Telepresence: Understanding people as content

BT is a leading international supplier of telepresence in the form of telep hony. Telepresence enables "people as content,'' and there are rapidly deve loping and wide-ranging opportunities for broadband, mobile, multimedia tel epresence services. This paper outlines work in progress at BT Adastral Par k, including projects on large-scale inhabited applications, networked imme rsion or "through-the-screen'' conferencing, and wearable computing for ubi quitous telepresence. We conclude that research into future services requir es a reappraisal of traditional methods, with an emphasis on multidisciplin ary collaboration.