ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: February 2014

Funny and thought-provoking satires of the conference call

[There are (at least) three satires of the audio conference call experience making the social media rounds lately – in addition to the one in the article below from Slate, there’s David Grady’s comedy routine “A Conference Call” and the recent Tripp & Tyler video “A Conference Call in Real Life”; they’re all not only at times laugh-out-loud funny but illustrate key presence concepts (and their absence).]

Win-Win graphic by Zach Scott

[Image: “Win-Win” by Zach Scott; the animated version is here]

“Like David Lynch Directed a Remake of Office Space

A site that perfectly captures the existential despair of the conference call.

By Joshua Keating

Is there a form of modern communication more frustrating and alienating than the conference call? The inevitable technical glitches, the mysterious background sounds and missed connections, the uncertainty of just who’s on the other end, the jokes that seem hilarious on one end but are met with dead silence on the other—it all combines to create a very particular and identifiable type of white-collar existential dread.… read more. “Funny and thought-provoking satires of the conference call”

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ISPR 2014 Presence Conference coming soon!

ISPR 2014

Join us at the ISPR 2014 Presence Conference in Vienna, Austria from 17th to 19th of March 2014!

Following a series of 14 successful Presence conferences, this year’s conference will retain the single-track format and pleasant social environment of previous conferences while featuring expanded oral presentations, poster presentations, panels, keynote presentations and hands-on demonstrations of presence applications, services and projects. We expect a wide range of international experts with both academic and practical backgrounds.

All the important details are on the conference web site (and on Facebook).

Registration fees for the ISPR 2014 Presence Conference at Vienna University are a low € 229 for academics and € 179 for students including a renewal of your annual ISPR membership. Use our online registration system to register for the conference and the social dinner and to purchase extra copies of our hard-cover proceedings.… read more. “ISPR 2014 Presence Conference coming soon!”

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Call: Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces for Video-Mediated Communication (at AVI 2014)

Call for Participation: Workshop on
Advanced Visual Interfaces for Video-Mediated Communication
At International Working Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces – AVI 2014
Como, Italy, 27 May 2014

http://cml.hci.uni-bamberg.de/events/avi14vmc

Overview

This workshop on 27 May 2014 at AVI 2014 aims at bringing together participants from academia and industry and diverse communities such as graphical user interface design, advanced visual interfaces, computer-mediated communication and computer-supported cooperative work.

Humans are social beings and want and need to connect with other humans. In recent years several technical solutions and empirical studies have explicitly addressed connectedness by supporting mutual awareness of remote users, through video calls, or an open video connection. Despite this technical and conceptual progress, there are still many challenges and opportunities for further research in this area.

Topics

This workshop addresses innovative concepts for video-mediated communication as well as empirical studies of their use, and includes amongst others the following topics:

  • Interface metaphors for video conferencing and media spaces
  • Mobile systems for video conferencing and media spaces
  • Mutual awareness in media spaces
  • Privacy in video-mediated communication
  • Interruption in video-mediated communication
read more. “Call: Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces for Video-Mediated Communication (at AVI 2014)”
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Topshop uses VR to provide front row seat at Fashion Week show at Tate Modern

[From Wired; a 2:20 minute video is available on YouTube]

Topshop's Virtual Catwalk storefront

[Image: Topshop/Inition]

Oculus Rift: Your front row Fashion Week ticket

12 February 2014 by Olivia Solon

To celebrate London Fashion Week, retailer Topshop is collaborating with 3D agency Inition to allow fans of the brand to experience a virtual front-row seat at a fashion show.

This year, the Autumn/Winter 2014 show for Topshop’s Unique range will take place in the Tate Modern’s cavernous Turbine Hall. While seats at the live show are reserved for sartorial VIPs, Topshop fans will be able to experience what it’s like to be on the front row of the show thanks to a virtual reality experience developed by Inition, that incorporates Oculus Rift, live streamed HD footage, 360-degree photography, tweets and animations.

Fans will be able to put on one of five Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets placed in the window of Topshop’s flagship store in Oxford Circus in order to experience the show.… read more. “Topshop uses VR to provide front row seat at Fashion Week show at Tate Modern”

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Call: 7th International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering (DeSE ‘2014)

Seventh International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering (DeSE ‘2014)
25th – 27th August 2014
Azia Hotel and Spa 5*, Paphos, Cyprus

www.dese.org.uk

Recent years have witnessed increasing interest and development in computerised systems and procedures, which exploit the electronic media in order to offer effective and sophisticated solutions to a wide range of real-world applications. Innovation and research development in this rapidly evolving area of eSystems has typically been reported on as part of cognate fields such as, for example: Information and Communications Technology, Computer Science, Systems Science, Social Science and engineering. This conference, on the developments in eSystems Engineering will act as a platform for disseminating and discussing new research findings and ideas in this emerging field.

