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TelePresence: Extended Memex
8.Simulate being some other place
–As an observer (Tele-Observe)
•Hear& see as well as actually being there.
•TV gives a low quality and no control  experience.
–As a participant (Tele-Present)
•Interact with others as though you are there.
•Chat & telephone give text & audio tele-presence
•Will happen first in Cyberspace,
–then perhaps in real space.
One interesting aspect of being able to record everything is that other people can observe the event, either immediately, or retrospectively.  I now routinely listen to lectures that we recorded at one or another research institution.  Sometimes, these are “live”, but usually they are on-demand video.   This is extraordinarily convenient.  But, it is fundamentally just television; or if it is audio only, just radio..

A much higher-quality experience is possible with the use of computers and virtual reality.  By recording an event in high-fidelity from many angles, computers can reconstruct any the scene from any perspective.  This allows a viewer to sit anywhere in the space, or wander around the space.   For a sporting event, the spectator can be on the field watching the action close up.  For a business meeting, the participant can sit in the meeting and look about to read facial gestures and body language as the meeting progresses.

The operational test for telepast is:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So, the challenge is to record events and then create a virtual environment on demand that allows the observer to hear, and see the event as well as actually being there.  This is called Tele-Passive because it is really geared to a passive observer of an event – either because it is a past event, or because there are so many observers that they must be passive (they are watching, not interacting).  The operational test is that a

The next challenge is to allow the participant to interact with the other members of the event, i.e. be Tele-Present.    Tele-presence already exists in the form of telephones, teleconferences, and chat rooms.  But, again the experience there is very much lower quality than actually being present.  Indeed, people often travel long distances just to get the improved experience.

The operational test for Telepresence is that a group of students taking a telepresent class score as well as students who were physically present in the classroom with the instructor.



The next step after that is