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Monthly Archives: March 2013

Call: Computer Game Space – Concept, Form and Experience (Conference on Philosophy of Computer Games)

Call for Papers

7th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games

Computer Game Space – Concept, Form and Experience

We hereby invite scholars in any field of studies who take a professional interest in the philosophy of computer games to submit papers to the 7th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games, to be held in Bergen, Norway, October 2-4 2013.

Player experience and dynamics in computer games are structured around apparent spatial relations inside the gameworld. It is furthermore common to use spatial metaphors such as  “action space”, “possibility space”, “experiential space” to explain central aspects of these games. For this conference we invite papers that aim to clarify and critically evaluate views about the nature of spatial relations in computer games. The papers may address such questions as: Is space in games fictional or real? What is the nature of space in games if it is not fictional?… read more. “Call: Computer Game Space – Concept, Form and Experience (Conference on Philosophy of Computer Games)”

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How one Russian millionaire wants to save the world… with immortal cyborgs

[From Digital Trends, where the story includes additional images]

Project Avatar milestones

How one Russian millionaire wants to save the world … with immortal cyborgs

By Andrew Couts — March 28, 2013

Dmitry Itskov has a plan to save humanity from impending doom. The question is whether we will still be “human,” if Itskov’s dreams come true.

At least, that’s one of the many, many questions.

The 32-year-old Russian mogul, who made his fortune as founder of the Web publishing company New Media Stars, is creator of the 2045 Initiative, a non-profit, and its Avatar project, which seeks to transpose human consciousness into artificial bodies within the next 30 years – cyborgs, in other words, a human-based singularity. It sounds outlandish, even impossible – the stuff of science fiction. But for Itskov, furthering human evolution by combining our consciousness with technology is not only possible, it is imperative; the only way to solve the crises that will one day face us all.… read more. “How one Russian millionaire wants to save the world… with immortal cyborgs”

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Call: Technoethics and New Military Technologies – Special issue of International Journal of Technoethics

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOETHICS (IJT)
Editor-in-Chief: Rocci Luppicini, University of Ottawa, Canada
Published: Quarterly (both in Print and Electronic form)

Special Issue on Technoethics and New Military Technologies
Submission deadline: August 1, 2013
Guest Editor: Marcus Schulzke, State University of New York at Albany

New military technologies are transforming warfare, allowing wars to be fought at longer distances, with greater asymmetries of risk, and at higher speeds than ever before. Some of these technologies seem to mark radical new directions in the way wars are fought by upsetting traditional military roles and introducing entirely new domains of conflict. Emerging technologies of war create many pressing ethical challenges, which call for a serious examination of these technologies and a reexamination of existing standards for determining the justice and morality during war.

Many of the ethical challenges associated with new military technologies arise from how these technologies are designed.… read more. “Call: Technoethics and New Military Technologies – Special issue of International Journal of Technoethics”

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‘Virtual Exertions’ research uses muscle activity to move virtual objects

[From The Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; the story includes a 1:41 minute video]

Virtual Exertions research

‘Virtual Exertions’ research uses muscle activity to move virtual objects [VIDEO]

March 26, 2013
Marianne English

Today’s smartphones and computers offer gestural interfaces where information arrives at users’ fingertips with a swipe of a hand. Still, researchers have found that most technology falls short in making people feel as if they’re interacting with virtual objects the same way they would with real objects.

But a WID team says it has developed, for the first time, a way to move virtual objects in an immersive virtual reality environment through the use of muscle activity. In addition to making virtual reality more interactive and realistic, the research could have rehabilitation applications for people recovering from injuries or people living with specific disabilities.… read more. “‘Virtual Exertions’ research uses muscle activity to move virtual objects”

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Call: HCI 2013 (Annual Conference of the Specialist HCI group of the BCS)

You are invited to participate in HCI 2013, which will be hosted by the School of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics at Brunel University, London in conjunction with the British Computer Society from Monday 9th September 2013 until Friday 13th September 2013

Some History

HCI 2013 is the 27th Annual Conference of the Specialist HCI group of the BCS, the BCS Interaction SG. Since its establishment in 1985, the conference has become the leading annual HCI conference in Europe. As well as being a leading venue for dissemination, the conference has a history of nurturing research careers- many of the leading HCI researchers published their early papers here and it is recognised for helping students and new academics as much as being a leading forum for established researchers. We want to carry on this well-established tradition into 2013.… read more. “Call: HCI 2013 (Annual Conference of the Specialist HCI group of the BCS)”

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Formula One fine tuning is now being driven by virtual reality

[From The Guardian]

Susie Wolff

Formula One fine tuning is now being driven by virtual reality

Williams’ Susie Wolff and double Le Mans winner Allan McNish explain how simulation is key to staying ahead of the pack

Gemma Briggs, The Guardian
Sunday 10 March 2013

When Albert Park opens for qualifying on Saturday morning, it is easy to imagine that Formula One headquarters around the world will be deserted of staff. Yet teams of engineers and drivers will be hard at work simulating race settings with the help of their virtual cars.

