ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: November 2016

Call: 19th International Workshop on Trust in Agent Societies (Co-located with AAMAS 2017)

Call for Papers

19th International Workshop on Trust in Agent Societies
https://sites.google.com/site/trustworkshop/trust2017

Co-located with AAMAS 2017 (http://www.aamas2017.org)
May 8-12, 2017, Sao Paulo – Brazil

Submission deadline: February 7, 2017

Trust is important in many kinds of interactions, including direct or computer- mediated human interaction, human-computer interaction and among social agents; it characterizes those elements that are essential in social reliability. It also informs the selection of partners for successful multiagent coordination (for example, in robotics applications). Trust is more than communication that is robust against repudiation or interference. The reliability of information about the status of a trade partner, for example, is only partly dependent on secure communication.

With the growing prevalance of social interaction through electronic means, trust, reputation, privacy and identity become more and more important. Trust is not just a simple, monolithic concept; it is multi-faceted, operating at many levels of interaction, and playing many roles.… read more. “Call: 19th International Workshop on Trust in Agent Societies (Co-located with AAMAS 2017)”

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Discovery’s American Heroes Channel plans virtual reality Civil War experience

[This story about a new production designed to evoke a greater sense of presence in historical events is from The Hollywood Reporter; the experiences are available at DiscoverVR.com and a press release is available via Broadway World. –Matthew]

Blood and Fury - America's Civil War screenshot

[Image: Chris Gordaneer/Courtesy of AHC

Discovery’s American Heroes Channel Plans Virtual Reality Civil War Experience (Exclusive)

The immersive segment takes an 1865 Confederate cadet dodging enemy fire in muddy trenches from 2D to 360 degrees.

November 28, 2016 by Etan Vlessing

The Discovery-owned American Heroes Channel is bringing the Civil War from 2D to 360 degrees with a virtual reality experience.

The cable network’s short VR segment Civil War: Letter From the Trenches, from Cream 360 and Discovery VR, is a companion piece to Blood and Fury: America’s Civil War, a TV series set to debut Dec. 14 and transport viewers to tumultuous battles like Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Gettsyburg from a soldier’s point of view.… read more. “Discovery’s American Heroes Channel plans virtual reality Civil War experience”

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Jobs: Tenure-track positions in game design/development or HCI at Virginia Tech

Tenure-track positions in game design/development or HCI, Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech’s Department of Computer Science is searching for multiple tenured and tenure-track faculty members to join our vibrant, collaborative, and rapidly growing department. We are especially encouraging applicants with expertise in either game design/development *or* human-computer interaction (HCI).

Gaming-focused applicants working in any technical area of digital game design/development are also encouraged, and this position is one of several gaming-related faculty searches happening this year as part of the new Creative Technologies + Experiences strategic growth area.

HCI-focused applicants may complement our faculty’s existing strengths, including virtual/augmented reality, visualization, social informatics, tangible interfaces, digital libraries, and creativity support, or bring new expertise in HCI.

For more details, or to apply: https://listings.jobs.vt.edu/postings/69879read more. “Jobs: Tenure-track positions in game design/development or HCI at Virginia Tech”

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City VR will give you the perspective of a giant roaming the world’s biggest cities

[Perspective is key to effective presence illusions; this story is from Digital Trends, where it includes a 0:32 minute video and four more images. –Matthew]

City VR screenshot - man in HMD is as big as building

City VR Will Give You a Giant’s Perspective of the World’s Biggest Cities

By Luke Dormehl
September 30, 2016

Ever dreamed of getting your Godzilla or Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on and stalking through a city, towering high above its buildings? The founder of cutting-edge Silicon Valley virtual reality studio Amber Garage certainly did. As a kid, Botao Hu, aka Amber, fantasized about this scenario.

Well, jump forward a decade and successful stints as a landscape photographer, data scientist and robotics expert, and the 27-year-old Hu has the means by which to make the dream a reality.

Using a combination of drone technology, satellite data, and HTC Vive hardware, Hu’s Amber Garage has launched its new City VR project, which lets users take a stroll through realistic 3D renderings of the world’s most bustling metropolises — and all in fully immersive virtual reality.… read more. “City VR will give you the perspective of a giant roaming the world’s biggest cities”

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Call: LearnXDesign 2017: Beyond the Allure of the Digital – Research in the learning and teaching of design

Call for Papers

LearnXDesign 2017: Beyond the Allure of the Digital – Research in the learning and teaching of design
The DRS/CUMULUS/DESIGN-ED conference
27-30 June 2017
London, at Ravensbourne on the Greenwich Peninsula
http://lxd2017.london

Deadline: 6th February 2017

This conference will bring together researchers and practitioners with an international reach and from a wide variety of education design settings with the intention of connecting emergent models and ideas around the digital, with the scholarship of teaching and learning. We also look to issues beyond the attraction of the digital in learning: other ways of acting, knowing and becoming in design – in the full range of educational settings from kindergarten to PhD. Student’s’ learning approaches demand creative solutions to a wide range of complex themes and contexts. We welcome debates on the scope of learner literacies and studies that investigate how formal and informal learning can be synergized.… read more. “Call: LearnXDesign 2017: Beyond the Allure of the Digital – Research in the learning and teaching of design”

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What will it mean when millions of people play – and kill – in virtual reality?

