Tele-embodiment and shattered presence: reconstructing the body for online interaction

Computer scientists John Canny and Eric Paulos discuss computermediated communication from Cartesian and phenomenological perspectives. The current Cartesian model for teleconferencing ignores the role of the body and breaks communication into separate channels for video, text, and audio. The results are often stilted and unsatisfying. Canny and Paulos propose an alternative model based on a phenomenological integration of physical cues and natural responses. Canny and Paulos describe the “tele-embodiment” devices they have designed to facilitate believable interactions over the Internet. Their first example of full-body “prosthetics” used fans and cameras on a small, helium-filled blimp to float gently through hallways. Subsequent ground-based versions use physical pointing devices to convey gesture. As issues of trust and intimacy arise in their experiments, Canny and Paulos conjecture that future telepresence systems will be “anti-robotic”: Rather than automatons blindly repeating orders, “social machines” and toys of the future will express a wide range of behaviors including emotions. Telepistemology may help us to better understand not only what can be conveyed online, but also what is essential to the old-fashioned handshake.