Teleconferencing as the Application of Telepresence
Telepresence
Currently, the synthetic environment (SE) technology is gaining wide acceptance within the industrialized nations. SE features computer mediation of user interaction with an environment that is physically separated from the user. Thus, it focuses on projecting user’s perceptual, cognitive as well as psychomotor capabilities into distant, dangerous or even simulated environments (Draper, Kaber, & Usher, 1998). One of the most important subjects relating to SE is the telepresence that is also called as labeled presence, synthetic presence, virtual presence, social presence, ego presence. Each of the said terms pertains on the experience that involves displacement of the self-perception of the users towards the computer-mediated environment (Draper, Kaber, & Usher, 1998).
Telepresence is a technique that is used in order to create a sense of physical presence at a remote location by using applicable multimedia including sound, vision and touch (Furht, 2008, 849). Thus, it is considered as the combination of the three important technologies including robotics, telecommunications as well as virtual reality which helped to expand the radius of actions and experiences (Grau & Custance, 2004, 278). Thus, telepresence happens when the operational characteristics of the human-computer/human-telerobot interface are compatible with the behavioral-physiological performance capabilities and limitations of the human operator. Therefore, in terms of experiential aspect, telepresence can be defined as the mental state where in the user feels physically present within the computer-mediated environment or the sense of being physically present with virtual objects at the remote teleoperator site which can also called as illusion or state of consciousness towards feeling of being physically present at the remote site (Draper, Kaber, & Usher, 1998). Therefore, in general, telepresence can be described and defined as the human-computer-machine conditions in which a user (soldier) received sufficient information about a remote, real-world site (a battlefield) through a machine (a robot) so that the user feels physically present at the remote, real-world site. By applying telepresence, the physical presence (body) of the user exists at one location (home site), while he or she will have the ability to interact and connect with a remote, real-world environment which occurs at one or more places (remote site/sites). The said situation can be achieved by using advanced sensors, communications, remote action and feedback stimulus in order to enable the personnel to project their presence around the world through different remote sites, which give a user the capability to see, hear, touch, taste and even smell those sites. Thus, the soldiers who are using telepresence capabilities will be able to act and receive stimuli just as if they were present at the remote, real world location (Keith & Bruen, 2006).
The idea of telepresence may come from different science fiction writers who described the concept of science virtual reality and telepresence for decades. The term telepresence was coined and used by Marvin Minsky in 1980 in describing the teleopertion systems of remote physical objects (Furht, 2008). The idea supported by Johnsen & Corliss (1971) who discussed the vitality of the process of designing controls in order to help the operator projects his own presence into the remote work spaces, at the same time, provide displays that will improve the identification of the operator with the task at hand. The said notions, a design philosophy was established that the best way of building efficient teleoperators is to make the experience of the users during teleoperation will be as similar as possible to the process of completing a mission by direct contact with the environment (Draper, Kaber, & Usher, 1998).
Telepresence is considered as a networked paradigm by nature, and multimedia communication is being used in order to be used for the transport of the information between the user and the remote site. The sense of presence will be achieved by generating sensory stimulus, in order for the operator to have the illusion of being present at a location that is far from the location of the physical presence. Telepresence is different from the idea of virtual reality, which focuses on the interaction and connection between people and remote site and enables people who are immersed in telepresence systems in order to act as well as receive input as they were at the remote site. Telepresence can be applied in different fields including telemedicine to remote surveillance, entertainment, education as well as other applications in different situations where in humans are exposed to different dangerous and unreceptive situations and environments. Thus, both of the telephone and video-conferencing enables limited types of telepresence because voice and video can be there without the person being their in physical manner. In addition, telepresence system can also be incorporated successfully with the force-feedback components which will be helpful for different applications including space operations. Robonaut is a robotic astronaut that is under development. With the help of telepresence system, robonaut can be positioned in difficult and hazardous situations with the replacement of an astronaut, while the operator will be safely housed on a nearby spaceship or even on the earth, controlling robonaut in fluid and intuitive manner (Furht, 2008).
Teleconferencing
Another important development in terms of cable, satellite technology is teleconferencing. The basic technology that is vital for teleconferencing has existed for some time; however, due to rising transportation costs, as well as the desire for increased productivity drove the growth of the said technology (Gagné, 268). According to the International Teleconferencing Association, teleconferencing industry had a total revenues of $2.3 billion in 1993 alone, showing a great increase of 31% compare with reported $1.75 billion during the previous year. The said amount had increased by $ 3 billion in 1994. Therefore, it can be said that teleconferencing as an industry is one of the fast growing, than what have been predicted. From the start, in a large-group corporate conference rooms, the said technology had been heartily embraced education (Gellerman, 2002).
