Next to the extensive use of social networking platforms (SNPs) for communication and relationship building with friends and relatives, SNPs are also increasingly used for enhancing collaboration at work. SNP usage at the workplace is fundamentally different and it is unclear how SNPs can improve collaboration as well as in what way their designs should be modified and adapted to collaboration ...

This communication respects to an important theme either in face-to-face teaching or in distance teaching: the learning environments. In a first part it is described the history of the learning environments' research, highlighting the lines at international level in this field. In a second part of this communication we seek, based on diverse studies (Cunningham, Duffy and Knuth, 1993, Jonassen,...

Monthly visits to 2 field sites in southern Mississippi were made to determine the influence of monitor examination on feeding site affinity by southeastern native subterranean termites (Reticulitermes spp.). Wooden board monitors were examined once every 30, 60, or 90 days. Presence of live termites and damage to the boards (both binary parameters) were collected for each plot examined over a ...

Robotic telepresence offers a means to connect to a remote location via traditional telepresence with the added value of moving and actuating in that location. Recently, there has been a growing focus on the use of robotic telepresence to enhance social interaction among elderly. However for such technology to be accepted it is likely that the experienced presence when using such a system will ...

Social Presence is the concept of `being there', of emotional connectedness to another person. As relationships are increasingly formed by spatially disparate partners, supporting social presence has become more important. As many intimate acts involve touching, this paper investigates the impact that heat, one aspect of touch, has upon social presence. This is presented in the form of a therma...

Many western European housing policies have tried to increase the residential mix of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Unfortunately, policymakers have given little consideration to how these groups will interact as neighbours. There are numerous theoretically grounded mechanisms by which the social mix of a neighbourhood may influence socio-economic outcomes of its residents. These mechanis...

Two studies examined the use of video in multimedia learning environments. In Study 1, participants (N = 26) viewed one of two versions of a computer-based multimedia presentation: video, which included a video of a lecture with synchronized slides, or no video, which included the slides but only an audio narration of the lecture. Learning, cognitive load and social presence were assessed, but ...

The role of VE content in the presence experience is controversial. Although a strong theoretical argument has been made that presence depends on the form of information presented and not the content, several relational studies have shown that content is strongly associated to presence. This paper presents an experiment which manipulated nondiegetic music played during exposure to a strongly th...