‘Sims’ are a key development tool in the arsenal of grand-prix teams from the top of the grid downwards. Susie Wolff has spent much of the winter ‘driving’ the sim used by Williams in the development of the FW35. “The main reason sims became so important is because of all the restrictions on testing,” she says.… read more. “Formula One fine tuning is now being driven by virtual reality”

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Call: Gaming Beyond Screens (Edited Book proposal)

Call for submissions for Edited Book proposal: Gaming Beyond Screens

We are currently seeking contributions to an edited collection on gestural gaming entitled Gaming Beyond Screens. In recent years there has been a surge of interest in digital games, platforms, and peripherals that employ gestural technologies. The Nintendo Wii, Rock Band, and Kinect are just some of the most popular examples in a long list of games and gaming devices that shift our attention away from the screen and towards bodies in motion. The phenomenon of gestural gaming raises a number of pressing questions for both academics and designers. For example, what are the implications of this shift in attention and how might it impact the conceptualization of interactivity and play? How can we theorize gestural gaming as an embodied, material, and social phenomenon? Where does gestural gaming intersect with other forms of physical activity, culture, and play?… read more. “Call: Gaming Beyond Screens (Edited Book proposal)”

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Volio partners with Esquire for app that turns any expert into a human Siri

[From The Huffington Post, where the story includes a 3:16 minute video]

Volio's Esquire app

Volio Partners With Esquire For App That Turns Any Expert Into A Human Siri

Bianca Bosker
Posted: 03/21/2013

A growing number of virtual assistants, like Siri, have charmed the world with their human characteristics — they can speak, crack jokes and even get mad.

But Volio, a startup headed by Nuance co-founder Ronald Croen, is flipping that idea on its head with technology that uses artificial intelligence to give humans the characteristics of virtual assistants. With Volio’s product, anyone from Oprah to Obama could be summoned instantly on a screen for a one-on-one chat about their area of expertise. It’s the face-to-face conversation, only automated, digitized and scaled.… read more. “Volio partners with Esquire for app that turns any expert into a human Siri”

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Call: Embodied Engagement: Participatory And Immersive Performance (TaPRA 2013)

Call for Participation – TaPRA – 2013

Theatre & Performance Research Association (TaPRA)
http://tapra.org/

University of Glasgow and The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS)
4th- 6th September 2013

Performance and the Body Working Group
and
Performance and New Technologies Working Group

Title: Embodied Engagement: Participatory And Immersive Performance

The Performance and the Body and Performance and New Technologies Working Groups are joining forces this year to explore different bodily, aesthetic, political, ethical and economical aspects of participation in the current performance milieu. In a performance context where hierarchies of participation are being reconfigured and traditional authorial claims are under stress, new articulations of spectator/performer reciprocity can no longer be disregarded. Focusing on audience experience, we intend to examine possibilities of participant (spectators and performers) agency and empowerment within different modes of performance transaction. According to Adrian Heathfield, contemporary performance has shifted aesthetically from ‘the optic to the haptic, from the distant to the immersive, from the static relation to the interactive’.… read more. “Call: Embodied Engagement: Participatory And Immersive Performance (TaPRA 2013)”

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Dutch thriller App incorporates a synchronized second-screen application into the story line

[From Fast Company’s co.CREATE, where the story includes additional images; a subtitled version of the App trailer is available from BobbyBoermans.com]

App

The Second Screen Comes To The Movies With App-Enhanced Film, “App”

The new Dutch thriller App incorporates a synchronized second-screen application into the story line.

By: Paula Bernstein
March 15, 2013

It’s rare that moviegoers are encouraged to fiddle with their smartphones during a film, but that’s the case with App, the new Dutch movie directed by Bobby Boermans.

Before going to see the film, moviegoers are asked to download a free app (available for Android and iPhone) to enhance the plot, which involves a 21-year-old psychology student who becomes addicted to her smartphone following a tragic accident.

The App app uses SyncNow, a digital audio watermarking technology originally developed by Civolution to prevent illegal downloads.… read more. “Dutch thriller App incorporates a synchronized second-screen application into the story line”

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