description, concept:
Caroline
Caroline
Through the use of media people try to overcome the boundaries of time and place to which our physical bodies are bound. With the development of information and communication technologies over the
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PRESENCE AND ABSENCE
Introduction chapter 2
Communication models of 'one to one', of 'one to many' and of 'many to many' evolved. The term 'virtual' was introduced when digital technologies entered the media arena in the second half of the
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description, argument, general history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Through the use of media people try to overcome the boundaries of time and place to which our physical bodies are bound. With the development of information and communication technologies over the
…
Diagram 2: In one communication trajectory information and communication pass through different media spaces
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description, concept, argument:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In the patterns of presence and absence in the variety of mediated and unmediated forms, people produce and reproduce social relationships. When designing such an environment there is great confusion
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Diagram 3: What is communicated in which way via which medium, and how these influence each other, is often unclear.
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description, concept, specific:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Below I will first make an inventory of presence technologies that exist today, dd. 2006. Then I will sketch current presence research as it is performed in Europe and the USA, and I will conclude
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The development of sign systems, counting systems, script, drawing, painting and the later development of mechanical reproduction technologies like the printing press, the telegraph, telephone,
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description, argument, general history:
Caroline Nevejan,
Anthony
CarolineAnthony
Even architecture can be read as presence technology since it shapes an infrastructure that facilitates certain forms of communication and discards others. Even though ‘presence technology’ and
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description, argument, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
A variety of sciences and practices can be understood from a presence perspective, as has been stated above. This study focuses on presence technologies that are the result of digital technology.
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description, concept:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
The broad spectrum of information and communication technologies can be divided into three groups of technologies from the perspective of a human being using these technologies:
To act at a
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description, argument, collective history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In automation and transaction technologies a series of predefined actions has to be executed to allow a certain person to do something. Actually, in this case the person triggers a series of events.
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description, general history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
The first group of surveillance and identification technologies that I will consider is concerned with the monitoring of physical presence of people. Surveillance technologies aim to establish the
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description, argument, general history:
Caroline Nevejan,
Steve Wright,
Glyn Ford,
Valerie Steeves
Caroline
Digital behaviour is also monitored. By gathering and analysing server information the behaviour and the actions of online identities can easily be monitored. The only issue that has to be resolved
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description, general history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Internet facilitates communication and information exchange with people who are present 'anywhere' on the planet. The telephone and mobile phones make it possible to speak over long distances at any
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description, argument:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Internet facilitates the storage and exchange of text, images, sound, music, film, radio and live broadcasts. With over one billion usersnote 26 in 2006 (which is 15,7% of the world population) it
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argument, collective history, general history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
The new information and communication technologies facilitate a sharing of knowledge that was not possible before. Both the speed of access and the amount of stored data make vast amounts of
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Presence Research is not a formal academic discipline, but it is a field of study in the sense that presence researchers know how to find each other; it is subject of magazines, conferences, research
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description, methodology, collective history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Military research into presence has to be mentioned here first, even though I do not intend to elaborate upon it. That would require other research strategies. Nevertheless, we have to realize that
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description, methodology, collective history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In the media labs of large technological corporations around the world, and especially and foremost in the USA, the mediation of presence has been the focus of attention. In Bell labs note 38 , where
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description, methodology, collective history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In annual international art events like Ars Electronica note 44 , DEAF note 45 , ISEA note 46 , artists present their latest work in which technology plays a crucial role. Although it is not
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description, methodology, collective history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In science as in the arts a lot of research has been carried out that can be understood as presence research even though it has not been formulated as such. Since 1998 the European Commission has
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description, specific, conclusion:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Wijnand IJsselsteijn, researcher at TU Eindhoven, has been involved with the European Presence programme and has been responsible for the publication of the work that results from the EU Programme on
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argument, conclusion:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
IJsselsteijn also makes the following observation about the future: "With more advanced media, it will become increasingly hard to adequately recognize the role of technology in the experience.
