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An empirical study of the effectiveness of telepresence as a business meeting mode
Standaert W., Muylle S., Basu A. Information Technology and Management17 (4):323-339,2016.Type:Article
Date Reviewed: Apr 11 2017

Telepresence is enhanced video conferencing, where participants from various locations see each other in life-size, voices seem to come from the speaker, lighting and furniture for each site are matched, and more is done to create the sense of actual presence. Telepresence fits into a technological sequence: audio conferencing, video sequencing, telepresence, and face-to-face.

The question addressed is the comparative effectiveness of telepresence. One result of the research is that, for business meetings, telepresence is equally effective as face-to-face. The comparative effectiveness with audio and video conferencing depends on the objective of the meeting. Telepresence was more effective than either of the conferencing modes when the objectives were building trust, communicating positive or negative feelings, giving or receiving feedback, and clarifying a concept. For every objective, telepresence was never significantly worse than audio or video conferencing.

The research was done at a large, global, US-based company. The first research phase selected pertinent meeting objectives by interviewing 39 senior managers. The second research phase surveyed 392 meeting organizers and 139 attendees, asking them about a recent meeting, objectives, and effectiveness. Data was also taken about meeting duration and number of attendees. The paper includes a thorough and valid statistical analysis of the data. The paper is clear but hardly succinct. It is somewhat surprising--but gratifying--to system designers that telepresence was considered as effective as face-to-face communication.

Reviewer:  B. Hazeltine Review #: CR145181 (1706-0393)
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