The Designed Presence of the Individual

Abstract

Chapter 5 outlines how design affects the experience of presence for an individual acting and interacting in environments through the mediation of technology. The individual may experience mediated presence as a facet of being embodied in three different ways as a result of designed computer-mediation. In expanded embodiment, the individual experiences presence in a place that is not where his or her physical body is located — the designed-for effect of highly immersive virtual realities, real or fictional, wholly distinct from his or her current location. In contrast, in altered embodiment, the individual still experiences his or her current physical location in the physical world, but in a new way through the mediation of technology. This includes digital enhancement of both the physical environment and the body. Finally, the possibilities for designing new forms of individual presence are considered, around the notion of distributed embodiment.