ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: November 2015

Call: 30th British Human Computer Interaction Conference

The 30th British Human Computer Interaction Conference (http://hci2016.bcs.org/) will be held in Bournemouth (UK) from 11th-15th July 2016. The conference is organised by Bournemouth University in conjunction with the BCS Interaction Specialist Group.

CONFERENCE THEME

This year’s theme is “Fusion! HCI across Disciplines”. We want to challenge research and practitioners to uncover ways to inspire fusion in lots of different ways; these include fusion between quality & innovation, research & practice, and between different topic areas both within and outside HCI.

SUBMISSIONS

We now invite submissions for full papers, position papers, works-in-progress, workshop proposals, together with submissions for the interaction gallery. We will shortly be accepting submissions for our doctoral consortium.

Submissions to all tracks should be made via the EasyChair link on the conference website.

All calls for participation can be found at http://hci2016.bcs.org/participation/

Accepted full papers, position papers, and work-in-progress papers will be published in the ACM Digital Library.… read more. “Call: 30th British Human Computer Interaction Conference”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Presence and sexuality: Is an affair in VR still cheating?

[This first person report considers the emotional implications of presence in the context of sexuality; it’s from Motherboard, where it includes the 0:58 minute trailer for the film “I Am You” and an additional image. For more about the VR film, see coverage in CBC News. –Matthew]

Is an Affair in Virtual Reality Still Cheating?

Written by Zoltan Istvan
November 19, 2015

I hadn’t touched another woman in an intimate way since before getting married six years ago. Then, in the most peculiar circumstances, I was doing it. I was caressing a young woman’s hands. I remember thinking as I was doing it: I don’t even know this person’s name.

After 30 seconds, the experience became too much and I stopped. I ripped off my Oculus Rift headset and stood up from the chair I was sitting on, stunned.… read more. “Presence and sexuality: Is an affair in VR still cheating?”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: POST-SCREEN 2016: International Festival of Art, New Media and Cybercultures

Call for Papers / Artwork

POST-SCREEN 2016: International Festival of Art, New Media and Cybercultures
17-18 November
Lisbon, Portugal

Extended Deadline: 30.November.2015

The Artistic Studies Research Center (CIEBA) of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon University (FBAUL) and the Research Centre for Education and Development (CeiED) of the Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias (ULHT) invites you to submit a proposal for a paper and/ or an artwork to the upcoming POST-SCREEN 2016: International Festival of Art, New Media and Cybercultures to be held in November, in Lisbon, Portugal.

SCOPE

The PSF2016: Intermittence+Interference is focused in the themes of photography, film, museology and public space, in connection with the idea of post-screen underlying the festival’s name and purpose, which is to generate a dialogue between the artistic and technological fields, through multidisciplinary studies that contribute critically both to research and artistic practice.… read more. “Call: POST-SCREEN 2016: International Festival of Art, New Media and Cybercultures”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Telepresence robots to beam psychologists into schools

[Another potentially valuable application of telepresence technology; this is from ZDNet, where the story includes another image. For more on Professor Fischer’s work, see his University of Utah webpage. –Matthew]

Woman using Kubi telepresence

Telepresence robots to beam psychologists into schools

Researchers in Utah are experimenting with robots to solve a pressing problem: There aren’t enough pediatric psychologists to go around.

By Greg Nichols for Robotics | November 4, 2015

Researchers in Utah are using an inexpensive robotic platform to help teachers in rural areas implement programs for children with special needs.

It’s another example of the early adoption of telepresence robots by educators and service providers, which I’ve written about here before. While offices are coming around to telepresence solutions for remote workers, teachers and school administrators seem to be readily embracing the technology, which they see as a way to maximize limited resources while bringing needed services to students.… read more. “Telepresence robots to beam psychologists into schools”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: “Communicating with Machines: The Rising Power of Digital Interlocutors in Our Lives” ICA 2016 post-conference

Call for Papers:

“Communicating with Machines: The Rising Power of Digital Interlocutors in Our Lives”

International Communication Association (ICA) Post-conference
Fukuoka, Japan
Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Submission deadline: December 15, 2015

This post-conference will take place in conjunction with the International Communication Association’s Annual Conference in Fukuoka, Japan in June 2016.

Overview:
Digital interlocutors are increasingly standing in for humans in communication contexts. This post-conference focuses on the power of artificial entities fostered in and through Human-Machine Communication (HMC), which encompasses Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), and Human-Agent Interaction (HAI). We invite scholars from across ICA’s divisions to discuss their work regarding the individual, cultural, and philosophical implications of interactions with machines (including hardware and software). We seek to raise awareness of and further develop HMC research and the scholarly community surrounding it.

