ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: December 2012

Jobs: 2 PhD positions in Interaction Design and Psychology – “Materialising Memories”

2 PhD positions in Interaction Design and Psychology

Function: PhD-student
Departments: Department of Industrial Design
FTE: 1,0
Date off: 20/01/2013
Reference number: V51.1654

We are seeking candidates for a collaborative project between the Department of Industrial Design (ID) of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) & the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building (DAB) of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

PhD Position 1 (Media Creation Devices Supporting Remembering) will be based at:
The Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, www.tue.nl) is one of Europe’s leading research universities. The Eindhoven area, in the southern part of the Netherlands, is one of Europe’s top ‘innovation ecosystems’, with many high-tech companies and institutes. TU/e is intertwined with many of these companies and institutes, and research at TU/e is characterized by a combination of academic excellence and industrial relevance. Historic cities such as Amsterdam, The Hague, Maastricht, Brussels, and Antwerp are all within easy reach from Eindhoven.… read more. “Jobs: 2 PhD positions in Interaction Design and Psychology – “Materialising Memories””

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Virtual body technology uses 5 senses

[From DigInfo TV, where the story features a 2:31 minute video]

Virtual Body Technology Uses 5 Senses

20 December 2012
Posted By Aki Tsukioka and Takuya Nakajima

The Ikei Laboratory of Tokyo Metropolitan University Graduate School of System Design is developing virtual body technology that utilizes the five senses. In addition to using conventional audio and video footage, this technology can recreate smells as well as the feel of the wind and of stepping on the ground.

“This exhibition of a virtual body is for the purpose of having a vicarious experience. This technology aims to enable various experiences as if having assumed a different person’s body. This exhibition gives people the opportunity to vicariously experience traveling in Milan and running the world record 100-meter dash of famous athlete Usain Bolt.” … read more. “Virtual body technology uses 5 senses”

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Call: JAM 2013 – Journeys Across Media: The Body and The Digital

Journeys Across Media
The Body and The Digital

Friday 19th April 2013, University of Reading

2013 will mark the 11th anniversary of the annual Journeys Across Media (JAM) Conference for postgraduate students, organised by postgraduates working in the Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading. JAM 2013 seeks to focus on and foster current research relating to the Body and the Digital, as today they are interactive and interdependent facets in the media of film, theatre and television; and more widely, in the areas of performance and art. It is a relationship which continues to develop and redefine cinematic, televisual and theatrical practices.

French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty once stated: “The body is our general medium for having a world.” Today, the world of live and screened performance are perceived and received differently, due to the body’s relationship with the digital.… read more. “Call: JAM 2013 – Journeys Across Media: The Body and The Digital”

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7 ways augmented reality will improve your life

[From Mashable, where the story includes videos and more images]

7 Ways Augmented Reality Will Improve Your Life

Lauren Drell
December 190, 2012

You might think augmented reality is the way of the future, but really, it has its roots in the 20th century. Morton Heilig, the “Father of Virtual Reality,” patented the Sensorama Stimulator, which he called an “experience theater,” on Aug. 28, 1962. Over time, the idea of using technology to create a layer over the real world has been honed and refined and put in our palms, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones.

Confused about what augmented reality is? In short, it’s a way to use technology to redefine space, and it places a virtual layer over the world with geographic specificity ensuring a good fit. Check out the video below — in real life, the woman is holding what appears to be a simple box of LEGOs.… read more. “7 ways augmented reality will improve your life”

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Call: Art Expo at Internet Technologies and Applications (ITA 13)

Art Expo at Internet Technologies and Applications (ITA 13)

Tuesday 10th – Friday 13th September 2013
The Glyndwr University Research Centre for Creative and Applied Research for the Digital Society (CARDS)
Wrexham, North East Wales, UK

CALL FOR ENTRIES

We are pleased to announce that as part of INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS (ITA 13), Glyndwr University will present its first Art Expo promoting the work of artists and designers working in new or emerging media or using creative technologies in their work. The Expo is intended as a knowledge-sharing and ideas generation event and will form part of the conference proceedings from 10th to the 13th September 2013. Exhibitors are invited to talk about their work at the Art Expo workshop, which is a full-day event on Thursday 12th September.

