Interviews
Conversations on Presence. David Benyon.
Presence is a scientific and technological field focusing on understanding and controlling the experience of being someone, somewhere, with somebody. It aims to produce real-feeling experiences through sensorial augmentation or replacement with digital media. It is also intensely interdisciplinary: advances are needed in human cognition, human-machine interaction and machine intelligence. A simple measure of success in Presence is this: If it feels real then it is Presence.
| David Benyon is professor of Human Computer Systems in Napier University and has been publishing on Human Computer interaction since 1.984.
He is currently involved in Companions, a project that aims to develop a virtual conversational 'Companion', an agent or 'presence' that stays with the user for long periods of time, developing a relationship and 'knowing' its owners preferences and wishes. |
Interviews carried out by Leo Ruffini of Starlab with Elem3ntal Creative Lab.
“Using proprietary software is renouncing freedom”. Interview with Richard Stallman.
Richard Stallman’s crusade began one day at the end of the 1970s when he was working in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). RMS, as he likes to be called, was trying to modify his printer to notify users when the documents would be ready, but he came up against an insurmountable obstacle: he couldn’t access the source code, which was considered information owned by Xerox. Convinced that sharing knowledge is basic to the advancement of the community, he left MIT in 1984 to develop GNU, a free operating system used today by millions of computers, to set up the Free Software Movement and to fight against programming patents.
Published in Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) portal.
By Leo Ruffini / July 2008
Photo and translation of the original written in spanish: UOC
Conversations on Presence. Olaf Blanke.
Presence is a scientific and technological field focusing on understanding and controlling the experience of being someone, somewhere, with somebody. It aims to produce real-feeling experiences through sensorial augmentation or replacement with digital media. It is also intensely interdisciplinary: advances are needed in human cognition, human-machine interaction and machine intelligence. A simple measure of success in Presence is this: If it feels real then it is Presence.
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Olaf Blanke is Medical Doctor by training and PhD in Neurophysiology. Currently he works as assistant professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne as well as Neurological Consultant at the University Hospital of Geneva. He leads a multidisciplinary team of biologists, psychologists, medical doctors, physicists, engineers and computer scientists who tries to understand how the brain represents the own body. |
Interviews carried out by Leo Ruffini of Starlab with Elem3ntal Creative Lab.
Conversations on Presence - Paul Verschure
Presence is a scientific and technological field focusing on understanding and controlling the experience of being someone, somewhere, with somebody. It aims to produce real-feeling experiences through sensorial augmentation or replacement with digital media. It is also intensely interdisciplinary: advances are needed in human cognition, human-machine interaction and machine intelligence. A simple measure of success in Presence is this: If it feels real then it is Presence.
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Paul Verschure is Ma. and PhD in psychology. |
Interview carried out by Leo Ruffini of Starlab with Elem3ntal Creative Lab.
"If you respond as if it were real, then it is Presence"- Interview with Mel Slater
Mel Slater is Professor of Virtual Environments at the Department of Computer Science of the University College London as well as ICREA Research Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. His major research interest is the question of what makes virtual reality work, how is it possible to build virtual environments such that people respond realistically to events within them? What scientific explanations are there of this phenomenon?
What is Presence?
It is difficult to give a definition of Presence. I can tell you more about our approach and then I guess there is an implicit definition in that. When you put on a good Head Mounted Display with a wide field of view and good resolution, or when you step in something like a Cave, it is a qualitatively different experience from watching TV, or a movie, or talking on a mobile phone. The sensory data that is coming to you, or a lot of it, is computer generated, so your visual and auditory systems are being bombarded by sensory data generated from a computer and organized in such a way that it transports your idea of where you are. For instance, you might know that in reality you are standing in a lab in a computer science building, or wherever you were, but your senses are telling you something different, maybe that you are in a forest.
Conversations on Presence - Phil Turner
| Phil Turner is a Human Computer Interaction researcher with both psychology and computing backgrounds. He is senior lecturer at Napier University. His current work includes the theoretical basis of Presence from the perspective of the intentional arch. |
Interview carried out by Leo Ruffini of Starlab with Elem3ntal Creative Lab.
"You have to show a compelling reason why you are bringing in the innovation" - Interview with Vijay Kumar
As Director of the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr Vijay Kumar is MIT's leader in new technologies for learning, a position that undoubtedly makes him a world guru in the field. Dr Kumar is also honorary advisor to India's National Knowledge Commission, where he has been engaged in advancing open and technology enabled initiatives for educational access and quality. He was one of the guest speakers at the University Campus Conference, the conference held last October in Barcelona to discuss the Campus Project, an initiative of Catalan universities to develop virtual campuses using free software.
Published in Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) website.
Leo Ruffini/January 2008
"The universities with students at a distance are more innovative" - Interview with Rob Abel
The UOC has recently joined IMS Global Learning Consortium, a global, non-profit, member association that aims to enhance learning worldwide through the use of technology and provide leadership in shaping and growing the learning and educational technology industries. Rob Abel, IMS Chief Executive Officer, has been in Barcelona to attend the opening ceremony of the University Campus Conference and contribute with his experience to the Campus Project, the pioneering initiative that will enable the Catalan universities to construct their virtual campuses using free software.
Published in Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) website.
Leo Ruffini/December 2007
"Why teach in a classroom when you can teach in an atom or a cell?" - Interview with Larry Johnson
Dr Larry Johnson is Chief Executive Officer of the New Media Consortium (NMC), a group of more than 250 colleges, universities, technology companies and world-leading museums interested in the intersection of emerging technology and learning. The Consortium aims to serve as a catalyst for the development of new applications to energise learning and creative expression, and sponsors programmes and activities designed to stimulate innovation. One particular example of this effort are the 85 islands that the NMC has on Second Life, where universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC) take their first steps in the virtual world.
Published in Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) portal.
By Leo Ruffini / October 2007
Photo by UOC.
"The law must be able to advance at the pace of technology" - Interview with Judge Bernice Donald
Bernice Donald was the first woman judge of the state of Tennessee and she combines work at the judiciary, which she started in 1982, with her contribution to academic events and training programmes world-wide. She visited the UOC on 22 February last to give a paper on "Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in the Age of the Internet - The US Experience". The event was organised by the US Consulate General in Barcelona in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Rights and Image Rights Sections of the Barcelona Association of Lawyers. Judge Bernice. Judge Bernice Donald explained how her country is battling against a phenomenon which is more and more important every day, one that kindles debates that stretch beyond the law: piracy on the Internet.
Published in Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) website.
Leo Ruffini/March 2007
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