Telepresence - Current and Future Technologies for Collaboration Copyright ? 1995 Gerald M. Karam Page 1

Telepresence --- Current and Future Technologies for Collaboration

(Did the Interstate System kill Route 66?)

Gerald M. Karam
Dept. of Systems and Computer Eng.
Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6
613-788-5749 or karam@sce.carleton.ca

Abstract

Telepresence is the art of enabling social proximity despite geographical or temporal distances through the integration of computer, audio-visual, and telecommunications technologies. The Ontario Telepresence Project (OTP) has constructed a variety of software and hardware systems to support telepresence applications and it was the mandate of the project to deploy these applications in the field to evaluate their acceptance and use by people in an office environment. Some applications that were developed included: (1) the Telepresence Media Space (TMS), a system for computer-mediated intra-site and inter-site synchronous audio/video (A/V) communications employing strategically placed cameras and monitors, (2) Postcards, a background awareness tool using low frame rate snapshots of users (based on Xerox's Portholes), and (3) room level A/V management. Beginning with conventional 112 Kb/s H.261 dial-up A/V codecs for long haul connections, OTP moved its applications to a trial 45 Mb/s ATM network for long haul A/V and data connections and explored a number of uses of its technologies in the context of this emerging telecommunications capability. This paper describes the OTP approach and experiences in the transition from current telecommunications technology to future technologies, and the how the two technologies can co-exist. Numerous observations are made for end user applications such as: pointto-point and multipoint meetings; virtual open office; shared public spaces; and remote lecturing. Suggested deployment ideas and open questions are provided a starting points for further research. Keywords: ATM; multimedia; distributed systems; computer-supported-cooperative-work; telepresence; computer networks; analog and digital video.

1. Introduction

Telepresence is the art of enabling social proximity despite geographical or temporal distances. It is a set of computer, audio-visual, and telecommunications technologies, which are carefully integrated to permit people to work together using technology as an intermediary [1, 4]. In the activities of the Ontario Telepresence Project (OTP), [10] we have constructed a variety of software and hardware systems to support telepresence applications and it was the mandate of the project to deploy these applications in the field to evaluate their acceptance and use by people in an office environment. The applications that were developed included: (1) the Telepresence Media Space (TMS) --- a computer-mediated intra-site and inter-site synchronous audio/video (A/V) communications employing strategically placed cameras and monitors, (2) Postcards --- a background awareness tool using low frame rate snapshots of users (based on Xerox's Portholes [6]), and (3) the Desk Area Network (DAN) --- for room level A/V management.

In the last phase of OTP research, several of the applications were re-engineered to function over a 45 Mb/s ATM link between the OTP lab at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and the