A new era for ISPR and the presence community:

As many of you know, the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) was created in January 2002 by a handful of presence scholars who had organized and chaired the successful series of Presence Workshops that began in 1998. That small group has since served as ISPR's Board of Directors, selecting conference locations and making decisions about other organizational matters, including the adoption of bylaws. Beginning long before ISPR and especially in the last few years, interest in and diverse scholarly work on presence and telepresence have grown. So to better serve the presence community, ISPR recently incorporated as a nonprofit organization and today announces a transition from 'private to public administration: ISPR will become an organization with members and elected officers who together guide it as it pursues its mission to support academic research related to the concept of (tele)presence through conferences, online resources including a new Journal of Telepresence, and more.

We encourage you to join ISPR today as a charter member and get in on the ground floor. Membership fees will help pay for the administration of the PRESENCE conferences, best paper and presentation awards, student travel fellowships, the presence-listserv and expanded online services such as those on the ISPR web site. The introductory membership fees (see below), which will rise before the PRESENCE 2008 conference, will provide membership benefits all the way until August 31 next year (i.e., before PRESENCE 2009).

ISPR Members receive the following benefits:

A discount on ISPR PRESENCE conference registration fees (beginning with PRESENCE 2008, all presenters will be required to become members)

The opportunity to vote, and run, in elections for Board of Directors positions (President; Vice-
Presidents of Administration, Development, and Membership; Secretary; Treasurer; Student Officer; and Open seats)

The opportunity to vote on organization issues such as the location of future conferences, winners of fellowships and other competitions, and more

The opportunity to support and help shape a new multi-disciplinary online ISPR Journal (Journal of Telepresence)

The opportunity to self identify as a (charter) member of the only international academic organization specifically focused on (tele)presence

Custom swag (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) exclusively for members

We also hope to offer free or reduced cost access to relevant publications in the field

Become a charter member of ISPR for a low, introductory fee:

80 USD (approx. 51 Euro) for individuals with an academic, governmental, or non-profit affiliation

65 USD (approx. 42 Euro) for graduate students

150 USD (approx. 97 Euro) for individuals with corporate affiliation (please contact us for sponsorship opportunities)

TO JOIN ISPR, JUST VISIT THE ISPR WEB SITE - http://ispr.info (which, by the way, has a new and improved design) and click on "Membership"

Questions, comments and/or suggestions? E-mail us at ispr@ispr.info.

Matthew Lombard, Ph.D.
Temple University
President
International Society for Presence Research (ISPR)

(215) 204-7182
lombard@temple.edu
http://matthewlombard.com
http://ispr.info