Is Immersive Communication The Future Of Communication?

To many executives and other businesspeople hp pavilion dv7-3065dx keyboard, hp pavilion dv7-3085dx keyboard, in-person meetings are still key to getting business done. There is just something about seeing co-workers or business partners in person that facilitates trust and comfort, or on the other hand activates people's instincts about whether the people they are working with might not be a good fit. Likewise, there is no substitute for in-person communication among friends, family members, and significant others, where a hug or a smile can communicate as much as a thirty-minute conversation. However, given the cost of travel these days in terms of gasoline and airline tickets, and the wide dispersion of friends and family that happens as all of us try to make our own lives in a difficult economy, in-person meetings with business partners, friends, and family members are becoming harder and harder to arrange. Given these circumstances, the future of communication may lie in a phenomenon known as "immersive communication."

"Immersive communication" is related to what has been known for years as "virtual reality," but the terms are somewhat confused in current usage. According to some observers of the field, virtual reality involves the use of devices that users are meant to wear in order to project a virtual environment into their sensory organs, while "immersion" refers to projecting this environment around the viewer without requiring them hp compaq nx8420 keyboard, hp compaq nw8440 keyboard to wear any devices. A prototypical example of immersive communication would therefore be the holograms that CNN used in its 2008 presidential election coverage. However, these definitions of "virtual reality" and "immersive communication" are not strictly applied in everyday use, and "immersive communication" is rapidly coming to mean any form of communications technology that engages users' senses in ways that they would normally experience during a physical, in-person conversation.

In order to build a truly immersive communication medium, designers have been hard at work studying the various elements that human beings rely on to communicate during conversations when all parties are physically present. It is not hard to imagine what these designers might be studying; just think about the differences between talking with someone over the phone or by e-mail as opposed to seeing them in person! In particular, designers are focusing their efforts on creating virtual "avatars" that will serve as people's virtual representatives during immersive communications. These "avatars," it is hoped, will eventually be able to capture all of the subtle things that people communicate during in-person interactions. For example, people working in immersive communication technology are developing avatars that can communicate gestures and subtle facial cues that signal emotional responses. Another important feature of immersive communication is the use of stereo sound, especially when a group of avatars are communicating. The idea is that some sounds will come from fujitsu lifebook p7120 keyboard, fujitsu lifebook p7120d keyboard behind each person, some in front, and so on, in order to better simulate the audio input of a real-life communication experience.

Video conferencing using "immersive communication" technology may be the future of the communications world considering the widespread distances these days between both personal and business contacts, and the increasing costs of closing those distances. It may not be long before we are all using our personal "avatars" to talk with friends, family, associates, and other people around the world!