Teleconferencing is considered as the ability of three or more people to communicate and connect (Muller, 2002, 1024). It is an electronic communication between individuals or groups that are located at different places (Gagné). Thus, it is the collection of audio conferencing, video conferencing and data conferencing which include participants in a live real-time session (Furht, 2008, 837).
Teleconferencing is also known as Multimedia Conference Service which consists of live real-time session between multiple participants with the ability to hear as well as see each other, which enable them to share data and applications. On the other hand, teleconferencing can also be thought as the combination of audio conferencing, video conferencing as well as data conferencing (Furht, 2008, 837).
There are different types of teleconferencing systems that can be used in single or combination manner. Audio-conferencing enables different locations or points to talk with each other by using amplified telephone speakers. On the other hand, the freeze-frame or slow-scan teleconferencing focus on transmitting still images by using phone lines, microwave or even satellite, which can be photographs or hard copy. Furthermore, full motion or videoconferencing enables remote places or locations to interact or connect through one-way or two-way video or audio. The said technology enables to offer a pictorial quality that is similar to the broadcast television (Gagné, 268).
Teleconferencing can be done in different ways. For a fundamental telephone conference that involves limited number of participants, a telephone set with either a three-way calling feature on the line, or a conferencing feature supported by the PBX or key system, will be required. On the other hand, a teleconference can be set up by a system attendant. For a teleconference with more than three parties, the attendant console operator can set up the connections through the PBX and put in more participants to the call than can be contained from a single set (Muller, 2002, 1024). Another way to implement teleconferencing is to initiate a conference through the telephone company conference operator. Thus, a conference can be implemented at a prearranged time or it can be organized in order for the participant to schedule their time and be phone in to a pre-assigned toll-free number at a given time. After dialing the said number, users must enter the assigned conference code in order to join the conference. The code will serve for security purposes which guarantee the privacy of the conference. In some cases, where in individuals use their telephone in order to partake in a conference, different people at a specific location can also participate in the conference as a group, specialized equipment will be needed. The main and vital equipment that is required is the audio system which is consists of a control unit with an integral keypad, omni-directional microphone, together with the speaker that is typically positioned in the center of the table (Muller, 2002, 1024).
As a result, teleconferences enable to move meetings towards the people, which reduce the need for travel (Gagné, 268). This is the reason why it is applied in different field, particularly in the aspect of education and organizational efforts and activities. From the beginnings in a large group corporate conference rooms, the said technology has been vigorously embraced by education. As a result, teleconferencing can be seen in practicing distance learning, and with the aid of telecommunications, it had brought instruction to students as well as teacher in the world. Thus, teachers had been able to offer an instruction towards the students in different remote classrooms; therefore, one trainer, can offer and share information to employees and different sites in the different places or offices of an organization in the world (Gellerman, 2002).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Teleconferencing
The major advantage of teleconferencing is that it is cheaper than transporting people around the country or around the world (Spencer & Pruss, 1997, 8). As a result, it has a great potential of reducing the cost of group meetings. Studies showed that teleconferencing can help to reduce national business travel-associated costs by more or less 30% yearly, showing huge savings of $4.5 bilion. One of the biggest and good example is the teleconferece conducted by the Spruce Budworm Technology Trasfer (SBWTT) Program for theh Lake States Region-part of the Canada/United States Spruce Budworm Program. The said project study and compare the costs between a 14-person audio conference and a comparable face-to-face (FTF) meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota. The result of the study showed that the audio conference cost 42% less compare with the FTF meeting due to travel expenses (Rogan & Simmons). In connection, teleconferencing enables faster or quicker communication and transfer of knowledge and data compare with the traditional FTF meeting, aside from the fact, that the conversation that had happened can be recorded (Spencer & Pruss, 1997, 8). In addition, follow-up to the earlier meeting can be implemented with ease and little expense, because the members of the meetings will just have to schedule for phone calls. Meetings are also shorter and more oriented to the primary and important purpose of the meeting, because socializing is minimal, compare with the FTF meeting. Aside from that, some routine meetings are considered as more effective because one can audio conference from any location that is equipped with a telephone. Aside from the fact that, communication between home office as well as field staffs will be maximized. Meetings can also be done inspite of severe climate or even the presence of unreliable transportation. And because, the members of the meeting will no longer have to travel, they will have more time to be prepared regarding the subjects of the meetings. Above all, group member can participate in equal manner compare with the FTF meeting (Rogan & Simmons).
