Read:*Beyond Being There* (beginning up to Examples on p. 121) and write a 200-300 word response to the following questions: how well or poorly does this article (from 1992) capture your experience of hybrid social/collaborative/working experiences today? What elements of your hybrid life are missing from this piece?
The 1992 article “*Beyond Being There* ” delves into mediated communication and the quest to realize a sense of presence beyond physical co-location. While the authors foresaw the development of digital communications, their framework for remote presence seemed somewhat limited compared to contemporary hybrid social, collaborative, and work experiences.
Today, software like zoom, discord, miro, and others enable hybrid collaborative workflows, real-time collaborative editing, AI-driven enhancements The result is an immersive mixed reality environment that is not physically constrained.
The limitation mentioned in the article is that it focuses on replicating physical presence.Rather than embracing the functionality of digital tools that go beyond face-to-face interaction.After covid-19, work-life boundaries became increasingly blurred. The emergence of the home office is a notable aspect of contemporary hybrid living. Today's telework is not just about reducing distance, but also about mobility between professional and personal space. The space and time between work and life do not appear to have the necessary boundaries.
However, the heart of the article remains relevant: technology should not merely imitate physical presence, but enhance communication in ways that are unique to the digital environment.This remains an open question today as we explore AI-generated interactions, virtual reality workspaces, and new forms of hybrid collaboration that go beyond simple “presence”.