A colleague mentioned that social presence was being discussed here so I finally subscribed. Presence folks have typically been most focussed on spatial telepresence (the sense - or illusion - that technology users get of being in a technology-generated, or partially generated, space) but there's much more focus these days on social telepresence (the sense technology users get of interacting directly with real or artificial people or other social entities). Although it's not reflected as well as it might be in the text of the call for papers below, social telepresence is central to many of the potential topics listed. There's lots more information, including a detailed concept explication statement, on the web site of the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR); the url is <http://ispr.info). Best, --Matthew ***Apologies for cross-postings*** Special Issue of Virtual Reality on "Mediated Presence: Virtual Reality, Mixed Environments and Social Networks" Guest Editors: Prof Luciano Gamberini PhD and Anna Spagnolli PhD (University of Padova) Matthew Lombard PhD (Temple University) Often described as a sense of "being there" in a mediated environment, presence is broadly defined as a psychological state or subjective perception in which a person fails to accurately and completely acknowledge the role of technology in an experience. It is a rich, fascinating subject of scientific investigation, artistic exploration and diverse application, with increasingly important implications for the ways in which people interact and technologies are developed. Designing technologies and imagining practices to modify, prolong and reconfigure the possibilities of being present has been a continuous endeavour of the human species, from early attempts at constructing communication and transportation devices, to the many current technologies we continue to develop to reach other places and people. Originally focused on bringing "presence" from the real world to a simulated one, the phenomenon is today analyzed and investigated in the context of diverse environments and involves questioning simple distinctions between "'real" and "artificial". This opening to a wide range of mediated environments is accompanied by a growing involvement of different research fields that are continuously updating and modifying the contours of presence scholarship. The phenomenon of presence is challenging from a scientific point of view as much as it is viable in everyday life, where people participate in simultaneous mediated experiences, feeling present or copresent in digital locations without any need for explicit instructions and orchestrating technical and cognitive resources to control and enhance presence. What it means to be present in mediated environments is then an extremely relevant and enticing question, bearing all sorts of implications for the design and application of diverse technologies. This special issue aims at illustrating the variety of research questions and approaches that are needed in order to tackle the phenomenon of mediated presence in virtual reality, mixed environments and social networks. Topics include: o Presence in shared virtual environments and online communities o Presence in social interactions with virtual agents and digital counterparts; parasocial interaction and relationships o Real bodies, avatars and cyborgs o Presence and ubiquity with mobile and geo-location technologies o Presence as a socio-cultural achievement; practices, preferences and material resources to manifest presence o Linguistic and non-verbal strategies to create, negotiate and challenge presence in mediated environments o Realistic action in virtual environments o Cognitive processes and the sense of presence; neuro- psychology of presence o Presence affordances in digital technologies o 3D sound, acoustic environments and presence o Advanced broadcast and cinematic displays (stereoscopic TV, HDTV, IMAX) o Haptic and tactile displays o Holography o Affective and socio-affective interfaces o Presence analysis, evaluation, and measurement techniques o Causes and consequences (effects) of presence o Presence augmentation through social, physical, and contextual cues o Presence, involvement and digital addiction o Presence applications (education and training; medicine; e- health and cybertherapy; entertainment; communication and collaboration; teleoperation; usability and design; art and performance, etc.) The special issue will appear in the Springer journal Virtual Reality (www.springeronline.com/journal/10055). Submissions are invited from authors who contributed to 11th Annual International Workshop of Presence, authors who did not contribute to the workshop are also welcome. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Papers should typically be around 8,000 words and of standard journal content: reports of original research, or review papers. Submissions will be peer reviewed in accordance with the journal's normal process. Papers should be submitted online in Microsoft Word format and uploaded to http://www.editorialmanager.com/vire/. In order to use this system, authors need first to register in it, wait to receive a password by e-mail and then log in. When choosing 'Submit new manuscript' they are asked to select on article type from a list. They must select: 'S.I. Presence'. Please direct all correspondence to luciano.gamberini@unipd.it,anna.spagnolli@unipd.it and lombard@temple.edu. DEADLINES (extended): Submission of paper: January 31 st, 2009 Notification of acceptance to authors: March 21st, 2009 Revised papers received by April 20th, 2009 Publication: June 2009 -- Matthew Lombard, Ph.D. Temple University President International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) (215) 204-7182 lombard@temple.edu http://matthewlombard.com http://ispr.info