On the other hand, the main disadvantage of teleconferencing is the it will be hard for the chairperson to guarantee that all the members have their say, and that other people do not exceedingly control the discussions. Thus, there is loss of comprehension with connection to the loss of body language and eye contact that is important for negotiating and bargaining (Spencer & Pruss, 1997, 8). On the other hand, there are some inevitable and unexpected technical failures with the equipment such as connections that aren’t made that can affect the teleconferencing. Because teleconferencing is impersonal, it is less easy to establish an environment of group relationship and understanding. Another problem which will be faced or encountered in teleconferencing is the lack of participant’s familiarity and knowledge with the equipment, the medium itself as well as the meeting skills. Above all, informal and one-to-one interaction will not be possible (Rogan & Simmons).
Teleconferencing and Telepresence
Although teleconferencing, particularly video conferences services have been available in different countries in the world for many years; their uptake has failed to reach the levels that had been predicted by some experts (Clarke, 1990 cited in Muchlback, Bocker, & Prusog, 1995). One of the important reasons of the said disappointing event is the cost of equipment as well as lines, together with the technical limitations of those equipment that is being used in the current system, including those important aspect of FTF meetings including eye contact or binocular depth cues to be lost (Muchlback, Bocker, & Prusog, 1995).
The study conducted by the Heinrich-Hertz-Institute (HHI) which focused on the extent to which the said drawback can be lessen, and how telepresence in teleconferencing can be increased by employing advanced technologies. The study also investigated the possible advantages of enhanced spatial resolution with accordance to the HDTV standards; stereoscopic representation of persons and objects; the ability to individually address interlocutors by different nonverbal signals including eye contact; and the representation of motion parallax, that is, the relative shifts of objects in the visual field that result from the movement of the observers (Muchlback, Bocker, & Prusog, 1995). Thus, telepresence can be applied in teleconferencing by means of enhancing collaboration concepts.
True Eye Contact
Like what have mentioned, the lack of eye contact is considered as one of the disadvantages of teleconferencing is the lack of true eye contact, which is considered as a hindrance in effective communication. Eye contact is considered as the most vital aspects of face-to-face communication. It instill trust and help to promote an environment of cooperation as well as partnership. Alternatively, a lack of eye contact between meeting participants can help to generate feelings of negativity, discomfort as well as distrust (WR, 2005). One of the best application is the scenario envisage by VIRTUE, a three-way single person isotrophic videoconferencing system with seamless mixture of virtual and real-world scene. The virtual scene and remote participants’ rendered images are presented in correct perspective and change dynamically relative to the view point or head position of the local participant, which is called the parallax effect (Turnbull & Garrett, 2003, 285).
Providing the natural feeling of eye contact during videoconferencing is in great demands for the participants to look directly into the camera. Unfortunately, traditional videoconferencing often fails in this because the participants tend to look at the video display and not at the camera. This can be solved by applying telepresence by physically positioning the camera behind the display, meaning when the local participants look at the display showing remote participants, they are also looking directly onto the camera, therefore providing true eye contact to the far end sites (WR, 2005).
An in-person meeting must offer the participants the best possible audio and video quality, and anything less than in-person represents some degree of compromise. Thus, the best way and key in offering an efficient teleconference experience is to offer a level of audio and video quality that would feel natural to the participants of the meeting. Although the said situation is somewhat easy, there are some technological as well as environmental factors that could prevent this from happening (WR, 2005).
Improved Audio Quality
There are studies which showed that poor audio quality measurably increases the stress level of the participants of the meeting. Thus, it is important to consider the four vital factors which contribute to the perceived quality during a conference which are: clarity or quality or consistency of sound, the latency or lag time, the synchronization between the sound and the images and the apparent location of the sound source. In that case, it is important to focus on issue of lip sync and latency. In order to provide the participants with the natural virtual meeting experience, lips and words are needed to be in sync. On the other hand, latency or the time between when something is said and something is heard is important. Latency below 50 ms is hardly audible, while 200 – 250 ms will be annoying. In order to come up with the said two factors, it will be very important to focus on two important factors which are: technology used in order to capture, compress and decompress the audio and video, as well as the network that is used in order to transmit signals (WR, 2005).
Improved Video Quality
Designers and integrators for teleconferencing and videoconferencing system is facing difficulties and challenges, and that is the offer the participants with the life-like audio and video connections to other locations in a way that it will still be cost-effective. Thus, it is vital to focus on three inter-dependent variables such as video resolution, frame rate and bandwidth. Video resolution is the amount of the information that is captured and displayed on the screen and usually measured in the number of horizontal or vertical picture elements. On the other hand the frame rate is the number of frames displayed per second. While the bandwidth is the network bandwidth that is required in order to transmit a video signal based on the amount of the information that has been provided. As a result, in order to improve the quality of video for the sake of the participants in the meetings, it will be important to focus on increasing the bandwidth as well as the resolution. This will help the participants to have the ability to distinguish shapes as well as objects at a given distances, therefore giving them the optimal visual activities (WR, 2005).
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