Presence, in the stranges of places

I've always found it fascinating how presence makes its way into the digital realm. How do we leave traces of ourselves? How do we integrate bits of the "now" into our online activities?

I've run across a few examples lately which I find really interesting.

First, there's the launch of the new Avenue A | Razorfish corporate site. Every office shows a status much like Twitter and Facebook. For example, "New York is gonna grab a slice." How brilliant is that? Also, if you choose a location, you'll see a feed of the office. While it is not live (and would be cooler if it was), it does provide a feeling of being teleported to that location. It's not intrusive yet provides relevancy.




Second, a colleague of mine working on Microsoft's search, Live.com, just showed me their recent work. When you go to the site, there is one, gorgeous photograph of a current event. This week, there's been great Olympic shots. It's beautifully done--not distracting from the clean user experience in any way. In fact it's additive and suggesting.



Do you have other examples? Please send them my way!