Sponsors:
University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Communication
Northern Illinois University, Department of Communication
Communication and Social Robotics Lab – Western Michigan University School of Communication and the University of Kentucky College of Communication & Information, School of Information Science… read more. “Call: “Communicating with Machines: The Rising Power of Digital Interlocutors in Our Lives” ICA 2016 post-conference”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Shaking up the music industry: How personal, immersive performances could empower indie filmmakers, musicians and artists

[Could presence ‘save’ the music industry? This is from The Memo, where the original story includes the Björk and Muse videos and a screenshot from the U2 video; I’ve corrected several typos. –Matthew]

Bjork Stonemilker screenshot

VR: Let Björk serenade you on a beach & help save the music industry

Shaking up the music industry: How personal, immersive performances could empower indie filmmakers, musicians and artists.

By Kitty Knowles
18 November 2015

Björk stands on a near-black Icelandic beach, unfolding her arms out towards you. She looks you in the eye, warbling her way over delicate notes.

Waves crash behind her, and her lime green dress flaps around in the breeze before she totters off over the stoney landscape. Soon there is not one, but several Björks serenading you in this starkly beautiful setting.

The scene is not real, of course, it’s the first ever music video to be filmed in virtual reality.… read more. “Shaking up the music industry: How personal, immersive performances could empower indie filmmakers, musicians and artists”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI) 2016 Conference

Call for Papers

The Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI) Conference
June 1-4, 2016
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY, 14853-7601 USA

http://scsmi-online.org/conference

Deadline for proposals: Midnight (EST) December 15, 2015

The Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI) invites proposals for presentations at its annual conference to be held June 1st-4th, 2016 at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. SCSMI is an interdisciplinary organization made up of scholars interested in cognitive, philosophical, aesthetic, historical, psychological, neuroscientific, and evolutionary approaches to the analysis of film and other moving image media. Proposals should facilitate the society’s mission: to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue between moving image theorists, historians, critics, and philosophers, and scientifically‑oriented researchers working on moving image media.… read more. “Call: Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI) 2016 Conference”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Dungeons & Dragons debuts in virtual reality via AltspaceVR

[A cultural activity that relies on imagination moves into virtual reality (someone ought to conduct a comparative study, now or as the VR versions evolve); the story is from Forbes. –Matthew]

Dungeons & Dragons in AltspaceVR

Dungeons & Dragons Debuts In Virtual Reality Via AltspaceVR

David M. Ewalt, Contributor
Author, Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It
(Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.)
Nov 16, 2015

The classic pen-and-paper fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons is making a big leap off the tabletop into the high tech-world of virtual reality.… read more. “Dungeons & Dragons debuts in virtual reality via AltspaceVR”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: eNTERFACE’16 – 12th Summer Workshop on Multimodal Interfaces

Call for projects eNTERFACE’16 Workshop

University of Twente, DesignLab, Enschede, the Netherlands, 18 July – 12 Aug 2016

http://hmi.ewi.utwente.nl/enterface16

WORKSHOP FORMAT

The Human Media Interaction group (HMI), University of Twente, invites project proposals for eNTERFACE’16, the 12th Summer Workshop on Multimodal Interfaces to be held in Enschede, the Netherlands from July 18th to August 12th, 2016.

Following the success of the previous eNTERFACE workshops held in Mons (Belgium, 2005), Dubrovnik (Croatia, 2006), Istanbul (Turkey, 2007), Paris (France, 2008), Genova (Italy, 2009), Amsterdam (Netherlands, 2010), Plzen (Czech Republic, 2011), Metz (France, 2012), Lisbon (Portugal, 2013), Bilbao (Spain, 2014), Mons (Belgium, 2015), we have the pleasure to host eNTERFACE’16 in Enschede, the Netherlands. Our aim is to continue the tradition of gathering leading researchers and students in one place to collaborate on creative and innovative projects related to intelligent multimodal interfaces for 4 weeks.… read more. “Call: eNTERFACE’16 – 12th Summer Workshop on Multimodal Interfaces”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

NY Times VR raises new ethical issues

[It’s clear that the mainstreaming of VR will bring lots of ethical challenges, largely because of its ability to evoke presence. This is from The New York Times (see the related post on November 11. –Matthew]

NYTimes VR first person view

The Tricky Terrain of Virtual Reality

Margaret Sullivan, The Public Editor
November 14, 2015

The arrival of a small cardboard box with last Sunday’s Times represented, in its unobtrusive way, a collision of cultures.

Here was a piece of cutting-edge journalism — promising virtual reality, no less — arriving the old-fashioned way, hand delivered with the print newspaper. The box itself (when assembled, it looked like a Fresh Direct container for three jumbo eggs) struck me as an almost instant anachronism: ready for its place on a historical timeline of the digital age’s evolution. This is what happened in 2015.

The box itself seems destined to be remembered with a disbelieving laugh, like the shoe-size mobile phones in a “Seinfeld” rerun.… read more. “NY Times VR raises new ethical issues”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment
  • Find Researchers

    Use the links below to find researchers listed alphabetically by the first letter of their last name.

    A | B | C | D | E | F| G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z