International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Call: Obscura. International Conference on Horror and Contemporary Media Culture

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Obscura. International Conference on Horror and Contemporary Media CultureOctober 28-30, 2026University of SevilleSeville, SpainOrganized by the LIGAINCOM Research Group (SEJ694)https://eventos.us.es/go/obscura2026https://eventos.us.es/154666/detail/obscura-congreso-internacional-sobre-terror-y-cultura-mediatica-contemporanea.html Deadline for submissions: July 10, 2026 Horror has established itself as one of the defining modes of contemporary storytelling, extending its influence across a wide range of media, including film, television, and video games. Its enduring relevance has fostered growing academic interest, revealing the genre’s rich cultural significance and the multiple interpretative possibilities its narratives offer from social, political, and ideological perspectives. While horror is often defined primarily by the emotional effects it elicits in audiences (Carroll,…

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  • Augmented reality system could make medical ultrasounds easier to interpret

    Published:

    [MIT researchers are creating a promising application of presence-evoking technologies that converts complex and difficult-to-interpret two-dimensional data to a “more intuitive and more understandable” three-dimensional version that better matches human perception. The original version of this story includes a 3:36 minute video (which is also available on YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Courtesy of the researchers] Augmented reality system could make medical ultrasounds easier to interpret MIT researchers have designed an ultrasound system that creates a real-time 3D representation of the object being imaged. By Anne Trafton, MIT NewsJune 10, 2026 Interpreting medical ultrasound images is a difficult task, requiring a…

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  • Call: AeroVisions. Aerial Aesthetics and the View from Above

    Published:

    Call for Participation: AeroVisions. Aerial Aesthetics and the View from AboveSeptember 1–3, 2026Cuneo, Italyhttps://aerialspatialrevolution.ch/aerospaces Deadline for submission of expressions of interest and short CVs: June 20, 2026 The view from above is a mediated perspective in multiple ways. Technologies of the air have become increasingly complex and diverse: airplanes and drones, but also satellites and spacecraft make climate-monitoring devices and observational tools extend our gaze far beyond the limits of our atmosphere. These technologies are not only part of but also fundamentally condition the aesthetics of contemporary aerial visions. The so-called Aerial Spatial Revolution has undeniably had pivotal political, economic,…

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  • Ukraine defense tech turns 2D building into 3D VR tool for room-clearing drills

    Published:

    [It’s a shame that war is often the motivation behind advances in presence-evoking technology. This story from United24 Media reports that a Ukrainian company has introduced a software feature that automatically turns two-dimensional building plans into three-dimensional models that can be navigated in virtual reality, allowing soldiers to practice assaults on the actual building. See the link in the last paragraph (or the ISPR Presence News post) to learn more about another company’s related software that lets users train to destroy enemy drones. –Matthew] [Image: A screenshot from Farsight Vision’s Floor Plan feature shows a 3D training environment used to…

    Read more: Ukraine defense tech turns 2D building into 3D VR tool for room-clearing drills

  • Call: 2026 ZIP-Scene Conference on Immersive Storytelling

    Published:

    Call for Presentations: Authentic Interactions: Interactive Digital Narratives, AI, and the Question of AuthenticityZIP-Scene Conference on Immersive Storytelling vol. 8.November 12–14, 2026DOX: Centre For Contemporary Art, Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha 7-HolešovicePrague, Czech Republichttps://conf.zip-scene.com/ Deadline for submission of abstracts, bio statements and headshot pictures: July 1, 2026 What does it mean to be authentic in an age when our expressions can be generated, our emotions simulated, and our stories co-authored by machines? Authenticity, as research on social media platforms shows, is a negotiated tension between the desire for raw, unfiltered expression and the need to present oneself in ways that…

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  • ALTER-EGO robot in clinical trial to support care for ALS patients

    Published:

    [A robot developed over several years by a diverse team of relevant stakeholders including engineers, clinicians and patients, and now capable of both telepresence and semi-autonomous or autonomous operation, is being tested in a clinical trial. The story below from the University of Pisa provides details and context (see the original version for two more images). For more information visit these websites: clinicaltrials.gov, SoftBots Lab of the Italian Institute of Technology, and the Natural Machine Motion Initiative; a 4:22 minute video of the robot from Liguria Notizie is available on YouTube. –Matthew] Maugeri, the Italian Institute of Technology and the…

