Green issues are on the public and private agenda like never before, particularly with the price of a barrel of oil inflating travel costs. Meanwhile, the Web 2.0 phenomenon is in full swing. If ever there was a combination of factors that could aid the adoption of a particular technology, telepresence has them at present.
Telepresence allows people to be in different locations, yet talk to each other face to face, as if they were in the same room. Sound familiar? Technically an evolution of video conferencing, the main difference between telepresence and its forebear is the authenticity with which it achieves this task.
Like other emerging technologies that have relied upon existing, sometimes inadequate, infrastructure to achieve early adoption, video conferencing had an image problem. Early systems were renowned for shaky video and poor audio quality – and it’s that reputation which is taking time to dispel.
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