Ederyn Williams (born 21 September 1946) is a British academic, commentator and writer whose work focuses on

social presence theory Social presence theory explores how the "sense of being with another" is influenced by digital interfaces in human-computer interactions. Developed from the foundations of interpersonal communication and symbolic interactionism, social presence ...

and

technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

Early life and education

Williams is the son of the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

academic and television critic

Raymond Williams Raymond Henry Williams (31 August 1921 – 26 January 1988) was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contribu ...

. Williams earned a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in Psychology from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1971.

Social presence theory

Williams, along with fellow social psychologists Bruce Christie and John Short, developed social presence theory in 1976. Social presence theory is defined as "the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships." This theory argues that media differ in their ability to convey intimacy and immediacy. Social presence theory is a key theory in understanding interpersonal communication and has found to be a strong indicator in satisfaction.

Career

He worked at

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

on a 'viewdata' system called

Prestel Prestel (abbrev. from press telephone), the brand name for the UK Post Office Telecommunications's Viewdata technology, was an interactive videotex system developed during the late 1970s and commercially launched in 1979. It achieved a maximu ...

. This was similar to the much more successful French system

Minitel The Minitel was a videotex online service accessible through telephone lines, and was the world's most successful online service prior to the World Wide Web. It was invented in Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes in Brittany, France. The service was ...

. It never got more than 90,000 subscribers. Both systems were replaced by the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

. He wrote an assessment in 1979: ''Strengths and weaknesses of Prestel''. In the early 1980s, Williams was briefly the head of the short-lived gaming company,

Telecomsoft Telecomsoft was a British video game publisher and a Division (business), division of British Telecom. The company was founded by Ederyn Williams, Dr. Ederyn Williams in 1984 and operated three separate labels: Firebird, Rainbird, and Silverbir ...

. In 1991, Williams became the Managing Director of Leeds Innovations Ltd. at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. In 2000, Williams joined the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

, where he founded an academic department that later became Warwick Ventures Ltd. The company branded itself as a technology commercialisation company. In April 2010, Williams was awarded the

Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion is one of the Queen's Awards for Enterprise, and is awarded annually to people who play an outstanding role in promoting the growth of business enterprise and/or entrepreneurial skills in other people. ...

for his pivotal role in the development of "knowledge transfer from universities to businesses in the UK." Williams retired from Warwick Ventures in September 2011 and now serves as the Director of Biosite Systems Ltd.

References

Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion (2010) Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British businesspeople Living people 1946 births Johns Hopkins University people {{UK-business-bio-stub