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Presence as a phenomenon is, in the first instance, associated with being physically present. Our natural presence is defined by our body, which is present at a certain moment in a certain place, and
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argument:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
People who have died can have all sorts of presences in the variety of cultures that the human race has produced. Pictures, statues and objects, gravestones, special places and altars are used to
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description, concept:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In 2004 an amazing article was written, 'The Layers of Presence: A Bio-cultural Approach to Understanding Presence in Natural and Mediated Environments' by Giuseppe Riva, John A. Waterworth and Eva
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description, argument, general history:
Caroline Nevejan,
Giuseppe Riva,
John A. Waterworth,
Eva L. Waterworth
Caroline
Riva, Waterworth and Waterworth were inspired by Damasio in their proposal for a deeper understanding of Presence. After having studied Damasio's work they suggest that presence is the feeling that
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concept, subjective, stories:
Caroline Nevejan,
Irma
Caroline
When I am confronted by a stranger on my path, I have to know whether he is really there and whether he will attack me or not. I have to establish the fact that he is there, who he is and whether I
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description, argument, Parresia:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
For survival, the blurring between real and unreal situations is problematic at first sight. When one needs to act for survival one has to know what is happening. But we have to realize that any
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description, argument, theory:
Caroline Nevejan,
Donna Haraway
Caroline
Another element in thinking about natural presence in modern life is elaborated upon by Donna Haraway. She argues that technologies have also become part of our bodies. There are no 'pure bodies' any
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concept, argument, general history, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Haraway's insights imply consequences for the sense of presence on an even deeper level. In the work of Haraway, and others like Judith Butler, it is argued that people perform masculinity,
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Human beings have been mediating presence for as long as humankind exists. When moving around people leave trails of footprints, nests and other signs that show they 'have been here'. For centuries
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argument, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In 1935 Walter Benjamin wrote the first draft of his essay on 'Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit' (Benjamin 1936). This essay has influenced thinking about media and
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When they are involved in mediated presence people accept a partial perception of other human beings and of themselves. Technology does transmit 'real' data about a person to another place and
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argument, stories, theory:
Caroline Nevejan,
Frederic Kaplan
Caroline
The first story is about a robot dog that was made In Sony's Research Lab in Paris in 2001. Because the robot dog does not mediate the presence of another human being, the experiments done in Sony
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personal history, stories, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
A second story I want to share is about two people communicating with each other via Internet. Where feedback is almost immediate, processes of attribution easily occur. Mostly we understand these as
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description, concept, stories, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
The last story I want to share in this section poses the question of whether there is a distinction to be made between mediated presence that is triggered by natural presence in real time and
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description, concept, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
'I could not go to sleep because the lady in the television set asked me to stay and watch a bit longer', said the aging mother of a friend of mine the other day. To her, the words of the TV
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concept, argument, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
The concept of media schemata is crucial for research into the domain of designing presence in environments where technology plays a crucial role. Presence, which is mediated via technology, is
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concept, argument, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In Science and Technology Studies the complexity of such arrangements in which nature, culture and technology are deeply interwoven, is addressed. Through analysing a simple object, a standard
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The perceived presence of a person plays a crucial role in the social organization of communities. In a street, in a village, in a school, in a hospital, at work, we see a person pass by and
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description, concept:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Among the crowds that characterize the many urban environments we distinguish 'the mass' and 'people we know'. We perceive the presence of others with various degrees of attention depending on how we
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description, methodology, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
All societies, even all groups, invent rules by which they channel the behaviour of their individual components. Behaviour is noticed by others, is witnessed, and it can therefore be commented upon
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description, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
In this section I want to argue that the way we are witnessed and witness other people, deeply influences the perception of our environment. The way we relate to the person with whom we interact has
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argument:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
I become more aware of my presence in the world because I notice that another person perceives my presence. In the light of this study it makes sense to call attention to the fact that through this
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argument, theory:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
I can be with my lover, leave the house and pass a 'bump' and not even notice this person. Where did all my love go? When I am alone in a subway station I may say hello, just for my safety's sake,
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description, argument, collective history, general history:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
“The 20th century will be known both for its commitment to human rights and for the ongoing struggle to ensure that these rights are respected. At the same time, it will also be remembered for the
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Determined by patterns of presence and absence
conclusion chapter 2
conclusion:
Caroline Nevejan
Caroline
Communication processes between people are defined by a pattern of the presence and absence of their natural and mediated presences. The fact of whether natural or mediated presence is witnessed
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