institute for educational cybernetics
Presence
Scott Wilson
institute for educational cybernetics, university of bolton

institute for educational cybernetics
scott is…
Wondering if he’s going to explain this OK

institute for educational cybernetics
What is presence?
• Exposure of personal states to others
• Awareness of the states of others
• Ambient or peripheral communication*
• Broadcast rather than point-to-point
communication*
Not (in today’s talk, at least]:
• Sense of self-presence in a virtual environment
(i.e. psychology of telepresence]
* mostly

institute for educational cybernetics
Presence: Evolution of a killer
internet app
1996 1997 2003 2003 2007
Away Buddy Mood Status Microblog
Message Icon Message (activity)
Message

institute for educational cybernetics
How is presence used?
Managing attention and interruption
don’t bother me I’m in a meeting
Facilitating casual interactions
U r bored? Yeah me 2!
Provide a sense of activity in an interaction space
At least I’m not the only one working tonight
Facilitate group self-awareness
There aren’t many women in this team are there?
Self-expression
Look, I’m an individual!

institute for educational cybernetics
Presence Semantics
Network Availability I’m online
Communication Availability I want to talk
Emotional context I’m bored
Activity context I’m cooking dinner
Location I’m at home
Needs and desires I want an iPhone
Identity projection I’m wearing a cool t-shirt

institute for educational cybernetics
Presentities
people
organisations
products
events robots
courses?

institute for educational cybernetics
Producing presence information:
Passive cues
Network listeners
System capability listeners
Application task listeners
Workflow listeners
Physical sensors
Psychophysiological interfaces
Phillips Design Probes Project : The Vibe necklace picks up a variety
of biometric signals that can be picked up by other wearers of the
necklace. This is achieve by a combination of conductive ink and
textile sensors.

institute for educational cybernetics
Producing presence information:
Explicit cues
Free expression:
mood messages,
status
microblogging
selections

institute for educational cybernetics
Presence Awareness
Ambient
Interruption!
Situated
awareness
Awareness

institute for educational cybernetics
Platforms for consuming
presence information

institute for educational cybernetics
Ambient technology

institute for educational cybernetics
Communication technologies

institute for educational cybernetics
Social networks

institute for educational cybernetics
Microblogs

institute for educational cybernetics
Consuming presence: patterns
Feeds Status icons
Abstract
Composite
Subtitles
Graphical avatars

institute for educational cybernetics
If you use any online social network
tool, the single most important first
impression you make is with the 3600
to 5000 pixels you get for
your tiny picture.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/04/the-power-of-a-tiny-picture-how-to-improve-your-social-network-brand.html

institute for educational cybernetics
Making Models

institute for educational cybernetics
Community of Inquiry Model
Can we actually relate this model to presence information systems?

institute for educational cybernetics
Rosemary Lehman: Types of Presence in Online Education
Subjective
This type is personal and psychological; it affords a sense of being there and takes place within
a person's mind and body. It is cognitive, behavioral, and emotional).
Objective
A sense of being there physically, feeling that one is located in a mediated space.
Environmental
A sense that the environment knows that you are an integral part of it and that it reacts to you.
Sheridan (1992) proposes that the ability to feel that you have an effect on a virtual
environment is a key component of presence. The greater the response to your modification of
the distant environment the greater the feeling of reality.
Social
A sense of being with others who exist in the world and react to you.. Social presence may be
derived from conversing and interacting with others. When others recognize and react to you it
validates your existence (Wijanand, date). The importance of ongoing relationships is significant
and enables and facilitates bonds of understanding

institute for educational cybernetics
Scott’s model
Appears in: Handbook of Research on
Social Software and Developing
Community Ontologies
ISBN: 978-1-60566-208-4; 632 pp;
February 2009

institute for educational cybernetics
Mapping cues to semantics

institute for educational cybernetics
Ontology of presence

institute for educational cybernetics
Patterns in existing systems

institute for educational cybernetics
System Subsystem Purposes Means of Presence Information Means of
production consumption
Skype Mood Message Facilitate Casual Interactions Explicit cues Emotional context Subtitle
Supporting Self Expression
Status Message Manage attention and interruption Network listener Network availability Status icon
Explicit cues Communication availability
Video availability Facilitate Casual Interactions System Capability Communication availability Status icon
Listener
IChat Status Message Manage attention and interruption Network listener Network availability Status icon
Facilitate casual interactions Explicit cues Communication availability Graphical avatar
Emotional context Subtitle
Video availability Facilitate Casual Interactions System Capability Communication availability Status icon
Listener
Audio availability Facilitate Casual Interactions System Capability Communication availability Status icon
Listener
Facebook Status Message Facilitate casual interactions Explicit cues Activity context Subtitle
Supporting self-expression Emotional context Feed
Supporting group self-awareness
Twitter Supporting Self-expression Explicit cues Activity context Feed
Emotional context
Nimio Sense of activity in interaction space Physical Sensors – Activity Context Composite
sound, movement
Networked Supporting self-expression Explicit cues Emotional context Status Icon
Emoticon Device
Jaiku Supporting Self-expression Explicit cues Activity context Feed
Facilitate casual interactions Physical sensor Emotional context
(mobile GPS) Location
Moodle Online Users Facilitate casual interactions Network Listener Network Availability Graphical Avatar
Nabaztag Facilitate casual interactions Explicit cues Activity context Abstract
(waggling the ears) Emotional context
Communication availability
Dabbish & Manage attention and interruption Application Activity context (workload) Abstract
Kraut’s Listener
experiment

institute for educational cybernetics
Try it yourself now…
• Identify a piece of technology you are working
with or developing
• What role, if any, does presence play?
• What is its purpose?
• What/who are the presentities?
• What kind of presence information does it use?
• How is it produced?
• How is it consumed?
• What is the balance of presence types?
• How might it work differently using a different
pattern of presence?

institute for educational cybernetics
Thanks for listening - over to you
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott