PRESENCE 2006
The 9th Annual International Workshop on Presence

August 24 - 26
Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Call for Papers

PRESENCE 2006
9th Annual International Workshop on Presence

Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Cleveland State University
August 24-26, 2006

EXTENDED Submission deadline: April 12, 2006

Full details on the web at http://ispr.info

OVERVIEW

Academics and practitioners with an interest in the concept of (tele)presence are invited to submit their work for presentation at PRESENCE 2006 at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, August 24-26, 2006.

The ninth in a series of highly successful international workshops, PRESENCE 2006 will provide an open discussion forum to share ideas regarding concepts and theories, measurement techniques, technology, and applications related to presence, the psychological state or subjective perception in which a person fails to accurately and completely acknowledge the role of technology in an experience, including the sense of 'being there' experienced by users of advanced media such as virtual reality.

The concept of presence has been the focus of increasing scholarly attention since at least Minsky's "Telepresence" in 1980. Recently there has been a burst of funded research activity in this area with the European FET Presence Research initiative. What do we really know about presence and its determinants? How can presence be successfully delivered with today's technology? This conference invites papers that are based on empirical results from studies of presence and related issues and/or that make substantial advances in theoretical understanding of presence and/or that contribute to the technology for the delivery of presence. High quality papers which make substantial contributions to the field are sought; submissions will be rigorously evaluated by peer reviewers.

Work accepted for presentation will be included in the official conference proceedings and posted on the ISPR web site. Some of the presented papers will be selected for publication in one or more special issues of CyberPsychology & Behavior or Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments.

PRESENCE 2006 takes place in Cleveland and is hosted by Cleveland State University. The conference is organized by ISPR, the International Society for Presence Research.

TOPICS

Submissions of papers, demonstrations, and panels that represent completed or ongoing work are encouraged in areas including but not limited to: 

• Explications of the presence concept
• Presence evaluation/measurement methodologies
• Causes and consequences (effects) of presence
• Presence in shared virtual environments and online communities
• Social/affective interfaces, virtual agents, parasocial interactions
• Presence-associated technologies:
  • Immersive, interactive, multimodal displays
  • Advanced broadcast and cinematic displays (stereoscopic TV, HDTV, IMAX)
  • Virtual environments/simulators
  • 3-D sound
  • Haptic/tactile displays
• Presence applications:
  • Education and training
  • Medicine and therapy
  • Entertainment
  • Communication and collaboration
  • Teleoperation
  • Presence and design
  • Presence in art
• Presence and philosophical issues (e.g., the nature of 'reality')
• The ethics of presence
• Presence in the future: Media experiences in the 21st century and beyond

CONFERENCE FORMAT

Like the earlier workshops, PRESENCE 2006 will have an interactive format in which all participants (attendees, presenters, invited speakers) attend each of the sessions as well as several social events (including a dinner cruise), allowing participants to exchange ideas and build knowledge together as the conference progresses.

The conference will feature a keynote presentation by Janet H. Murray, author of Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace (Free Press, 1997; MIT Press 1998) and an internationally recognized interactive designer, director of Georgia Tech's Masters Degree Program in Information Design and Technology and Ph.D. in Digital Media, and member of Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary Graphics, Visualization & Usability (GVU) Center. For more information about Profesor Murray click here.

VENUE

The Workshop will be hosted by Cleveland State University, located in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. Located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Cleveland boasts world-class cultural institutions, major-league sports, state-of-the-art attractions, unique ethnic neighborhoods, great shopping and dining, vibrant nightlife, a national park for outdoor recreation, and much more. It was ranked #1 for "Most Livable City" in the U.S. and 26th in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit (October 2005), a Top 10 Summer Vacation Destination by msn.com (May 2004, June 2003), one of the 10 ten safest and culturally most fascinating cities to visit in the U.S. by Travel Smart (January 2004), a Top 10 city for walking by The American Podiatric Medical Association (November 2003), a Top 25 Arts Destination, by Americanstyle.com (October 2003), #3 City That Works Hardest to Accommodate Group Tours by Destinations magazine (April 2001), and Top Five U.S. City for Meetings by Get There Direct Meeting Company (February 2001). Cleveland's also the home of the 4th Best Beer in the Country (Great Lakes Brewing Company, Dortmunder Gold) according to American Heritage (July 2002)

For more information about Cleveland visit the web site of the Cleveland Convention & Visitors Bureau (http://www.travelcleveland.com/); for more information about Cleveland State University, visit the CSU web site (http://www.csuohio.edu/).