[This story from Psychology Today highlights some of the promise and especially the controversial perils of technologies that produce increasingly higher levels of presence. –Matthew]

Soldier wearing HMD shoots

[Image: Debradacija/Shutterstock]

Warped Reality

What will it mean when millions of people play—and kill—in virtual reality?

By Andrew Rosenblum, published on September 5, 2016 – last reviewed on November 25, 2016

It’s 1944. You’re an American G.I. on the Pacific island of Peleliu and a Japanese tank is creeping your way. You aim your bazooka and pull the trigger, sending the tank flying in a cloud of fire and molten steel. Somebody yells, “One down, keep it up!” You run toward the burning wreck and see a Japanese soldier, whose legs have been blown off, writhing in agony. You pull out your machine gun, point it at his face, and fire.

This execution of a wounded soldier is one of hundreds of savage scenes in the video game franchise Call of Duty, which has sold more than 250 million copies since its introduction in 2003.… read more. “What will it mean when millions of people play – and kill – in virtual reality?”

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Call: Integrating Multi-User Virtual Environments in Modern Classrooms (book chapters)

Call for Chapters: Integrating Multi-User Virtual Environments in Modern Classrooms

Editor:
Dr. Yufeng Qian
Northeastern University

http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/2431

Proposals Submission Deadline: December 30, 2016
Full Chapters Due: April 30, 2017
Submission Date: August 30, 2017

INTRODUCTION

Since its inception in 1975 as an adventure game and dubbed as MUD (multi-user dungeon), multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) has emerged as one of the most exciting instructional platforms in education. As both an instructional tool and approach, MUVE holds great potential in engaging and challenging learners in a socially situated and distributed learning environment that simulates real-life tasks and situations.

However, MUVE has long been mixed with other similar technologies, such as computer game, computer simulation, virtual reality, and augmented reality. In addition, like any other emerging learning tools that hold great promises for education, the design, development, and implementation of MUVE are still facing significant challenges before its potential can be fully unleashed and realized.… read more. “Call: Integrating Multi-User Virtual Environments in Modern Classrooms (book chapters)”

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Robot Drone Man combines a flying drone with a telepresence robot

[Drones with cameras can provide the user with a sense of spatial presence, but Robot Drone Man can also provide both the user and people who encounter the device with a sense of social presence. This story is from IEEE Spectrum, where it includes an additional image and a 0:55 minute video. –Matthew]

Robot Drone Man

[Image: Ilhan Bae/KAIST]

Behind the Music: How “Robot Drone Man” Built His Flying Avatar

By Evan Ackerman
Posted 7 Nov 2016

The most entertaining video we posted on Video Friday a couple weeks ago was almost certainly Robot Drone Man, a parody of this PPAP (Pen Pineapple Apple Pen) video, which for some reason has 150 million views on YouTube. Parody or not, Robot Drone Man actually exists, and it’s a project of Ilhan Bae, a researcher and futurist at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), who wrote in to tell us about it.… read more. “Robot Drone Man combines a flying drone with a telepresence robot”

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Call: ICAD 2017: 23rd International Conference on Auditory Display

ICAD 2017: The 23rd International Conference on Auditory Display
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park Campus, June 20-23, 2017

CALL FOR PAPERS, POSTERS, SONIFICATIONS, INSTALLATIONS, COMPOSITIONS, WORKSHOPS, PANELS AND DEMONSTRATIONS

Co-chairs: Mark Ballora, School of Music/School of Theatre • Jeff Rimland, College of Information Sciences and Technology
Paper chair: Margaret Schedel
Music chair: Rob Hamilton
Worshops chair: Derek Brock
ThinkTank chair: Hiroko Terasawa

Please check the conference website for updates: http://icad.org/icad2017/

To submit proposals online via EasyChair, go to https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icad17

February 20, 2017 – deadline for rough draft submissions
March 6, 2017 – deadline for final submissions (anonymized)

See the Submit Contribution website page for detailed information

THEME: SOUND IN LEARNING

Scientific literacy is typically gained through the study of graphs and various types of visualizations. Many of these have been in existence since the late 18th century, and are part of the standard research vocabulary.… read more. “Call: ICAD 2017: 23rd International Conference on Auditory Display”

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Thanksgiving Day tradition gets update: Macy’s Parade adds 360 broadcast, VR app

[One of the reasons I think presence is so interesting and important is that it’s extending into nearly all of our activities, in this case an American holiday tradition. This story is from Digital Trends, where the original includes an interactive 1:36 minute behind-the-scenes video. Check out the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade website for more information. –Matthew]

Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (float above crowd)

[Image: Credit: Shinya Suzuki / Flickr]

Turkey Day Tradition Gets Update: Macy’s Parade Adds 360 Broadcast, VR App

By Hillary Grigonis — November 22, 2016

A Thanksgiving tradition is getting a modern upgrade — this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be broadcast live in 360 degrees on YouTube, while a new app offers spectators a virtual reality parade experience carved from the event’s vivid 90-year history.

The 360 video, broadcast through sponsor Verizon’s YouTube channel, marks the first time that the live footage of the parade is available anywhere outside NBC since the annual event first aired on the network 64 years ago.… read more. “Thanksgiving Day tradition gets update: Macy’s Parade adds 360 broadcast, VR app”

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