International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • 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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  • Call: Rose Bruford College XR-Research Symposium

    Published:

    Call for Participation: Rose Bruford College XR-Research SymposiumJune 17, 2026 at 10:30 AM – 5:30 PMRose Bruford CollegeSidcup, Englandhttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rose-bruford-college-xr-research-symposium-tickets-1987595193729 Reserve a spot at the Eventbrite link above The XR-Research Symposium at Rose Bruford College brings together academics, artists and technologists using XR technologies for research in theatre and performance. The use of XR (augmented/mixed/virtual reality) tools and techniques is now well-established in many fields of artistic practice and academic enquiry, from their use to make various kinds of digital performance to VR reconstructions of historic theatres. This one-day symposium brings together academics and practitioners to share, discuss and explore how…

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  • LE SSERAFIM VR concert delivers stunning multi-dimensional K-pop experience

    Published:

    [This first-person report from LionhearTV via MSN describes the experience and user reactions to what sounds like an impressive VR concert film being shown in theaters around the world (in this case in Cubao, Metro Manila, the Philippines). See the original version of the story for six different images and a 1:42 minute video. For more details, see a review from AsiaOne and the LE SSERAFIM website; for more context on VR concert films by K-pop artists see a story in the Korea Herald. –Matthew] [Image: Source: The First Times] LE SSERAFIM VR concert at Gateway Cineplex delivers a stunning…

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  • Call: “Reshaping Spatial Acoustics” Workshop

    Published:

    Call for Papers: “Reshaping Spatial Acoustics” WorkshopAugust 25-26, 2026Aalto University, Finlandhttps://www.aalto.fi/en/school-of-arts-design-and-architecture/respa-reshaping-spatial-acoustics-1 Deadline for submission of abstracts: June 18, 2026 Sound is energy traveling through a medium. Sound is also experienced by humans and other living organisms, and as such, it is a way of transmitting information. In this process of sound becoming a medium in itself, it has an embodied effect on a person’s ability to think, feel, and act in a given environment. Our research project “RESPA –Reshaping Spatial Acoustics: Embodied Sound in AR Environments” (PI Sanna Lehtinen) is based on the idea that it increases “productive awareness” that…

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  • Why brain implants are more than a sci-fi fantasy

    Published:

    [The potential applications and benefits of brain-computer interfaces go far beyond presence, but most of them do involve overlooking the role of technology in perception (at least over time). This abridged version of a clear and balanced story about BCIs is from Bloomberg via the Japan Times, where the original includes two more images. Note especially the last two sections, about uses beyond medicine (including allowing consumers “to question AI chatbots with their thoughts and receive the answers through their headphones,” and soldiers to pilot drones with their thoughts), and the barriers to successful widespread adoption of the technology. –Matthew]…

    Read more: Why brain implants are more than a sci-fi fantasy

  • Call: 13th Workshop on Interfaces and Human Decision Making for Recommender Systems

    Published:

    Call for Papers: 13th Joint Workshop on Interfaces and Human Decision Making for Recommender Systems – IntRS’26Held in conjunction with the 20th ACM Conference on Recommender SystemsSeptember 28–October 2 2026Minneapolis, Minnesota, USAIntRS’26 Workshop: https://sites.google.com/view/intrs26/ACM Conference on Recommender Systems: https://recsys.acm.org/recsys26 Important Dates:Submission deadline: July 20, 2026Author notification: August 14, 2026Camera-ready version: August 28, 2026 Research on Human-AI collaboration involves several critical areas of investigation, such as Human-in-the-loop, Symbiotic AI, Explainable AI, User-centered design, and Intelligent Interfaces. Overall, this area of research is aimed at developing systems that can work effectively with human users, considering their preferences, cognitive abilities, and ethical values.…

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  • VR, AI are transforming the classroom experience in South Florida

    Published:

    [A virtual school founded in 2021 in South Florida offers all of its courses in virtual reality, as reported in this story from WPLG Local 10 in Miami. See the original version for a 2:56 minute video report. For more information and press coverage see the Optima Academy Online website; there’s also some relevant discussion on the homeschool subreddit. –Matthew] Virtual reality and AI are transforming the classroom experience in South Florida By Saira Anwer, ReporterMay 15, 2026 School is getting a high-tech makeover in South Florida, where students are stepping into virtual classrooms powered by artificial intelligence and virtual…

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  • Call: Patching Up for the journal Intermediality

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Patching Up / RapiécerIssue n° 50 (Fall 2027)Intermediality. History and Theory of the Arts, Literature, and Technologieshttp://intermedialites.com/en/call-for-papers-no-50-patching-up-rapiecer/ Editors:Karine Bellerive, Université du Québec à Montréal and Université de SherbrookeSandrine Lambert, Concordia University No payment from the authors will be required Deadline to submit proposals: June 15, 2026Announcement of selected proposals: July 10, 2026Submission of completed texts for peer review: November 15, 2026Publication of the texts approved by the Editorial Committee: Fall 2027 Patching up means adding pieces—patches—to maintain, repair, and extend the life of something; at times, it goes beyond simply filling a gap to become a creative…

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  • You’re an ‘avatar in a VR game,’ scientist claims

    Published:

    [Although it can be hard to detect (optical illusions provide a glimpse), it’s clear that we don’t perceive the reality around us directly, but a subjective version of it constructed by our senses and brain. Consistent with philosophy’s simulation argument that what we perceive as reality is likely a sophisticated computer simulation, the fascinating story below from Popular Mechanics via Yahoo! News uses a relatable presence metaphor, the logic of evolutionary game theory, and recent developments in the field of physics to argue for an “interface theory” of perception in which we can only experience the interface, not the complex…

    Read more: You’re an ‘avatar in a VR game,’ scientist claims

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