AI & SOCIETY

, Volume 20, Issue 2, pp 151–168 | Cite as

Close encounters of the virtual kind: a study on place-based presence

  • G. Henri ter Hofte
  • Ingrid Mulder
  • Carla Verwijs
Original Article
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Accepted:

Abstract

Use of presence and instant messaging (PIM) applications has grown very rapidly recently, not only at home, but also at work. Early studies on the use of PIM applications in the workplace, however, indicate that PIM applications need to be adapted towards the workplace context. In our research, we explore such adaptations, towards place-based presence systems, i.e., presence systems that are not only able to answer people-oriented presence queries such as “Who is online?” next to place-oriented presence queries, such as “Who is near?”. In this article, we describe a design space for place-based presence systems, in which we identify the most important aspects and options that designers of place-based presence systems need to consider. We also report on our exploratory research in this design space, comprising two cycles of designing, implementing and evaluating place-based presence prototypes. We conclude with lessons learned for future research in place-based presence systems.

Keywords

Awareness Instant messaging Presence Virtual location Trust 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to William van Dieten, Henk Eertink, Marjan Grootveld, Hans C.J. Kruse, Robert Slagter, Martin Snijders, and other members of the GigaCSCW project, to the Distributed Systems group at Ulm University and the members of Inter-Actief for their contributions. This work is sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs as part of GigaPort (http://www.gigaport.nl) and Freeband Communication (http://www.freeband.nl), by SURFnet and by Cisco Systems.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag London Limited 2005

Authors and Affiliations

  • G. Henri ter Hofte
    • 1
  • Ingrid Mulder
    • 1
  • Carla Verwijs
    • 1
  1. 1.Telematica InstituutEnschedeThe Netherlands

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