Building a bridge between different scientific communities: On Sheridan's eclectic ontology of presence

Sheridan's recent paper (1999) on presence is particularly relevant to rese arch on virtual environments (VEs). Sheridan's "eclectic" ontology and his "model of evaluation" proposed as a bridge to close the gap between differe nt positions are discussed. A modification of the evaluation model is sugge sted to make it apt to provide common ground for different perspectives. VE s are boundary objects that interest various research communities with diff erent worldviews, and cooperation among these communities is necessary if V Es are to become tools for communication and coworking.