ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: May 2018

Job: Postdoc Researcher in Multi-User Natural Interaction at Luxembourg Inst of Sci and Tech

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 15, 2018

Post-Doctoral Researcher in the field of Multi-User Natural Interaction (M/F)
The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)
Reference: Itis-2018-007
Fixed term contract, 24 months
Place: Belval
https://www.list.lu/en/jobs/researchers/job-offer/itis-2018-007-1/

Application deadline: June 15th, 2018

CONTEXT

The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) is appointing a Junior R&T Associate for the RDI Unit “Human Dynamics in Cognitive Environments (HDCE)”, which is part of the “IT for Innovative Services” (ITIS) Department.

The HDCE unit is a multidisciplinary team performing applied research in the Human-Centric computing field, at the interplay between computer and human science. It studies Cyber-Physical Social Systems and develops Ambient Intelligence technologies that leverage connected physical spaces and objects that citizens and workers use to enhance their individual and collective experience or performance.

The successful candidate will join the Multi-User Natural Interaction (INTERACT) research group, which focusses on human-computer and human-to-human interaction in collaborative scenarios.… read more. “Job: Postdoc Researcher in Multi-User Natural Interaction at Luxembourg Inst of Sci and Tech”

Posted in Jobs | Leave a comment

Peter Rubin’s “Future Presence: How VR Is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life”

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 15, 2018

[Peter Rubin’s new book covers a wide range of interesting presence topics; this interview with the author is from The Verge (where it includes a different image). –Matthew]

Why the real promise of virtual reality is to change human connection

It’s not all about gaming

By Angela Chen
Apr 17, 2018

All the talk about virtual reality revolutionizing the gaming industry is “just first-day stuff,” says VR expert Peter Rubin. Forget 360-degree video and video games, he says. That’s just the beginning, and focusing too much on these uses takes away from the true potential of VR: a social technology to bring us together.

Rubin is a journalist at Wired and the author of Future Presence: How Virtual Reality Is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life, out today from HarperCollins. The Verge spoke to Rubin about VR intimacy, its social powers and downsides, and why VR porn is surprisingly quaint.… read more. “Peter Rubin’s “Future Presence: How VR Is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life””

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: ENTER 2019: The 26th Annual eTourism Conference

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 14, 2018

Call for Research Papers

ENTER 2019: The 26th Annual eTourism Conference
“eTourism: Towards a Sustainable Digital Society”
Hilton Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
30 January – 1 February, 2019
https://www.enter2019.org

(Proceedings published by Springer – Journal special issue in JITT, Springer)

Submissions deadline: September 3, 2018

Every year, hundreds of tourism academics, industry representatives, government officials, students and entrepreneurs come together to share, discuss and challenge latest developments in information technology in the fields of travel, tourism and hospitality. With the theme “eTourism: Towards a Sustainable Digital Society” the ENTER 2019 conference will focus on exploring the ways in which technology and tourism together can make our society more sustainable. We call for latest research and case studies on emergent and cutting-edge information and communication technology concepts, applications, and business models to be shared in the conference.

Organized by the International Federation for Information Technology and Travel & Tourism (IFITT), the ENTER 2019 conference provides a unique venue for various tourism stakeholders to understand the application of information and communication technologies to travel and tourism, with a special focus on how eTourism can contribute to the sustainability of the society.… read more. “Call: ENTER 2019: The 26th Annual eTourism Conference”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Presence for good: Changing your race in virtual reality

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 14, 2018

[I somehow missed this important story from last fall about a project that uses presence to help people experience the microaggressions that result from implicit bias, “quiet, coded moments of racial bias that shape [a black person’s] worldview and sense of justice over time.” The story is from Engadget, where it includes more images. For more information on the project, created through a collaboration with our colleague Jeremy Bailenson, see the 1000 Cut Journey page on the Tribeca Immersive website and coverage in VR World that includes Courtney Cogburn’s TED Talk. For discussions of the broader potential of VR and presence to address social and political issues, see Wired’s coverage of this and other projects at Tribeca and a new blog post at BigThink. –Matthew]

Changing your race in virtual reality

And how it reveals the hidden structure of racism.… read more. “Presence for good: Changing your race in virtual reality”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: “HCI Perspectives on Industry 4.0” issue of Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal (IxD&A)

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 11, 2018

Call for Papers

Special Issue on
Human Computer Interaction Perspectives on Industry 4.0
to be published at the
Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal (IxD&A)
(ISSN 1826-9745, eISSN 2283-2998)

IxD&A implements the Gold Open Access (OA) road to its contents with no charge to the authors (submission & paper processing)

CFP: http://ixdea.uniroma2.it/inevent/events/idea2010/index.php?s=102&link=call37

Guest Editors:

  • Ralf Klamma, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
  • Viktoria Pammer-Schindler, Graz University of Technology, Austria
  • Mario Aehnelt, Fraunhofer IGD, Rostock, Germany

IMPORTANT DATES:

  • Deadline: May 28, 2018 (extended)
  • Notification to the authors: June 30, 2018
  • Camera ready paper: July 20, 2018
  • Publication of the special issue: beginning of August, 2018

OVERVIEW

Information technologies in the form of networked things, automation, data analytics and artificial intelligence allow for evolutionary and revolutionary progress in industry (Industry 4.0). On this focus day we connect technical and human factors aspects by discussing deep learning as one of the game changing algorithms, methods and technologies for Industry 4.0, and the impact on how industrial work will be conducted in the future.… read more. “Call: “HCI Perspectives on Industry 4.0” issue of Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal (IxD&A)”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Andrea Stevenson Won researching use of VR and presence to relieve pain

