There are a number of issues surrounding the development of group knowledge among collaborating computer users. Telepresence Collaborative technology eliminates the requirement that people must be co-located in order to collaborate. With collaborative technology, users separated by large geographical distances may still work together on tasks and activities. In any collaborative setting, however, a sense of presence is important for effective interaction. People want to sense the presence of living, human beings at the opposite ends of a collaboration.
Collaborative technology simulates presence in a variety of ways.
Group presence is related to the richness of communications among group members. The richer the communications channels, the more natural the interaction appears among group members. This suggests the inclusion of higher bandwidth communications mechanisms such as video teleconferencing. Environmental presence is concerned with immersing the user in the environment of the activity and work setting. By simulating the context of work on a computer, the user ideally becomes more familiar and comfortable with the computer-mediated form of work.