The role of presence in such mediated contexts that exclude face-to-face interaction partly or completely is an issue that has been approached from a theoretical point of view by Lombard and Ditton (1997), who, after having extensively reviewed conceptualizations of presence in the literature, came to the conclusion that re-search on presence is still in its infancy. Several rere-searchers have, however, at-tempted to define the concept of ‘presence’ in connection with technologically me-diated environments or virtual spaces. These various definitions reflect the re-searchers’ particular research perspective from which they approach the issue of presence, and therefore, terminology used to describe different concepts related to presence also varies.
A concept that first had an exclusively technological focus is the concept of telepresence, which emerged when certain areas of industry started to design re-mote control systems and industrial robots. As explained by Martin (1982, 167–168), telepresence is referred to when the operator of a distant mechanism is provided with signals or stimuli that give him the sense, to some extent, of being present where the mechanism is. Consequently, the user of a telepresence mecha-nism can “work” in another location while seeing and feeling what the remote ma-chine is doing. Telepresence is particularly useful when work needs to be done in
dangerous places such as mines or under water, or when difficult surgical opera-tions are performed.
Along with the rapid advances in the development and implementation of technologies, the earlier technology-focused telepresence has expanded into in-cluding the human focus. One of the main contributors to this expansion of mean-ing of telepresence has been the Ontario Telepresence Project (Moore 1997), which was a three-year project centering on finding out how the work activities of groups, especially groups separated by distance, could be supported by organizationally grounded media space design. One of the main leaders of the project, Buxton (1993, 816), states, “As we use the term, telepresence is the use of technology to establish a sense of shared presence or shared space among geographically sepa-rated members of a group”.
Furthermore, Mason (1994, 53), in her discussion of improvements to com-puter conferencing systems in support of collaboration, summarizes such im-provements as facilities that enhance the telepresence of the group, that is, the sense of interacting with real people. On the other hand, McLellan (1996a, 463), who defines telepresence as a feeling of being in a location other than where one actually is, links the notion of telepresence to the concept of cyberspace and virtual realities.
Kreijns and Kirschner (2001, T1F-15), who have researched the social affor-dances of computer-supported collaborative learning environments (CSCL), adopt yet another concept that also originates from media space research: the concept of teleproximity. They explain that teleproximity is created through group awareness, which is a condition where group members perceive the presence of other group members and where these ‘others’ can be identified as discernible persons with whom a communication episode can be initiated. They also point out that media space researchers believe that group awareness provides opportunities for chance encounters that stimulate informal communication, and that it is as a result of such informal communication that collaborative relationships are established.
Tella (1998b, 111–113; Tella & Mononen-Aaltonen 2000, 18–19) introduces the notion of virtual togetherness, constructed on Bauman’s (1995, 44–49) origi-nal concept of togetherness. Virtual togetherness, as defined by Tella (1998b, 112), refers to the shared feeling of belonging to the same virtual community and being able to fully capitalize on the resources of that community. He argues that virtual togetherness illustrates the feeling of being “present” on the Web, despite time and space distanciation.
Other approaches to defining presence in connection with technology-medi-ated contexts include a classification made by Biocca (1995; cited by McLellan 1996b, 8) who classifies presence into three types, which are spatial presence, self-reflexive presence, and social presence. Spatial presence is the sense of pres-ence within a space. This space can be either a space visited via teleprespres-ence or a
virtual space that only exists digitally. However, spatial presence is not limited to virtual reality applications because a sense of spatial presence can be also achieved, for instance, by multimedia applications. Self-reflexive presence, in turn, refers to the perception that the surrounding environment offers the same responses—the same affordances—that one is accustomed to in a “real” environment. Examples of self-reflexive presence include the metaphorical use of a trash can, the clocks and hourglasses on the computer desktop. Furthermore, self-reflexive presence can be very subtle.
The third type of presence in Biocca’s (1995; cited by McLellan 1996b, 8) classification—social presence—refers to the sense of being present in a social en-counter with another person, for instance, via a telephone call where two speakers, although at different physical locations, can feel fully present with each other in the context of the conversation. In her discussion of Biocca’s three different types of presence, McLellan (1996b, 8) proposes a fourth type of presence, imaginative presence, which she considers the kind of presence that a good book or a movie, a game or simulation—or any educational activity—can achieve. McLellan argues that imaginative presence fits well with Czikszentmihalyi’s (1988) notion of the optimal experience or the flow regarding the optimal mental state of engagement with a task or activity.
As regards the concept of presence in network-based learning environments, the context in which it has been specifically studied is that of computer confer-encing (e.g. cf., Feenberg 1989; 1993; Mason 1994; Garrison 1997). In connection with their extensive research into computer conferencing, Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) have developed a model of a community of inquiry that constitutes three elements that they regard as essential to an educational experience. These three elements are representations of presence that they call cognitive presence, teaching presence, and social presence.
Figure 4. The Model of Community of Inquiry for Higher Education based on Computer Conferencing (Garrison, Anderson & Archer 2000, 88).
From the perspective of higher education, Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000, 89) regard the first element in the model, cognitive presence, as a vital element in critical thinking. They take it to mean the extent to which the participants in any particular configuration of a community of inquiry are able to construct meaning through sustained communication. They suggest that cognitive presence essentially means critical, practical inquiry that can be created and supported in a computer conference environment with appropriate teaching presence and social presence.
As for teaching presence, Anderson et al. (2001) regard it as constituting three categories. These categories are design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction. The third element of the community of inquiry, social presence, is defined by Rourke et al. (2001) as the ability of learners to project themselves socially and affectively into a community of inquiry.
Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) invite researchers to further build on their model. From the perspective of this present study, the first modification to their model of community of inquiry would be that the model should not be limited only to the context of computer conferencing. After all, computer conferencing may be just one element in a network-based learning environment that may utilize
multiple media combined with face-to-face sessions. Therefore, from the perspec-tive of this study, it can be suggested that the application of the model be expanded from its computer conferencing context to multimodal learning environments.