Papers are invited on all aspects of eSystem Engineering, modelling and applications, to be presented at a three day conference in Paphos, Cyprus.… read more. “Call: 7th International Conference on Developments in eSystems Engineering (DeSE ‘2014)”

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VR-Hyperspace – Flying in comfort using Virtual Reality

[Unfortunately this technology won’t be available for the trip to ISPR 2014 next month… This is a press release from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and Fraunhofer IAO via OpenPR; follow the links at the end for much more information including more photos]

Enhanced cabin of VR-Hyperspace project

VR-HYPERSPACE – Flying in comfort using Virtual Reality

Future technologies to help airline passengers experience increased comfort and space and an altered self-perception

Press release of Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and Fraunhofer IAO
02-10-2014

Tübingen & Stuttgart, February 6, 2014 – Does this sound familiar? After a long check-in procedure you are finally sitting in your assigned seat on the aircraft. But the seat is too narrow, the foot-well is too tight, you have neighbors using both armrests, and the family with small children in the row in front increases the noise level considerably.… read more. “VR-Hyperspace – Flying in comfort using Virtual Reality”

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Call: ‘As Above, So Below’: A Colloquium on Drone Culture

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW
A Colloquium on Drone Culture
Saturday 24th May, 2014: University of Lincoln

FEATURING KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Benjamin Noys (author of The Culture of Death, The Persistence of the Negative, and Malign Velocities)
and Derek Gregory (author of The Colonial Present, Geographical Imaginations, and The Everywhere War).

AND:
MYTH-DRONE a performance by Plastique Fantastique (featuring David Burrows and Simon O’Sullivan)

The military use of aerial drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, has in recent years instigated huge controversy, dispute and protest. There continues to be much debate over the social and political implications of drone warfare, not least here in Lincoln, where, for the past year, the county has been home to the RAF’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Squadron. As wartime base to the Lancaster bomber, Lincolnshire is, to many, still ‘Bomber County’, and today the UK’s provision of armed Reaper drones, which operate in Afghanistan on surveillance and combat missions, are controlled remotely from a base less than five miles from our university campus.… read more. “Call: ‘As Above, So Below’: A Colloquium on Drone Culture”

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Futurist attends conference via ‘doppelbot,’ reports on experience

[From the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus blog]

Doublebot user and colleague

Futurist Attends Educause Conference via ‘Doppelbot’

February 6, 2014 by Lawrence Biemiller

Has your budget for attending conferences been slashed again? Here’s an idea: Send a remote-controlled robot instead.

That’s how Bryan Alexander, a futurist and education-technology consultant, attended the Educause Learning Initiative conference, in New Orleans this week. Without leaving his home, in Vermont, he maneuvered a slightly-gawky, two-wheel “telepresence robot”–essentially, an iPad mounted on a sort of miniature Segway–around the Riverside Hilton’s meeting rooms. He chatted with friends and acquaintances, peered at conference posters, and even posed for pictures. (That’s Mr. Alexander’s face on the screen [above].)

In a pair of entertaining blog posts (here and here), Mr. Alexander reports on his adventures—or, rather, on the adventures of what he took to calling his “doppelbot.” … read more. “Futurist attends conference via ‘doppelbot,’ reports on experience”

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Call: ‘HCI: Human Computer Improvisation’ Workshop at DIS 2014

Call for Papers

Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) 2014 Workshop on HCI: Human Computer Improvisation

Workshop Date: 21st or 22nd June 2014 (one-day workshop, date TBC)
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Submission deadline: 2nd March 2014

During improvised activities, things are made in the moment, in response to the contingencies of the situation, in settings that are often uncontrolled and with the reactions or participation of the public or other perfrmers acting as a continual provocation. Therefore, improvisation coalesces many of the concerns that arise when the study of human-computer interaction (HCI) is taken ‘into the wild’. During this one-day workshop, we aim to bring together an interdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners to critically examine the concept and practice of improvisation in a variety of manifestations and to imagine what Human Computer Improvisation might look like. The workshop will follow an innovative improvisation-focused approach, involving playful and collaborative improvisational encounters, and a live improvisational performance event at a local theatre venue.… read more. “Call: ‘HCI: Human Computer Improvisation’ Workshop at DIS 2014”

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O2 launches ‘Wear the Rose’ – first Oculus Rift sports experience

[From 02]

Wear the Rose O2 rugby simulator screenshot

O2 launches ‘Wear the Rose’ – the first ever Oculus Rift sports experience

Published: 06/02/2014

O2, proud partner of England Rugby, today announced that it has created ‘Wear the Rose’, the first fully immersive 360-degree virtual reality sports experience, using the revolutionary Oculus Rift technology.

‘Wear the Rose’ from O2 will allow fans to be immersed in a multi-sensory take-over and feel as though they are part of the Senior England Rugby Team, whether it’s a team talk from Captain Chris Robshaw, getting tackled by hooker Tom Youngs, or receiving a pass from fullback Mike Brown.… read more. “O2 launches ‘Wear the Rose’ – first Oculus Rift sports experience”

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