A number of emerging technologies including virtual reality, simulation rides, video conferencing, home theater, and high definition television are designed to provide media users with an illusion that a mediated experience is not mediated, a perception defined here as presence. Traditional media such as the telephone, radio, television, film, and many others offer a lesser degree of presence as well. This article examines the key concept of presence. It begins by noting practical and theoretical reasons for studying this concept. Six conceptualizations of presence found in a diverse set of literatures are identified and a detailed explication of the concept that incorporates these conceptualizations is presented. Existing research and speculation about the factors that encourage or discourage a sense of presence in media users as well as the physiological and psychological effects of presence are then outlined. Finally, suggestions concerning future systematic research about presence are presented.

As a method specifically intended for the study of messages, content analysis is fundamental to mass communication research. Intercoder reliability, more specifically termed intercoder agreement, is a measure of the extent to which independent judges make the same coding decisions in evaluating the characteristics of messages, and is at the heart of this method. Yet there are few standard and accessible guidelines available regarding the appropriate procedures to use to assess and report intercoder reliability, or software tools to calculate it. As a result, it seems likely that there is little consistency in how this critical element of content analysis is assessed and reported in published mass communication studies. Following a review of relevant concepts, indices, and tools, a content analysis of 200 studies utilizing content analysis published in the communication literature between 1994 and 1998 is used to characterize practices in the field. The results demonstrate that mass communication researchers often fail to assess (or at least report) intercoder reliability and often rely on percent agreement, an overly liberal index. Based on the review and these results, concrete guidelines are offered regarding procedures for assessment and reporting of this important aspect of content analysis.T he study of communication is interdisciplinary, sharing topics, literatures, expertise, and research methods with many academic fields and disciplines. But one method, content analysis, is specifically appropriate and necessary for (arguably) the central work of communication scholars, in particular those who study mass communication: the analysis of messages. Given that content analysis is fundamental to communication research (and thus theory), it would be logical to expect researchers in communication to be among the most, if not the most, proficient and rigorous in their use of this method.

An experiment was conducted to extend the research evidence concerning direct responses to the realm of social interaction by replicating, in the context of television viewing, key findings and predictions concerning the use of interpersonal distance. In the study, 32 subjects watched excerpts of television news broadcasts that featured individual anchors speaking to the camera. Apparent interpersonal distance was manipulated via viewing distance (close = 10, 24, and 38 inches; normal = 30, 72, and 115 inches) and screen size (small = 10 inches measured diagonally; medium = 26 inches; large = 42 inches). Although results for the viewing distance manipulation failed to support predictions, as expected, subjects watching larger television screens reported more positive emotional responses to the people on the screen and the viewing environment and selected a viewing position that represented a smaller withdrawal from the encounter. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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