Communication in Hybrid Presence – Concepts for the Analysis of Social Virtual Reality in the Humanities

The aim of this chapter is to define and elaborate two analytical concepts describing central characteristics of Social Virtual Reality (SVR) usage, which are intended to enable researchers in the humanities and social sciences to better understand authentic communication and social interaction in immersive environments. It will argue that a social-praxeological, interactionoriented theory of VR is necessary, as VR usage is in the process of becoming a social activity, in which users interweave the technology with other activities and purposes, interact and communicate in more than one communicative space. The chapter will define hybrid presence as a concept that combines knowledge on spatial and social-communicative forms of copresence while users simultaneously experience virtual and real environments. It will add methodological suggestions for empirical studies on qualitative data gathered in SVR based on this concept. Finally, the chapter will demonstrate that SVR generates new communicative and linguistic patterns, for which new methodological-conceptual approaches may be necessary. As a case in point, this chapter introduces the concept blended origo, which helps understand deixis, perception, and attention allocation of SVR users when they verbally interact in more than one communicative space.