Call for Participation A (Free) ‘Virtual’ Panel at PRESENCE 2018: Presence in Practice: A Discussion about Presence via Telepresence Tech Monday May 21, 2018 4:15 - 5:30 pm (i.e., 16:15 - 17:30) in Prague (GMT+2) (Find your current local time in Prague here: https://24timezones.com/world_directory/time_in_prague.php ) Conference details (including program): http://ispr.info Email your interest in participating by Sunday May 20, 2018 We often joke about how as telepresence scholars we have to travel around the world - with great financial cost, physical and emotional strain, lost time, and damage to the environment - to discuss technologies designed to allow people to avoid having to travel to meet face-to-face. We also take for granted that meeting in person precludes the participation of those who aren't able to join us in person. At PRESENCE 2018, the 18th conference of the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) in Prague, Czech Republic, we've scheduled a unique panel discussion designed to consider the current status and future potential of visual collaboration technologies while we actually use telepresence technology to include some of our colleagues who can't be in Prague with us. At 16:15 in Prague on Monday May 21, those physically present at the conference along with remotely present participants from wherever they are across the globe will join together in a WebEx “Room” to discuss a series of questions including: * To what degree are we able to experience social and spatial presence during the session? * What are the primary obstacles - in technology, psychology and context - to experiencing sustained presence? * Which obstacles are most significant and when if ever can we expect to overcome them? * How can/should a virtual component be incorporated into conferences? * Is a fully "virtual" academic conference possible? * If so, when can we reasonably expect this to happen? * And if so, would the benefits necessarily outweigh the drawbacks? Participation is free and requires only an internet connection. We would love to have you “there,” so if you’re interested and available, please send an email message to conference chair and panel moderator Matthew Lombard at lombard@temple.edu by Sunday May 20, 2018. -- Matthew Lombard, Ph.D. Temple University Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA lombard@temple.edu http://matthewlombard.com