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 11, 2018

[This is a too-short story about our colleague Andrea Stevenson Won and some of her fascinating and valuable work related to presence. It’s from the Cornell Chronicle, where it includes two more images. For more information see the Virtual Embodiment Lab website and her page on the Cornell website. –Matthew]

[Image: Andrea Stevenson Won, assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University, in the Virtual Embodiment Lab. Credit: Sasha Israel/Provided]

Relieving real pain in a virtual world

By Jennifer Savran Kelly
April 30, 2018

We’ve all enjoyed losing ourselves in a good book, but what if the story could change our lived experience? It may sound like science fiction, yet Andrea Stevenson Won uses a similar concept to study how immersing people in virtual reality (VR) can treat real-life pain.

VR offers tantalizing hope as a way to relieve the anguish of physical and mental stress.… read more. “Andrea Stevenson Won researching use of VR and presence to relieve pain”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: DigitalHERITAGE 2018 – New Realities: Authenticity & Automation in the Digital Age

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 10, 2018

CALL FOR PROPOSALS (Papers, Exhibits, Workshops, Tutorials, Panels)

DigitalHERITAGE 2018
New Realities: Authenticity & Automation in the Digital Age
3rd International Congress & Expo
26-30 October 2018, San Francisco, USA
http://www.digitalheritage2018.org/

  • A federated event with multiple tracks including VR, AR, tangible and embodied interaction
  • Submission deadline: 20th May 2018
  • Proceedings to be published with IEEE and Expo Proceedings with Elsevier open access

WHAT:

The leading global event on digital technology for documenting, conserving and sharing heritage-from monuments & sites, to museums & collections, libraries & archives, and intangible traditions & languages. Featuring keynotes from cultural leaders & digital pioneers, a tech expo, research demos, scientific papers, policy panels, best practice case studies, hands-on workshops, plus tours of technology and heritage labs.

FOCUS:

Culture and technology fields from computer science to cultural preservation, archaeology to art, architecture to archiving, museums to musicology, history to humanities, computer games to computer graphics, digital surveying to social science, libraries to language, and many more.… read more. “Call: DigitalHERITAGE 2018 – New Realities: Authenticity & Automation in the Digital Age”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Google’s new voice bot sounds, um, maybe too real

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 10, 2018

[The demonstration of Google’s AI-powered virtual assistant Duplex at the Google I/O conference is both extremely impressive and, to many, worrisome. This story from NPR describes some of the concerns about the ethics of such effective presence illusions; for more on the ethics and a 4:25 minute video of the demonstration see coverage in The Verge, and for an expanded discussion that includes practical concerns, see coverage in Motherboard. –Matthew]

[Image: Google CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated new AI technology that can use human-like speech to carry on phone conversations at the Google I/O 2018 Conference on Tuesday in Mountain View, Calif. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

Google’s New Voice Bot Sounds, Um, Maybe Too Real

Laurel Wamsley
May 9, 2018

On the first day of Google’s annual conference for developers, the company showed off a robot with a voice so convincingly human that it was able to call a salon and book a haircut – never revealing that it wasn’t a real person making the call.… read more. “Google’s new voice bot sounds, um, maybe too real”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: ICAT-EGVE 2018 – Artificial Reality and Telexistence + Virtual Environments

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 9, 2018

Call For Papers

ICAT-EGVE 2018 – Artificial Reality and Telexistence + Virtual Environments
November 07 – 09
Limassol, Cyprus
http://icat-egve2018.rise.org.cy/

Paper submission deadline: 20 July 2018

The ICAT-EGVE 2018 conference will be held November 7th – 9th in Limassol, Cyprus. This is the merger of the 28th International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence (ICAT 2018) and the 23rd Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments (EGVE 2018).

Together these are two of the oldest international conferences in the world on Artificial Reality and Virtual Environments, and provide a unique opportunity for researchers, developers, and users to share their experience and knowledge of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and 3D User Interfaces. This is a great opportunity to renew old friendships, make new ones, and experience all that Cyprus has to offer.… read more. “Call: ICAT-EGVE 2018 – Artificial Reality and Telexistence + Virtual Environments”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Google’s first VR Doodle honors French Illusionist director Georges Melies

By Matthew Lombard | Published: May 9, 2018

[Google’s May 3, 2018 360-degree virtual reality Doodle is another small landmark in the history of presence. This story is from Adweek, where it includes two videos; for in-depth information see coverage in Engadget and Google itself (where the page includes a Making Of… video). The Washington Post elegantly describes the project this way: “Google has melded the future of the past, technologically and narratively, with the future of the now.” –Matthew]

Google’s First Virtual Reality Doodle Honors a French Illusionist Director

An homage to the ‘father of special effects’ Georges Méliès

By Marty Swant
May 3, 2018

Google just added another dimension to its daily Doodle.

In its first 360-degree virtual reality Doodle, Google’s fitting homage to the format honors the “father of special effects,” French illusionist and filmmaker Georges Méliès. Méliès—who died in 1938—lived long the concept of VR, which has gained traction in the past couple of years with companies like Google and rival Facebook investing heavily in hardware and content.… read more. “Google’s first VR Doodle honors French Illusionist director Georges Melies”

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