ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: October 2012

Call: Grad students to cover ISPR 2012 for Telepresence Options for free registration

Graduate students:

ISPR is seeking two graduate students who would like to attend the ISPR 2012 conference in Philadelphia next week (October 24-26; details are at http://presencelive.info) for free in exchange for writing an article about the event for Telepresence Options, the world’s leading publication covering telepresence, videoconferencing, and visual collaboration. This opportunity is made possible due to the generous sponsorship of Telepresence Options publisher Howard S. Lichtman.

If you’re interested or just have questions please contact us at ISPR@ispr.info by Saturday October 20.

 

 … read more. “Call: Grad students to cover ISPR 2012 for Telepresence Options for free registration”

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Virtual Distance Learning Classroom lets students congregate online in virtual reality

[From The Independent Florida Alligator; more information and a 4:17 minute video is available on YouTube]

UF class lets students connect

Posted: Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Michael Scott Davidson, Alligator Writer

Angelos Barmpoutis doesn’t want distance to keep students from sharing a classroom.

That’s why the UF Digital Worlds Institute research and technology coordinator is developing the Virtual Distance Learning Classroom, a digital system that will allow students to congregate online in virtual reality classrooms from the comfort of their couches.

Unveiled in November at SC11, a supercomputing conference in Seattle, the system creates 3-D avatars using the infrared depth sensor in Microsoft’s Kinect sensor.… read more. “Virtual Distance Learning Classroom lets students congregate online in virtual reality”

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Job: Digital Media tenure track position at Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech

Digital Media Tenure Track Position

Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC), which provides diverse humanistic perspectives on a technological world, is seeking to fill one Digital Media tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor. We seek practitioner / theorists who combine technical expertise with a strong grounding in the arts and humanities. Candidates should be prepared to teach at the undergraduate and graduate level in LMC’s Computational Media and Digital Media programs. A Ph.D. in an appropriate field is required (e.g. digital media / arts, human centered computing, computer science, education, or design), as is computational proficiency and a demonstrated capacity for significant original research/creative work. Potential to secure external research funding is strongly desirable. Preference will be given to candidates who demonstrate expertise in one or more of the following fields with a strong preference for candidates in the first two areas:… read more. “Job: Digital Media tenure track position at Georgia Tech”

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Exhibition immerses visitors in a 3D rain room

[From BBC News; a 2:13 minute video is available here; much more information is available at the Random International site]

Exhibition gives visitors power to control the rain

By Sabrina Sweeney Entertainment reporter, BBC News
4 October 2012

Most of us have been caught in a torrential downpour and wished we could make it stop, but how would it feel to have the power to control the weather?

Rain Room, a new 3D exhibition at London’s Barbican Centre marries art, science and technology to do just that.

Despite standing in a space filled with drops of falling water, visitors remain dry, as the water halts above them.

Its creators have described it as “a social experiment” which “extracts behavioural experiences”.

“We wanted to give people the cocooning experience of being immersed in a 3D rain room and watch their reaction,” Hannes Koch told the BBC.… read more. “Exhibition immerses visitors in a 3D rain room”

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Call: ACII 2013, 5th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction

ACII 2013 – CALL FOR PAPERS
The 5th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction

http://www.acii2013.org

The fifth biannual Humaine Association Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2013) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland on September 2-5, 2013.

The Conference series on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction is the premier international forum for research on affective and multimodal human-machine interaction and systems.

This ACII edition will emphasize the humanistic side of affective computing by promoting publications at the cross-road between engineering and human sciences (including biological, social and cultural aspects of human life).

The ACII conference will be organized by the Computer Vision and Multimedia Laboratory and the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences from the University of Geneva. Geneva has one of Europe’s most beautiful sceneries, situated between a lake and mountains and is a highly international city where English speaking is common.… read more. “Call: ACII 2013, 5th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction”

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Maximizing the instructional impact of videoconferencing

[From Campus Technology]

[Image: From “4 Ways to Use Video Conferencing Technology in the Classroom,” available at SecurEdge Network]

Maximizing the Instructional Impact of Videoconferencing

The spread of cheap and powerful videoconferencing tools had led to widespread adoption of the technology in an effort to lower costs and put resources to better use. But Education Consultant and Executive Director of Academic Programs and Faculty at Daymar Colleges Group Ruth Reynard argues that it can improve teaching and learning as well.

