"Now, i have a body": uses and social norms for mobile remote presence in the workplace

This article is a modified version of the paper published at CHI 2011 [11]. For more details about the study, please refer to the original paper. We report our study on mobile remote presence (MRP) systems, physically embodied videoconferencing systems that remote workers use to drive through a workplace, communicating with locals there. Our interviews, observations, and survey results from people, who had 2-18 months of MRP use, showed how remotely-controlled mobility enabled remote workers to live and work with local coworkers almost as if they were physically there. The MRP supported informal communications and connections between distributed coworkers. We also found that the mobile embodiment of the remote worker evoked orientations toward the MRP both as a person and as a machine, leading to formation of new usage norms among remote and local coworkers.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Min Kyung Lee, Leila Takayama
• Keywords: CHI 2011, Coworkers, Human Computer Interaction, Informal Communications, Videoconferencing Systems