CALL FOR PAPERS

ISPR 2011
International Society for Presence Research Annual Conference

Edinburgh, Scotland
October 26 – 28, 2011

http://ispr.info

Academics and practitioners interested in presence (short for telepresence) are invited to participate in the Annual International Conference on Presence, to be held in Edinburgh on October 26-28, 2011. The presence community comprises researchers in communication, computer science, psychology, entertainment, philosophy, the arts, education and other fields.

Presence exists in two overlapping flavours – social presence and spatial presence.

Social presence is the sense, the feeling and the experience of being with other people mediated by technologies such as teleconferencing, collaborative virtual environments, social networking, mobile communications and so on.

In contrast, spatial presence is the sense, the feeling and the experience of being in another place by way of technologies such as immersive and non-immersive virtual reality, movies, games, mixed reality systems and books.

ISPR 2011 follows a series of 12 successful PRESENCE conferences (see http://ispr.info) and provides an ideal forum for presentation of presence scholarship and applications that allow attendees to join together in synthesizing and expanding our collective knowledge and visions for the future regarding this compelling topic.

ISPR 2011 is co-organized by the International Society for Presence Research and the Centre for Interaction Design at Edinburgh Napier University (http://www.napier.ac.uk/).

Topics

Issues of prominent interest include (but are not limited to):

• Mobile & ubiquitous presence
• Philosophical perspectives on presence
• Presence applications
• Measures of presence
• Presence in entertainment
• Presence in games
• Presence in medicine and therapy
• Presence in the arts and humanities
• Presence in mixed reality
• Presence technologies
• Presence theory
• Psychological perspectives on presence
• Neuropsychology of presence
• Educational aspects of presence
• The ethics of presence
• Presence in the next 25 years

We seek original, high quality papers that make substantial contributions to the field. All accepted papers will be collected in the official conference proceedings (with ISBN) and will also be permanently available for download on the ISPR conference archive (at http://ispr.info).

We expect to have all accepted papers included in the ACM Digital Library.

Conference Format

ISPR 2011 will have an interactive format in which all participants (attendees, presenters, invited speakers) attend each of the sessions as well as social events, allowing participants to exchange ideas and build knowledge together as the conference progresses. The language of the conference is English. Please visit the conference web site (http://ispr.info) soon for more information on the conference program, local accommodation, registration and so forth.

Venue

The conference will be hosted by Edinburgh Napier University. The conference events will take place at Craighouse Campus which is a fine example of the Scottish Baronial. Craighouse is only 2 miles (3km) and a short bus ride from Edinburgh’s medieval Old Town and Georgian New Town both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Submissions

We invite researchers and practitioners to submit work in the following categories:

Papers: Comprehensive descriptions of research or design work and/or theoretical investigation within the scope of the conference. Papers must relate to existing literature on presence and make an original contribution to it. Papers may be up to 10 pages in length including references in the ISPR 2011 template format (see http://ispr.info). Accepted papers will be included in the Proceedings and will be allocated time for oral presentation.

Panels: Sets of presentations on a single theme or topic within the scope of the conference. Submitters are encouraged to be creative regarding both the topic or theme and the format for panel proposals (formats that encourage guided discussion are particularly welcome). Panel proposals must identify and provide contact information for all proposed participants and be a maximum of 10 pages in length. Accepted panels will be included in the proceedings.

Posters: Visual display presentations. Poster proposals are limited to 4 pages including references in the ISPR 2011 template format. Accepted poster proposals will be published in the conference proceedings. Posters will be displayed on an approximately 70×40 cm board during a dedicated session of the conference and will be allocated a 2 minute oral preview.

Demonstrations/Exhibitions: Step-by-step audiovisual demonstrations and/or hands-on experiences of non-commercial work within the scope of the conference. Proposals for demonstrations/exhibitions are limited to 4 pages in the ISPR 2011 template format. Accepted demonstration/exhibition proposals will be included in the conference proceedings and will be presented during a dedicated session of the conference. For the exhibitions of commercial products, please contact ISPR (ispr@ispr.info) for sponsorship terms and opportunities.

All submissions will be made through the EasyChair conference online submission system and will undergo a double-blind peer-review process by at least two selected reviewers.

Important Dates

May 15, 2011 – Submissions due
August 15, 2011 – Notification of acceptance/rejection
September 15, 2011 – Finished, camera-ready papers due

August 15, 2011 – Early registration opens
September 15, 2011 – Early registration closes

October 26 -28, 2011 – Conference

Conference Committee

Conference Chair: Phil Turner (Edinburgh Napier University)

Programme Co-Chairs:

David Benyon (Edinburgh Napier University)
Susan Turner (Edinburgh Napier University)
Matthew Lombard (Temple University)

Find presence resources and subscribe to ISPR Presence News at http://ispr.info