Presence in Social Environments

Abstract

Chapter 6 focuses on the applications of presence in social computer-mediated environments, considering the importance of distinguishing social from individual presence. In individual presence the agent pre-reflexively controls his/her action, whereas during social presence the agent pre-reflexively recognizes and evaluates the action of others. The strength of feeling of social presence is determined by two factors: the extent to which conscious attention is tightly focused or more diffuse, and the degree of integration of three different layers. In this case the three layers are (i) Imitative Social Presence (there is an intentional Other like the Self), (ii) Interactive Social Presence (the intention of the Other is towards the Self), and (iii) Empathic Social Presence (the Self and the Other share the same intention). Maximum social presence produces what is called “group flow” and is a key to understanding the creativity of groups in collaborative settings.