CALL FOR ABSTRACTS AND PARTICIPATION The Power of Presence: Using Telepresence Theory, Research and Applications to Enhance Mediated Communication Experiences in the 21st Century A preconference of the 2016 conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) Co-sponsored by the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) June 8, 2016 (with optional demonstrations and guided sightseeing events June 7) Submission of extended abstracts: February 8, 2016 Full details: http://tinyurl.com/ICA-ISPR-2016 OVERVIEW Join us in Kyoto, Japan for an enlightening and enjoyable conference event two days before the 66th annual conference of the International Communication Association (http://www.icahdq.org/conf/) in Fukuoka, 9-13 June. (Tele)presence is a state or perception in which we overlook or misconstrue the role of technology and feel present in the environments and/or connected to the people or things we experience via technology. It´s increasingly relevant to a wide range of media experiences and application areas. This preconference will introduce the centrality, pervasiveness, value, and power of presence phenomena, theory and research to scholars and practitioners within and beyond communication and deepen and update knowledge for those already familiar with presence. The event will include a full day of invited and peer reviewed state-of-the-art presentations, and demonstrations; a keynote address from renowned Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University, creator of amazing humanoid robots (see http://www.geminoid.jp/en/index.html) and co-author of "Human-Robot Interaction in Social Robotics" (2012, CRC Press); and informal discussion, networking and fun. At the end of the day, all attendees are invited to a social dinner at an (affordable) nearby restaurant; we also hope you´ll join us for all or part of a day of demonstration visits and guided sightseeing on June 7 (the day before the event). OBJECTIVES The primary objective of the preconference will be to introduce communication scholars and practitioners to the centrality, pervasiveness, value, and power of presence phenomena, theory and research within and beyond the diverse field of communication. A secondary goal will be to deepen and update knowledge of those already familiar with presence. The overarching goal is to help integrate and increase collaborative, scholarship on presence. SUBMISSIONS Topics We seek original, high quality papers and demonstrations that contribute to our collective understanding of the power and breadth of presence phenomena and presence applications in any/every aspect of life. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): o Presence theory o Measures of presence o Presence and emotion o Presence and education o Presence and social interaction o Gender and Presence o Neuroscience approaches to Presence o Presence in gaming and entertainment o Philosophical perspectives on presence o Ethics of presence o Presence technologies and applications (e.g. in business, arts, medicine and therapy) o The future of presence research All accepted submissions will be collected in the official conference proceedings (with ISBN) and will be permanently available for download in the ISPR conference archive. We invite researchers and practitioners to submit an EXTENDED ABSTRACT for their Paper (up to 30 pages), Short Paper (up to 12 pages), Poster or Demonstration/Exhibit. All submissions are to be in APA format and except for the separate title page not identify the author(s) directly or indirectly (for blind peer review). The extended abstracts should not be longer than 12 pages excluding references, figures and appendices. Procedure Submissions are to be sent as two e-mail attachments in Word (.docx) format: 1) the title page containing all author names, affiliations and contact information; and 2) a completely anonymized version of the entire paper. Send the files to Matthew Lombard at lombard@temple.edu. Timing Submission deadline: February 8, 2016 Notification of acceptance decisions: March 1, 2016 Finished, camera-ready papers due: May 31, 2016 REGISTRATION Registration will be accomplished through the main ICA website, http://www.icahdq.org/conf/. Registration for the event is open to anyone and the costs (in addition to ICA fees) are modest: $50.00 USD for academics, $40.00 USD for students, and $90.00 USD for industry. (This includes lunch and snacks through the day; venues for the social dinner and June 7 activities will be selected to limit additional expenses.) LOCATION/VENUE The preconference will take place at Kyoto Shigaku Kaikan (http://www.kyt-shigakukaikan.or.jp/) in Kyoto, Japan. The city and venue are easily accessible, and near both the main ICA conference site in Fukuoka and the Kyoto-Kobe-Osaka triangle of interesting visitor sites. ORGANIZERS Matthew Lombard, Temple University Cheryl Bracken, Cleveland State University Jihyun Kim, Kent State University SongYi Lee, Temple University Kun Xu, Temple University Hocheol Yang, Temple University Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Temple University FOR MORE INFORMATION For much more information, including transportation, accommodations, demonstrations, and sightseeing events for June 7, please see the event website: http://tinyurl.com/ICA-ISPR-2016 Contact: Matthew Lombard - lombard@temple.edu ISPR website - http://ispr.info