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 Introduction section of the article A Cross-Media Presence Questionnaire: The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory to learn about “Presence” and how people attempt to measure it. The proposed ITC-SOPI questionnaire is not included in the article because it is copyrighted material, however, our lab has permission to use it (see next point).
• Administer the ITC-SOPI on yourself Pick a media activity (e.g. watching TV, watch YouTube, playing games, reading a comic book…). Engage with that media for at least 10 minutes. Immediately afterwards fill in the ITC-SOPI questionnaire (it is best to have it printed out and ready before the media exposure). You can find it under Other Materials in MySchool. Important: Do not distribute that file further and remove it from your machine after use. The file is governed by strict copyright laws.
• Score your media experience Use the ITC-SOPI scoring guide (also on MySchool) to give your media experience a score along the 4 presence factors discussed in the article. Be ready to compare your media experience with other people's experiences in class.