Social presence in two- and three-dimensional videoconferencing

New three-dimensional videoconferencing systems are trying to overcome the artificial nature of two-dimensional desktop video conferencing. The phenomenon of Social Presence serves as a measure of how natural persons feel when they are connected with a distant other through a telecommunication interface. We present a study measuring the difference in Social Presence in three conditions: (1) desktop 2D videoconferencing, (2) desktop 3D videoconferencing, and (3) face-to-face communication in a real environment, each with three participants involved. We applied two Social Presence measurement scales in an experiment with 42 subjects and found that in one scale Social Presence is rated higher in 3D than 2D. Further results are discussed in the paper. Keywords--Social Presence, Co-Presence, Videoconferencing, Presence measurement

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