ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: January 2015

Call: In Gallery Engagement: Digital vs Analogue – Oxford University Museums Partnership Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS
Conference Title: In Gallery Engagement: Digital vs Analogue
Date: 22 July 2015, Oxford University Museum of Natural History

http://www.oxfordaspiremuseums.org/aspire/news/gallery-engagement-digital-vs-analogue

Computer interactives, augmented reality, video screens and touchtables, digital is increasingly occupying gallery space as a means of engaging audiences with museum content. Museums are experimenting with new technologies to capture audience interest and deliver deeper interpretation. But while the technology for delivering interactive engagement becomes more sophisticated, are the principles different to those of low-tech interactives such as handling collections, replica costumes and ‘lift-the-flap’ activities? Technology aside, how do digital interactives differ from their low-tech counterparts?

Oxford University Museums Partnership will be exploring this issue at a one day conference in Oxford on 22 July 2015. We are inviting colleagues from across the sector to present their best in gallery engagement initiatives, both digital and analogue. We want to hear about image recognition apps and paper detective trails, costumed characters and virtual reality villains, Bluetooth beacons and cardboard cut-outs.… read more. “Call: In Gallery Engagement: Digital vs Analogue – Oxford University Museums Partnership Conference”

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Does bot-written note in your handwriting look like it’s from uncanny valley?

[From Fast Company, where the story includes more pictures and a 0:19 minute video]

Letter handwritten by Bond robot

Sending A Handwritten Letter Is Now As Easy As Using Gmail

But does a note in your handwriting done by a bot look like it’s sent from uncanny valley? We test out letter-writing company Bond to see.

By Rebecca Greenfield
January 23, 2015

Sitting on my desk is a lovely note, written on thick, customized stationery with my name scrawled across the top. It’s in my handwriting, but I didn’t write it. A robot did.

Looking closely, I can spot some slight differences between the bot-generated lettering and my signature scribble. The penmanship is cleaner, more methodical, a little too consistent. But even with those disparities, the words capture my essence. To anyone else, it looks like I took the time to hand write a thank-you note, when really a machine took words I typed and, like a prosthetic arm, moved a pen up and down the page to write just like I would.… read more. “Does bot-written note in your handwriting look like it’s from uncanny valley?”

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Call: Physiological Computing – IEEE Computer special issue

We look for contributions for a Special Issue of IEEE Computer on Physiological Computing.

Full paper submission deadline: 1 April 2015
Publication date: October 2015

http://www.computer.org/web/computingnow/cocfp10

Computer seeks submissions for the October 2015 special issue on challenges and applications in physiological computing.

Physiological computing — using human physiological data as system inputs in real time — makes it possible to create dynamic user-state representations so that software can respond dynamically and context-specifically to changes in actual human user states. Various paradigms for human–computer interaction fall under this general system rubric: brain–computer interfaces, affective computing, adaptive automation, and health informatics, among others.

Systems like these offer a number of advantages. For example, they can enhance interaction possibilities, particularly during eyes-busy or hands-busy applications; allow for implicit control and/or response mechanisms, such as automatic tagging of media content without explicit gesturing; and promote desirable psychological states and mitigate undesirable ones, with benefits ranging from better performance to greater overall health.… read more. “Call: Physiological Computing – IEEE Computer special issue”

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Qantas to provide VR experiences for first-class in-flight entertainment

[From Gizmodo Australia, where the story includes more images and a 0:41 minute video; coverage in the International Business Times notes that Samsung is also discussing partnerships with other airlines and with train operators]

Samsung Gear on Qantas

Qantas To Use Samsung’s Gear VR For First-Class In-Flight Entertainment

Campbell Simpson
January 29, 2015

If you’re lucky enough to fly in first class, your pointy end long-haul flight is about to get even fancier. Qantas is going to be using the Samsung Gear VR, and the accompanying Galaxy Note 4, for in-flight entertainment for its first-class customers.

Starting out as a pilot program on Qantas’ LA to Sydney and Melbourne to LA flights, where the Aussie carrier uses both Airbus A380s and Boeing 747s, the Samsung Gear VR will be offered to first-class passengers to enjoy Qantas-created 360-degree videos and other content. Around a dozen Gear VR headsets and Galaxy Note 4 handsets are being used for the initial partnership — four on the outbound flight, four on the inbound flight, and two each for Qantas’ Sydney and Melbourne first-class passenger lounges.… read more. “Qantas to provide VR experiences for first-class in-flight entertainment”

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Call: 2015 Games and Software Engineering Workshop (with ICSE 2015)

2015 GAMES AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERING WORKSHOP
Fourth International Workshop on Games and Software Engineering
Workshop in conjunction with ICSE 2015 (Int’l Conference on Software Engineering)
Florence/Firenze, Italy
May 18, 2015

http://sites.google.com/site/icsegas2015/

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 2015 Games and Software Engineering workshop (GAS 2015) explores issues that crosscut the software engineering and the game engineering communities. Modern games entail the development, integration, and balancing of software capabilities drawn from algorithm design and complexity, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, computer-supported cooperative work/play, database management systems, human-computer interaction and interface design, operating systems and resource/storage management, networking, programming/scripting language design and interpretation, performance monitoring, and more. Few other software system application arenas demand such technical mastery and integration skill. Yet game development is expected to rely on such mastery, and provide a game play experience that most users find satisfying, fun, and engaging. Computer games are thus an excellent domain for which to research and develop new ways and means for software engineering.… read more. “Call: 2015 Games and Software Engineering Workshop (with ICSE 2015)”

