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Presence and Interaction in Mixed-Reality Environments (Presence II)
1st Presence Research symposium
- 5-7 May 2003
- Telecom Italia Future Centre, Campo San Salvador, Venice
PRESENCE is multidisciplinary long-term research aiming to understand and re-create the feeling and experience of being present in an environment. As such, it is particularly relevant for the development of ambient intelligence.
It encompasses technological, psychological and cognitive aspects, to assess which characteristics of presence are most relevant to experience a “sense of being there” and which technologies are best suited or can be developed in order to re-create them.
The 1st Presence Research Symposium is combining a public conference (on 6-7 May), featuring world-wide recognised experts, with the cluster reviews of the 12 projects funded by IST in this area.
The event is expected to attract more than 100 researchers in this area. Other than fostering a vibrant and growing ‘culture’ for this large community, encouraging debate and the exploration of new ideas, the event is meant to attract a wider industrial attention and participation to this subject which is expected to have a strategic impact on the design of IST technologies and devices (to increase usability and effectiveness) and on the definition of future multimedia communication standards.
The combination of conference and project reviews offers people the opportunity of demonstrating results and participating at workshops. The conference is also designed to provide a setting for the assessment of projects on an individual basis as well as offering the possibility of assessing the Presence initiative as a whole.
- Presentation given at the Symposium on 5 May 03 (PDF) - F. Sestini
- Agenda (PDF)
Presence Research Project Review
Objectives
The main objectives of the annual presence review are to:
- Review individual projects
- Assess the initiative as a whole
- Encourage a vibrant research culture
Reviewing is done as part of a large event held on yearly basis. These conferences bring all people involved in pr together into one large, collective event. Typically spread out over two or three days, it offers people the opportunity of demonstrating results, participating at workshops or contributing to performances. It aims to foster a vibrant and growing ‘culture’ for a large community of researchers, encouraging debate and the exploration of new ideas. The conference is also designed to provide a setting for the assessment of projects on an individual basis as well as offering the possibility of assessing the pr initiative as a whole.
Assessment
The following are components of the assessment:
- Project Reports and Deliverables
- Presentations, performances and workshops
- An exhibition area
- A team of reviewers
- Focused review meetings
Reviewers
Reviewers are internationally recognised experts in particular fields who will look at the specifics of what a project has achieved, the problems encountered, and will offer advice on future action. At the event, reviewers have the active role of finding out as much as is needed in order to form their opinions and give feedback to projects at the one-to-one meetings. Typically there is a team of two reviewers assigned to each project. Some reviewers will also report on the progress of the initiative as a whole.
Focused review meetings
These are scheduled meetings between a project team, the reviewers assigned to it, and the EC project officer. At this meeting the assessment of the reviewers is presented to the project and discussed with the project representatives. It is the project that decides how many members they need to have present. The EC project officer has the overall role of presiding the meeting and is responsible for concluding what is agreed upon.
Requirements on projects
- Projects should send their project programmes, annual reports, and deliverables due to the assigned reviewers at least two weeks before the event takes place. A table of reviewer-project attributions, as well as addresses and contact points for reviewers, will be e-mailed by the Commission to the project co-ordinators one month prior to the review date.
- Typically a review will not fall exactly on the 12-month mark of a project plan. We decided that an early first review would be most productive for the initiative as a whole. Projects should try and be flexible in this respect. The annual report should report actual work up to the review date and refer to the status of first year deliverables as planned. For deliverables due soon after the review date, projects should try and describe as reasonably as possible the results obtained and report these findings to the reviewers.
- In forthcoming events each project will be asked to prepare a project exhibit, that will highlight achievements through posters, demonstrations, videos, or other material. The deliverables (eg reports) and the presentation of results or exhibit form the basis of the review material for a project. As many projects members may be contributing to other presentations, tutorials and workshops, they can invite reviewers to attend these as appropriate. Projects can also arrange ad-hoc meetings with other projects following the one-to-one review meetings if needed.
The Exhibition area
Every project can contribute an exhibit. Each project is responsible for asking the conference organisers well in advance if they can meet the requirements for space so that the project can organise its exhibit. The project exhibit should show
- what research it is doing
- what it has achieved
- its future plans.
The exhibition area is designed to be an informative and interactive place, encouraging the live demonstration of results, as well as discussions and exchanges amongst a range of different people. There is no prescribed format for the exhibits, which can include posters, videos, demonstrations or other material. (due to early review this item is not obligatory this time round).
Requirements on reviewers
- Reviewers must read the material sent to them by the projects prior to attending the event.
- During the event, reviewers have an active role of finding out as much as is needed in order to form their assessment. Reviewers should attend the project presentations, see the demo/exhibits and talk to project partners as necessary. They may also wish to attend presentations or workshops to which a project has contributed. Typically two reviewers will be assigned to each project.
- After the focused review meeting, the pair of reviewers assigned to a project should meet briefly to consolidate their views. This is typically in the form of a small number of highlighted points in reporting on what a project had achieved as well as recommendations for changes and future plans.
- Within 2 weeks of the review meeting, the reviewers write a short report of the main issues discussed and conclusions arrived at. This is sent to the project officer, who can then verify the report and then forward it to the consortium.
Reviewers of Presence Research Projects, Venice, May 5-7, 2003
Prof. William Gaver Royal College of Art (UK)
Prof. Armin Kohlrausch Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (NL)
Prof. Marie Redmond Dept. Computer Science, Trinity College (IRL)
Dr Annie Luciani Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication - INP Grenoble - ICA Laboratory (FR)
Dr Gerhard Rigoll Munich University of Technology (D)
Dr Walter Van de Velde CampoRosso BVBA/SPRL (B)
Dr Michel Nael Ergonomics & Design (F)
Prof. Marc Cavazza School of Computing, University of Teesside (UK)
Prof. Helen Savaki Dept. of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Crete (GR)
Prof. Riccardo Leonardi Dept. of Electronics for Automation, University of Brescia (I)