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  • Call: Politics of Pleasure: Erotic Culture, AI and the Future of Human Intimacy

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Big Time Sensuality: The Politics of PleasureErotic Culture, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Human IntimacyNovember 4-5, 2026Prague School of Creative Communication (VŠKK), Na Pankráci 420/54Prague, Czech Republichttps://pscc.university/about-us/big-time-sensuality-the-politics-of-pleasure/ Deadline for submission of abstracts and bios: June 30, 2026 It is with great pleasure that we are announcing call for papers for the “Big Time Sensuality” conference hosted by Prague School of Creative Communication (PSCC). — Europe is entering a new cultural phase. According to Eurostat’s 2026 report on 2025 data, more than 63% of young people aged 16–24 in the EU use generative AI.…

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  • AI, VR give food science students a taste of study abroad experiences

    Published:

    [An innovative “collaborative online international learning, or COIL” course in food science at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign uses a variety of presence-evoking and other technologies to provide students vivid and impactful experiences in international settings. Note this quote from UIUC professor Toni Gist: “Virtual reality allowed students to step into these environments and compare them directly to their own experiences in the U.S. That level of immersion creates a different kind of learning experience that moves beyond reading or watching something that isn’t interactive and reflective.” Follow the links within the story below, and the one to her YouTube…

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  • Call: IWRM 2026: International Workshop on Reality Mediation

    Published:

    Call for Papers: IWRM 2026International Workshop on Reality Mediation: Personalized, Shared, and Connected RealitiesCo-located with UbiComp/ISWC 2026 (ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing/ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing)October 11 or 12, 2026Shanghai, ChinaIWRM 2026 Workshop: https://reality-mediation.github.io/2026/UbiComp/ISWC 2026: https://www.ubicomp.org/ubicomp-iswc-2026/ Important Dates: Submission Deadline: July 3, 2026 Notification of Acceptance: July 20, 2026 Camera-Ready Deadline: July 27, 2026 Overview Ubiquitous computing is no longer only about sensing context and adapting services. As AI, XR, multimodal sensing, wearable and ambient interfaces, and cyber-physical infrastructures become embedded in everyday environments, computational systems increasingly influence what people notice, how situations are interpreted,…

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  • VR for flood risk communication: Making rare events tangible

    Published:

    [This story from PreventionWeb, a website of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, describes the use of presence-evoking technologies to help people visualize, understand the risk of, and begin to prepare to respond to, rare but dangerous flooding events in France. See the original version of the story for two more images, bios of the three authors, and a 10 minute video (also available on YouTube; the video is in French but you can read English subtitles by clicking on Settings Subtitles/CC Auto-translate English). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Peter Scholl] Virtual reality for flood risk communication: Making rare events tangible…

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  • Call: Brand Relationships: Consumer Behavior, Communication, and Trust in Digital Spaces

    Published:

    Call for Chapters: Brand Relationships: Consumer Behavior, Communication, and Trust in Digital Spaces[From the National Communication Association COMMNotes e-list] Deadline for submission of chapter abstracts and synopses: June 12, 2026 BOOK SYNOPSIS Brand Relationships: Consumer Behavior, Communication, and Trust in Digital Spaces examines the evolving nature of relationships between brands and consumers within digitally mediated environments. As communication technologies have transformed the marketplace into an interactive and participatory space, consumers increasingly interpret brands not simply as transactional entities, but as relational actors engaged in ongoing dialogue. This volume advances a communication-centered framework that positions relational processes, such as meaning-making, responsiveness,…

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  • “Can you spot what’s real?” Game

    Published:

    [As generative AI and image editing software become more powerful, it’s increasingly difficult to separate the many “real” (original, camera-generated) and “fake” (computer generated or manipulated) images we encounter, which means that both presence and inverse presence are becoming more common. A new promotion for Skylum’s Luminar software provides a potentially powerful demonstration: The “Can you spot what’s real?” game has users earn points by accurately determining whether each in a series of images is “AI generated or a real photo.” A brief introduction to the game from Luminar on Instagram is below (see the original post for six different…

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