Discussion Preparation 2 (Presence)

The concept of “Presence” is frequently encountered when discussing virtual environments. For example, you may be asked by someone to create a virtual environment that provides a great level of presence for the user. However, it is a rather complex concept and there are various ways to describe what underlies a great level of presence. The goal of this discussion preparation is to get more familiar with this concept and think about it in terms of your own daily life.

• Read the summary of six conceptualizations of presence in the paper "At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence" that Lombard and Ditton published in the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication in 1997 (you only need to read the sections: Abstract, Introduction and Concept Explication. You are of course welcome to read the rest as well).
• Bring to class six examples from your own life that best demonstrate these conceptualizations in your opinion. For example, if you feel that talking to someone on a cell phone is an excellent example of social richness (conceptualization 1), write that down and be prepared to argue why you think so. Do this for each of the six conceptualizations (for number 3, it's enough to pick one sub-concept).