telephone long distance, our disembodied states.  In some senses, that is an invisible realm that increases in its depth and pervasiveness day-by-day . . . this is what I call being elsewhere.

. . .virtual reality technology is in some ways the hardware support that we've always dreamed of when we read novels, when we watch films. It's a new kind of hardware that enables us to define our presence in another way and in a very, very extended way.

Cyberspace is the all-encompassing electronic network that stores the information that makes the bank run, that makes most businesses function, that puts us together on the telephone lines. In other words, it's the electronic presence. When somebody picks up the phone and says, 'are your there?' -- Are you here? In a sense they are asking, 'are we together?' Are we together, and when we are togeher, where are we? and this is a space called cyberspace, that we have a name for, thanks to Willam Gibson's neologism. 

. . .Now, what's happening with virtual reality is that we can regain some of the integrated sensory experience that we have in the primary world, outside cyberspace . . . in small research labs, we can see the world, feel the world, hear the world at the same time, that is computer generated. . . we can see things together, look at each other, move things around, interact with that world, just as we can in the primary world.  So, cyberspace opens up, and one dimension of it is virtual reality. This is experience, that are very much like our sensory life experience in our primary bodies."

--- I think this is what I would call social presence - an experience, as he says, "very much like our sensory experience in our primary bodies"

Heim, M. (19 March 1994). 'The metaphysics of virtual reality' Radio Interview with Moira Gunn, TechNation: Americans and Technology.

Heim, M. (1998). Virtual realism. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Denise N. Rall, PhD. Internationalisation Project Officer
Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA 
Office: Room T2.17, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Mobile 0438 233 344 
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/drall/
Presenter, Internet Research 9.0, 15-18 October 2008, Copenhagen, DK

--- On Tue, 9/12/08, Andrew Herman <aherman at wlu.ca> wrote:

> From: Andrew Herman <aherman at wlu.ca>
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Social Presence Theory - latest studies?
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Received: Tuesday, 9 December, 2008, 2:00 AM
> I am very interested in this thread but also find the
> subject a bit befuddling.  Aren't almost all
> interpretive social theories of the 20th century (symbolic
> interactionism, phenomenology, , ethnomethdology, etc.)
> theories of social presence? There have been volumes upon
> volumes of work rooted in these traditions dealing with cmc
> sociality and identity. Or is the subject here a new and
> coherently distinctive kind of social theory that is
> specific to virtual environments?
> 
> Andrew Herman, Ph. D.
> Associate Professor
> Department of Communication Studies
> Wilfrid Laurier University
> Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5
> CANADA
> 519 884-1970 x3693
> >>> Pam Brewer <brewerpe at appstate.edu>
> 12/08/08 9:05 AM >>>
> Jennie--
> 
> Here are a few of the sources I have found useful in my
> research on 
> international virtual workplaces.  Each addresses social
> presence theory 
> in some aspect.  Some of these are a bit dated but
> significant (e.g., 
> Ma).  I included Walther though you have probably already
> pulled his 
> resources.
> 
> Best,
> Pam
> 
> Cho, H.-K., Treir, M., & Kim, E. (2005). The use of
> instant messaging in 
> working relationship development:  A case study [Electronic
> Version]. 
> Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10, from 
> http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/cho.html
> 
> Ma, R. (1996). Computer-mediated conversations as a new
> dimension of 
> intercultural communication between East Asian and North
> American 
> college students. In S. C. Herring (Ed.), Computer-Mediated
> 
> Communication:  Linguistic, Social and Cross-Cultural
> Perspectives (pp. 
> 173-185). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
> 
> Nowak, K. L., Watt, J., Walther, J. B., & (2005). The
> influence of 
> synchrony and sensory modality on the person perception
> process in 
> computer-mediated groups [Electronic Version]. Journal of 
> Computer-Mediated Communication, 10, 28. Retrieved July 11,
> 2006, from 
> http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue3/nowak.html
> 
> Priest, H. A., Stagl, K. C., Klein, C., & Salas, E.
> (2006). Virtual 
> teams:  Creating context for distributed work. In C. A.
> Bowers, S. E & 
> F. Jentsch (Eds.), Creating High-Tech Teams (pp. 185-212).
> Washington 
> D.C.: American Psychological Association.
> 
> Thompson, L. F., & Coovert, M. D. (2006). Understanding
> and developing 
> virtual computer-supported teams. In C. Bowers, E. Salas
> & F. Jentsch 
> (Eds.), Creating high-tech teams (pp. 213-241). Washington
> D.C: American 
> Psychological Association.
> 
> Utz, S. (2000). Social information processing in MUDs:The
> development of 
> friendships in virtual worlds [Electronic Version]. Journal
> of Online 
> Behavior, 1, 25. Retrieved March 10, 2006, from 
> http://www.behavior.net/JOB/v1n1/utz.html
> 
> Walther, J. B. (1996). Computer-mediated communication: 
> Impersonal, 
> interpersonal and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication
> Research, 
> 23(3), 3-43.
> 
> Pamela Estes Brewer
> Assistant Professor
> Department of English
> Appalachian State University
> phone 828-262-2351
> fax  828-262-2133
> email  brewerpe at appstate.edu
> 
> 
> 
> Jennie Hwang wrote:
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > I am starting a literature review on social presence
> (esp. in relation 
> > to new communication technologies, such as cell
> phones, text 
> > messaging, chat programs, etc.). Hence, I am trying to
> find good 
> > academic texts that present the history of research on
> this topic, 
> > current trends, and suggestions for future research.
> Does anyone know 
> > some good texts with which I can start?
> >
> > Please feel free to contact me if you have any
> interesting suggestions.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > jennie
> >
> >
> > |
> > jennie hwang, phd
> > assistant professor, communication studies
> > cal poly, san luis obispo
> > 805/756-2289
> > |
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> > is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers
> http://aoir.org
> > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: 
> > http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> >
> > Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> > http://www.aoir.org/
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers
> http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> 
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
> 
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers
> http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> 
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/

      Start your day with Yahoo!7 and win a Sony Bravia TV. Enter now http://au.docs.yahoo.com/homepageset/?p1=other&p2=au&p3=tagline