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 [log in to unmask]

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 Research Park 
(http://www.krp.co.jp/english/spatial_services/convention/) 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 - [log in to unmask]
ISPR website - http://ispr.info

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