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 research on virtual environments (VEs). Sheridan's “eclectic” ontology and his “model of evaluation” proposed as a bridge to close the gap between different positions are discussed. A modification of the evaluation model is suggested to make it apt to provide common ground for different perspectives. VEs are boundary objects that interest various research communities with different worldviews, and cooperation among these communities is necessary if VEs are to become tools for communication and coworking.