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“First live VR broadcast brought the beach to my backyard”

[From Engadget, where the story includes more pictures]

NextVR - Laguna Beach live

The first live VR broadcast brought the beach to my backyard

By Richard Lawler | January 26th 2015

On Saturday morning in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it was about 30 degrees outside, but I was in my backyard enjoying a 75-degree day at the beach. That’s only possible because I was testing out the first attempt at streaming virtual reality from one place to another — in this case from Laguna Beach, California, to a Samsung Gear VR headset strapped to my head. Thanks to technology from the folks at Next VR, I could see and hear everything in 3D as though I was actually there, looking around in a virtual reality environment while on the phone with co-founder David Cole.… read more. ““First live VR broadcast brought the beach to my backyard””

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Call: South West Virtual Reality Conference

[Information about the upcoming South West Virtual Reality Conference, from Road to VR, where the story includes several images]

UK Based ‘South West VR’ Conference Announced, Guests Include Oculus, Aardman and Unity

January 25, 2015 by Paul James

As virtual reality rises, so does the need for its enthusiasts and industry members to meet. The UK has a thriving VR community and a growing industry presence, so the recently announced South West Virtual Reality Conference on the 24th Feb, is a welcome addition to the VR calendar.

Whilst the US, and in particular, the west coast, get a large proportion of the world’s attention when it comes to all things virtual reality, Europe and in particular the UK has a buzzing VR development and enthusiasts community. The UK’s gaming market is the 3rd largest in the world, estimated to be worth a cool £1.7Bn.… read more. “Call: South West Virtual Reality Conference”

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Brand Killer: Augmented reality goggles create real-world AdBlock

[From International Business Times, where the story includes more images and a 0:55 minute video]

Brand Killer VR Adblock

[Image: Brand Killer blocks ads in real time from the wearer’s point of view using a DIY augmented reality headset]

Brand Killer: Augmented reality goggles create real-world AdBlock

By Anthony Cuthbertson
January 23, 2015

A new use for augmented reality headsets has been developed by students in the US using software that blocks brand’s logos in the real world.

Brand Killer was designed and built by undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania and uses similar technology to other virtual reality and augmented reality headsets, such as the Oculus Rift and the Samsung Gear VR.

The system effectively works as an offline version of AdBlock Plus, a popular piece of software used to prevent advertisements from appearing on web browsers and in online videos.… read more. “Brand Killer: Augmented reality goggles create real-world AdBlock”

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Call: Vittorio Gallese lectures – “The Body, the Brain, Symbolic Expression and Its Experience: An Experimental Aesthetics Perspective”

[Note that the first lecture is Wednesday January 28, 2015  –Matthew]

The Body, the Brain, Symbolic Expression and Its Experience: An Experimental Aesthetics Perspective.

Vittorio Gallese, University of Parma

Chandaria Lectures, Institute of Philosophy, Senate House (London WC1), Room 349, third floor
Wed Jan 28th 6pm ; Feb 11th 6pm ; and Feb 18th 6pm

Cognitive neuroscience can shed new light – from its own methodological reductionist perspective – on the aesthetic quality of human nature and its natural creative inclination. By exploiting the neurocognitive approach, viewed as a sort of ‘cognitive archeology’, we can empirically investigate the neurophysiological brain-body mechanisms that make our interactions with the world possible, detect possible functional antecedents of our cognitive skills and measure the socio-cultural influence exerted by human cultural evolution onto the very same cognitive skills. We can now look at the aesthetic-symbolic dimension of human existence not only from a semiotic-hermeneutic perspective, but starting from the dimension of bodily presence.… read more. “Call: Vittorio Gallese lectures – “The Body, the Brain, Symbolic Expression and Its Experience: An Experimental Aesthetics Perspective””

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Vice and noted directors use VR to immerse viewers in news

[From The New York Times, where the story includes an additional image]

Scene from Millions March protest

[Image: A scene from the Millions March protest. Credit VICE]

Vice Uses Virtual Reality to Immerse Viewers in News

By Emily Steel
January 23, 2015

A young woman stands in the middle of a crowd of protesters marching up a New York City street, shouting that she is fed up with police brutality, fed up with people saying that black lives don’t matter, fed up with people telling her not to be angry.

“My people don’t deserve this,” she yells, inches away from your face. “We have right to protest. We have right to be angry.”

You look to the left, and see protesters holding a sign reading, “White Supremacy Is Deadly.” Spin to the right, and you see a throng of observers, their expressions stern as the protest continues.… read more. “Vice and noted directors use VR to immerse viewers in news”

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