Steuer's article "Defining virtual realities: Dimensions determining telepresence",[3][4] is widely cited in academic and industry literature.
Steuer's vividness and interactivity matrix from that article appeared in Wired circa 1995 and has been particularly influential in shaping the discourse by defining virtual reality in terms of human experience, rather than technological hardware, and setting out vividness and interactivity as axial dimensions of that experience.
Steuer's notability in diverse arenas as a scholar, architect, and instigator of new media is documented in multiple, independent, non-trivial, published works.
There, his doctoral dissertation concerned Vividness and Source of Evaluation as Determinants of Social Responses Toward Mediated Representations of Agency.
Some books and print articles that discuss Steuer's role in the web publishing industry that emerged in San Francisco in the 1990s: Some books and print that draw on Steuer's definitions of virtual reality and telepresence: Besides the printed works above, Steuer's article is cited in many online works, a few of which are listed here: EDUCAUSE REVIEW | January/February 2007, Volume 42, Number 1 A Definition ICA Info Systems: Coyle & Ognianova Social Impacts of Rich Media A Psychological Approach to Presence