Toward a Taxonomy of Copresence

The term "copresence" has recently been appearing in the presence literature with increasing frequency, but, like the concept of presence at its nascent stage, the meaning of this term is yet to be fully explicated. As it currently stands, "copresence" refers to (1) the sense of being together with other people in a remote environment (Muhlbach et al 1995; Lombard and Ditton 1997); and (2) the sense of being together with other people in a shared virtual environment (Slater, et al. 2000; Durlach and Slater 2000). This use of "copresence" is therefore parallel to the established usage of "presence" that entails (1) telepresence -the sense of being present in a remote environment, and (2) virtual presence -the sense of being present in a simulated virtual environment (Steuer 1992: Sheridan 1992). The difference between the two, however, lies in the emphasis of copresence on people and human relations. Separating people from things and treating them as a distinctive category for presence research is the main contribution of the conception of copresence.