Positive Technology Journal

Often described as a sense of “being there” in a mediated environment, telepresence 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 endeavor 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 co-present
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.

 

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