User:Ejohnson1212/Ederyn Williams

Dr. Ederyn Williams was on born September 21, 1946. Williams is an an academic, commentator, and writer whose work focuses on social presence theory and technology transfer.

Early life and education
Williams is the son of the Welsh academic and television critic Raymond Williams. Throughout his childhood, Williams was a student at the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys. He then attended his father's alma mater, Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated with a B.A. in Natural Sciences. Williams went on to earn a DPhil in Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1971.

Social Presence Theory
Dr. 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
Dr. Williams was a research assistant in psychology at University College London, Cambridge University and Johns Hopkins University for seven years. He then joined British Telecom, where he oversaw and managed the company's information technology. In the early 1980s, Dr. Williams was briefly the head of the short-lived gaming company, Telecomsoft.

In 1991, Dr. Williams became the Managing Director of Leeds Innovations Ltd at the University of Leeds. In 2000, Dr. Williams joined the University of Warwick, 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 for his pivotal role in the development of "knowledge transfer from universities to businesses in the UK." Dr. Williams retired from Warwick Ventures in September 2011 and now serves as the Director of Biosite Systems Ltd.