CALL FOR ABSTRACTS AND PARTICIPATION

The Power of Presence: Using Telepresence Theory, Research and Applications to
Enhance Mediated Communication Experiences in the 21st Century

A preconference of the 2016 conference of the International Communication
Association (ICA)
Co-sponsored by the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR)

June 8, 2016 (with optional demonstrations and guided sightseeing events June 7)

Submission of extended abstracts: February 8, 2016

Full details: http://tinyurl.com/ICA-ISPR-2016

OVERVIEW
Join us in Kyoto, Japan for an enlightening and enjoyable conference event two
days before the 66th annual conference of the International Communication
Association (http://www.icahdq.org/conf/) in Fukuoka, 9-13 June.

(Tele)presence is a state or perception in which we overlook or misconstrue the role
of technology and feel present in the environments and/or connected to the people
or things we experience via technology. It´s increasingly relevant to a wide range of
media experiences and application areas. This preconference will introduce the
centrality, pervasiveness, value, and power of presence phenomena, theory and
research to scholars and practitioners within and beyond communication and
deepen and update knowledge for those already familiar with presence.

The event will include a full day of invited and peer reviewed state-of-the-art
presentations, and demonstrations; a keynote address from renowned Professor
Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University, creator of amazing humanoid robots (see
http://www.geminoid.jp/en/index.html) and co-author of “Human-Robot Interaction in
Social Robotics” (2012, CRC Press); and informal discussion, networking and fun.
At the end of the day, all attendees are invited to a social dinner at an (affordable)
nearby restaurant; we also hope you´ll join us for all or part of a day of
demonstration visits and guided sightseeing on June 7 (the day before the event).

OBJECTIVES
The primary objective of the preconference will be to introduce communication
scholars and practitioners to the centrality, pervasiveness, value, and power of
presence phenomena, theory and research within and beyond the diverse field of
communication. A secondary goal will be to deepen and update knowledge of those
already familiar with presence. The overarching goal is to help integrate and
increase collaborative, scholarship on presence.

SUBMISSIONS

Topics
We seek original, high quality papers and demonstrations that contribute to our
collective understanding of the power and breadth of presence phenomena and
presence applications in any/every aspect of life. Topics of interest include (but are
not limited to):
o       Presence theory
o       Measures of presence
o       Presence and emotion
o       Presence and education
o       Presence and social interaction
o       Gender and Presence
o       Neuroscience approaches to Presence
o       Presence in gaming and entertainment
o       Philosophical perspectives on presence
o       Ethics of presence
o       Presence technologies and applications (e.g. in business, arts, medicine and
therapy)
o       The future of presence research

All accepted submissions will be collected in the official conference proceedings
(with ISBN) and will be permanently available for download in the ISPR conference
archive.

We invite researchers and practitioners to submit an EXTENDED ABSTRACT for
their Paper (up to 30 pages), Short Paper (up to 12 pages), Poster or
Demonstration/Exhibit. All submissions are to be in APA format and except for the
separate title page not identify the author(s) directly or indirectly (for blind peer
review). The extended abstracts should not be longer than 12 pages excluding
references, figures and appendices.

Procedure
Submissions are to be sent as two e-mail attachments in Word (.docx) format: 1)
the title page containing all author names, affiliations and contact information; and
2) a completely anonymized version of the entire paper. Send the files to Matthew
Lombard at lombard@temple.edu.

Timing
Submission deadline: February 8, 2016
Notification of acceptance decisions: March 1, 2016
Finished, camera-ready papers due: May 31, 2016

REGISTRATION
Registration will be accomplished through the main ICA website,
http://www.icahdq.org/conf/.
Registration for the event is open to anyone and the costs (in addition to ICA fees)
are modest: $50.00 USD for academics, $40.00 USD for students, and $90.00 USD
for industry. (This includes lunch and snacks through the day; venues for the social
dinner and June 7 activities will be selected to limit additional expenses.)

LOCATION/VENUE
The preconference will take place at Kyoto Shigaku Kaikan
(http://www.kyt-shigakukaikan.or.jp/) in Kyoto, Japan. The city and venue are easily
accessible, and near both the main ICA conference site in Fukuoka and the
Kyoto-Kobe-Osaka triangle of interesting visitor sites.

ORGANIZERS
Matthew Lombard, Temple University
Cheryl Bracken, Cleveland State University
Jihyun Kim, Kent State University
SongYi Lee, Temple University
Kun Xu, Temple University
Hocheol Yang, Temple University
Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Temple University

FOR MORE INFORMATION
For much more information, including transportation, accommodations,
demonstrations, and sightseeing events for June 7, please see the event website:
http://tinyurl.com/ICA-ISPR-2016

Contact:
Matthew Lombard – lombard@temple.edu
ISPR website – http://ispr.info