SUBMISSIONS

We invite researchers and practitioners to submit work in the following categories:

• Papers: Comprehensive descriptions of original research or design work within the scope of the workshop. Papers are 5 to 12 pages in the PRESENCE 2006 template format (see submission page) and will be considered for oral presentation.
   
• Panels: Sets of presentations on a single theme or topic within the scope of the workshop. Submitters are encouraged to be creative regarding both the topic or theme and the format for panel proposals, which are limited to 4 pages in the PRESENCE 2006 template format.
   
• Extended abstracts: Brief presentations of tentative or preliminary results of research or design work within the scope of the workshop. Extended abstracts are 2 to 4 pages in the PRESENCE 2006 template format and will be considered for oral presentation after all accepted full papers are scheduled.
   
• Posters: Visual display presentations. Submissions are limited to 4 pages which contain miniature versions of the larger pages that would be displayed at the conference.
   
• Demonstrations/exhibitions: Step-by-step audiovisual demonstrations and/or hands-on experiences of (commercial or academic) work within the scope of the workshop. Proposals for demonstrations/exhibitions are limited to 4 pages in the PRESENCE 2006 template format.

Please submit your work online at the submission page of the conference web site at http://ispr.info by the extended conference deadline of April 12, 2006.

REGISTRATION

Registration costs before or on July 8 are 250 USD for individuals with an academic, governmental, or non-profit affiliation; 350 USD for individuals with a corporate affiliation; and 125 USD for graduate students. (For costs in other currencies, click here). All registration fees will include admission to all Workshop sessions, conference materials, refreshments during breaks, lunches and conference dinner/reception.

Registration opens February 13, 2006. Please visit the registration page of the conference web site at http://ispr.info for the registration and payment forms and procedures.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Conference co-chairs

Cheryl Campanella Bracken (Cleveland State University, USA)
Matthew Lombard (Temple University, USA)

Program Committee (subject to change)

Mariano Alcaniz (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain)
Carlo Alberto Avizzano (Scuola Superiore S. Anna, Italy)
Ann-Sofie Axelsson (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
Jeremy N. Bailenson (Stanford University, USA)
Rosa Baños (University of Valencia, Spain)
Woody Barfield (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
Edwin Blake (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
Cristina Botella Arbona (Universitat Jaume I, Spain)
Doug Bowman (Virginia Tech, USA)
Cheryl Campanella Bracken (Cleveland State University, USA)
Prabu David (Ohio State University, USA)
Theresa Ditton (Strategic Business Research, Inc., USA)
Jonathan Freeman (Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK)
Doron Friedman (University College London, UK)
Luciano Gamberini (University of Padua, Italy)
Marco Gillies (University College London, UK)
Feliz Ribeiro Gouveia (Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Portugal)
Ilona Heldal (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
Wijnand Ijsselsteijn (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Netherlands)
Matthew T. Jones (Temple University, USA)
Nicole Kraemer (University of Cologne, Germany)
Rita Lauria (North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, USA)
Kwan Min Lee (University of Southern California, USA)
Jane Lessiter (Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK)
Matthew Lombard (Temple University, USA)
Celine Loscos (University College London, UK)
Claus Madsen (Aalborg University, Denmark)
Katerina Mania (University of Sussex, UK)
Fabrizia Mantovani (Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Italy)
Miriam Reiner (Technion: Israel Institute of Technology, Israel)
Albert Skip Rizzo (University of Southern California, USA)
Daniela Romano (University of Sheffield, UK)
Roy Ruddle (University of Leeds, UK)
Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives (Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Spain)
Ralph Schroeder (Oxford Internet Institute, UK)
Thomas Schubert (University of Jena, Germany)
Melissa E. Selverian (Temple University, USA)
Mel Slater (University College London, UK)
Michael Smyth (Napier University, Scotland
Anna Spagnolli (University of Padua, Italy)
Susan Turner (Napier University, Scotland
Aleksander Väljamäe (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
Paul F.M.J. Verschure (Institute of Neuroinformatics, Switzerland)
Vinoba Vinayagamoorthy (University College London, UK)
John Waterworth (Umeå University, Sweden)

CONTACT

For more information or assistance, please send e-mail to help@ispr and/or contact the conference co-chairs.

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