By Ruth Reynard
10/04/12

As videoconferencing technology has improved and become ubiquitous, the financial and technological barriers to using it in the classroom have all but disappeared. Though it’s easier and cheaper than ever to use, videoconferencing still presents unique instructional challenges and opportunities.

Foundationally, videocoferencing facilitates the meeting of individuals and participants in real time and in different locations.… read more. “Maximizing the instructional impact of videoconferencing”

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Job: Games and Playable Media faculty position at UC Santa Cruz

The Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz invites applications for a tenure track (Assistant) or tenured (Associate and Full Professor) faculty position. We seek outstanding applicants in the area of games and playable media. Preferred applicants will have research and teaching experience in games and graphics, with a research presence in the graphics community and the games and/or interactive media community, though candidates with specializations in other areas of games and interactive media will be considered. Specializations in areas particularly appropriate to games and interactive media, such as real-time animation and effects, procedural content generation, and novel interface mechanisms are preferred. This position will develop and teach courses within the undergraduate and graduate games and playable media curriculum, including being one of the primary instructors for the introduction to graphics and animation courses. Applicants are expected to develop externally funded research programs at UC Santa Cruz.… read more. “Job: Games and Playable Media faculty position at UC Santa Cruz”

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Three presence-related videos

For a change of pace today, links to three short videos that relate in at least a peripheral way to presence:

1. Aimee Mann’s video for “Charmer” (4:06) featuring actress Laura Linney as a robot doppelganger (for more see NPR’s All Songs Considered blog).

2. Actress Kristin Bell featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live in a mock ad for MoMi on the iPhone 5 (2:10).

3. The well-known Simpsons theme recreated with ‘real life’ actors (1:00).… read more. “Three presence-related videos”

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Call: Engagement, Simulation/Gaming and Learning – Special issue of Simulation & Gaming

Call for Articles
Engagement, Simulation/Gaming and Learning
Special issue of
Simulation & Gaming
An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theory, Practice and Research

SAGE Publications
http://sg.sagepub.com/ | http://www.unice.fr/sg/

Guest editors:
Nicola Whitton, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Alex Moseley, University of Leicester, UK
Editor: David Crookall, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, France

An understanding of why and how players engage with games and simulations, and of the factors that can influence and enhance engagement, is crucial for the design and use of effective game- and simulation-based learning experiences. In commercial, educational and social settings, engagement drives the use and re-use of games/simulations, meeting the value-for-money or targets required of modern organisations or funders. This symposium (special issue) of Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal will draw on a range of different disciplines including (but not limited to) computer science, game design, psychology, sociology and education, to explore how engagement is theorised, how these theoretical perspectives might influence the design of games for learning, and the ways in which engagement can be usefully evaluated.… read more. “Call: Engagement, Simulation/Gaming and Learning – Special issue of Simulation & Gaming”

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Like-A-Hug ‘wearable social media vest’ translates virtual Facebook ‘likes’ into real hugs

[From The Guardian’s Architecture and Design blog]

Like-A-Hug? The Facebook vest that gives you a hug from your friends

MIT students have designed a ‘wearable social media vest’ that translates every virtual Facebook ‘like’ into a real hug

Posted by Oliver Wainwright
9 October 2012

Ever wanted more from your social media? Is all that clicking and typing not quite hitting the spot? When the momentary excitement from that vibrating alert in your pocket fades, are you left empty, hollow, wanting more?

No, probably not. But if you did, then fret no longer, because some crafty MIT students have developed a wearable extension to your social media existence that translates every virtual Facebook “like” into an actual hug. They have turned that meagre pixelated thumbs-up into a full-body squeeze.

The Like-A-Hug project is a “wearable social media vest”, developed by Melissa Kit Chow in collaboration with Andy Payne and Phil Seaton, as part of the MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group.… read more. “Like-A-Hug ‘wearable social media vest’ translates virtual Facebook ‘likes’ into real hugs”

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