Within the context of internet technologies and their increasing application in the world around us we are looking for submissions which explore internet and digital technologies as they manifest in contemporary art practice and suggest the following themes as starting points for discussion: creative technologies, art and science, art and technology cultural environments, cultural sustainability, data-play and glitch aesthetics, networked performance, telepresence, digital interactivity, creative entrepreneurship, cultural ecologies.… read more. “Call: Art Expo at Internet Technologies and Applications (ITA 13)”

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9 year old boy builds robot to stay connected with family

[From WHDH-TV in Boston; the web story includes a 1:35 minute video version]

Boy builds robot to stay connected with family

December 18, 2012
Reported by: Brandon Gunnoe

LEXINGTON, Mass. (WHDH) — A young boy in Lexington built a relationship with his grandparents using LEGO pieces and a little technology.

Nine-year-old Ricky Kundu’s grandparents live in India and can’t visit very often, so block by block he put together a way for them to stay connected.

Ricky named the robot Betabot — beta means “child” in Hindi, and “early prototype” in English.… read more. “9 year old boy builds robot to stay connected with family”

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Call: The Joy of Learning – European Distance and E-learning Network Conference (EDEN 2013)

THE JOY OF LEARNING – EDEN 2013 Annual Conference, Oslo
12th  to 15th June 2013
Oslo, Norway
Website: http://www.eden-online.org/2013_oslo.html

Organized by: European Distance and E-learning Network – EDEN
Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 5th February 2012

E-learning, open and distance education have been increasingly important fields of intellectual excitement and innovative development. The challenges posed by the new technologies are permanent, and students constantly keep teachers under pressure to develop. The human elements are moving to the forefront, employing creative methods and smart solutions. In Europe, despite economic and social pressures, there is a collective drive towards realising the creative potential.

Standards and accountability have also been emphasized but personalization of learning, individual and collective motivation, enhancement of the learning experience, and an overall improvement of learning quality are gaining ever-increasing traction.

Learning is becoming more and more individualized and self-managed. Personalization helps foster motivation and engagement, and supports awareness and motivation.… read more. “Call: The Joy of Learning – European Distance and E-learning Network Conference (EDEN 2013)”

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Researchers and DMV testing driving simulator as alternative to in-car driving tests

[From WVIR NBC 29, where the story includes a 2:01 minute video; for more information see NewsPlex and the UVA Health System]

UVA Researchers Testing Virtual Driving Simulator at DMV

December 17, 2012

The University of Virginia is looking for hundreds of volunteer drivers to get behind the virtual wheel. It’s part of a plan to see if the program can be used one day as an alternative to in-car driving tests.

Researchers at UVA’s School of Medicine are tracking data from the virtual reality driving simulator. They want to see if it is effective and fair, as it could be the new way you take a driving test in Virginia.

Research assistant Gabriel Camacho said, “Being a simulator, it’s unbiased and it’s objective, and we think that’s important for someone getting their license.”… read more. “Researchers and DMV testing driving simulator as alternative to in-car driving tests”

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Call: Symposium: Texture in Film – University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Symposium: Texture in Film

Sat 9th March 2013 09:00 to 18:00

Center for Film Studies
University of St Andrews
Scotland, UK

Dr Lucy Fife Donaldson

Texture is more commonly discussed in relation to visual art and design, music and literature than film. In these other disciplines, texture may refer to the tactile quality of a surface, the way a surface is changed by light, paint or other materials, the composition of fabric or narrative (as in the root of the word, to make/weave), the pattern of sound (rhythm and register) and the ‘concrete’ properties of language (metre, diction, syntax). Texture also has an important sensory dimension: it expresses the feel of an object, surface or material, and thus offers a way of acknowledging the importance of decisions around formal properties to our responsiveness to film, and to its patterns, to its overall shape.… read more. “Call: Symposium: Texture in Film – University of St. Andrews, Scotland”

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The world’s first implantable robotic arm controlled by thoughts

[From Chalmers University, where the press release includes an additional image]

[Image: Max Ortiz Catalan demonstrates how the system works with the aid of electrodes, which capture bio-electric signals from the surface of the arm. Amputees will, however, have the electrodes implanted directly on the nerves and muscles inside the body, which will be permanently accessible through the Brånemark osseointegrated implant (OPRA Implant System). Photo: Oscar Mattsson]

Thought-controlled prosthesis is changing the lives of amputees

The world’s first implantable robotic arm controlled by thoughts is being developed by Chalmers researcher Max Ortiz Catalan. The first operations on patients will take place this winter.

Published Wed 28 Nov 2012

Every year, thousands of people across the world lose an arm or a leg.

“Our technology helps amputees to control an artificial limb, in much the same way as their own biological hand or arm, via the person’s own nerves and remaining muscles.… read more. “The world’s first implantable robotic arm controlled by thoughts”

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