Presence Research Gets A Jump Start:

Overview of the EU’s 20 million Euro Presence Initiative

 

Dr. Frank Biocca

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI, USA

Media Interface and Network Design (M.I.N.D.) Lab

 

 

In Oct. 2002 the EU funded the largest research initiative in the history of presence research. A total of eleven projects involving over 40 universities have been funded for a total of 20 million Euros by the Future and Emerging Technologies section of the European Commission’s Information Society program.

 

Dr. Biocca (M.I.N.D. Labs www.mindlab.org) is a representative of one of the integrative projects called OMNIPRES. OMNIPRES’ mission is to help integrate the broad theoretical and methodological effort of the initiative. Biocca will review the current status of European research on presence and future funding. He will also discuss possible interdisciplinary collaborations and potential future funding in this theory driven area.