A Framework for Understanding and Designing Telepresence
Irene Rae, Gina Danielle Venolia, John C. Tang, Dávid Molnár · 2015
As a field, telepresence has grown to include a wide range of systems, from multi-view videoconferencing units to humanlike androids. However, the diversity of systems and research makes it difficult to form a holistic understanding of where the field stands. We propose a framework consisting of seven design dimensions for understanding telepresence, iteratively developed from previous literature, a series of three surveys, the construction of two design probes, and a field study. These design dimensions uniquely categorize 17 telepresence scenarios. In this work, we explain our development process, describe our design dimensions - initiation, physical environment, mobility, vision, social environment, communication, and independence - as well as our scenarios, and demonstrate the use of our framework as a tool to (1) highlight opportunities for future work, (2) identify generalizable findings from research, and (3) facilitate communication in the telepresence community.