ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: March 2017

Call: mLearn 2017 – 16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning

Call for papers (long and short papers), posters, workshops

mLearn 2017
16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning
30 October – 1 November
Larnaca Cyprus
http://iamlearn.org/mlearn

The International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn) (www.iamlearn.org) is the custodian of the mLearn conference series. mLearn is the leading annual international conference for researchers, policy makers, educators, developers and solutions providers in the fields of mobile, ubiquitous and contextual learning, as well as learning with emerging ambient and wearable technologies. mLearn attracts a large number of participants from more than 60 countries representing all continents, and is, therefore, the world’s largest international conference on mLearning and emerging ambient technologies.

CONFERENCE THEMES

The overarching conference theme is ‘mLearning and Design for Social Change and Innovation’. Higher education institutions are called upon to provide for the competencies and skills that foster design for social change and innovation.… read more. “Call: mLearn 2017 – 16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Telepresence robots give distance students their own seat at the table

[This column in EdTech highlights the importance of presence, and ways to enhance it, in the distance learning classroom; for more information, see the Michigan State University study “From 2D to Kubi to Doubles: Designs for Student Telepresence in Synchronous Hybrid Classroom” in the International Journal of Designs for Learning. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: “Transforming classrooms with telepresence robots. Presented by John Bell, William Cain, and Marcus Rosenthal” (PDF of PowerPoint presentation)]

Telepresence Robots Give Distance Students Their Own Seat at the Table

Michigan State University helps online students feel represented in a unique way.

By John Bell
March 8, 2017

John Bell is Director of the CEPSE/COE Design Studio and professor of educational technology in the educational psychology and educational technology PhD program at Michigan State University. His current research interests also include idea-based teaching and learning using technology and collaboratively embodied content.… read more. “Telepresence robots give distance students their own seat at the table”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: Purposeful 2: VR with Purpose

Purposeful 2: VR with Purpose
Thursday 30th March at 6pm
@ Century Club Soho, London

More info and RSVP here: http://preloaded.com/purposeful2/
Spaces are limited, but hope to see as many of you as possible.

Last year Preloaded (preloaded.com) launched an event series called Purposeful with the aim of bringing together like-minded creators, content experts and curators (amongst others!) to explore pertinent topics relating to purposeful play.

Join us for Purposeful 2 when we will explore the potential for VR to deliver transformational experiences for audiences and organisations through a set of ‘micro talks’ followed by a showcase of emerging technology and demos, with drinks.

THE SPEAKERS:

Dave Patten, Head of New Media @ Science Museum, London
Dave is a new media / technology strategist, with wide experience of visioning and developing innovative new media systems and products. He is responsible for the team that develops and commissions all public facing IT and AV in the Museum.… read more. “Call: Purposeful 2: VR with Purpose”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Japanese company’s answer to Amazon Echo: Anime holograms with ‘comforting’ personalities for the lonely

[You have to watch the 2:00 minute video in this story from Motherboard to fully understand the nature of Gatebox, a new embodied virtual assistant from Japan’s Vinclu Inc. As coverage in Vocativ notes, “The plot from Spike Jonze’s movie ‘Her,’ about a man who falls in love with an artificially-intelligent operating system companion, just keeps getting closer to reality.” As detailed in Forbes, the company has just been purchased by South Korea’s Naver, which has 700 million registered users for its LINE messaging app and is developing its own “digital assistant powered by machine learning.” For more details about Gatebox including videos and screenshots, see coverage by Business Insider. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: Ars Technica]

This Japanese Company Wants to Sell You a Tiny Holographic Wife

Like an anime version of Amazon’s Alexa.

Madison Margolin
Dec 14 2016

Gatebox is [a] new holographic home assistant that’s similar to the Amazon Echo’s Alexa, only more anthropomorphic—and creepier.… read more. “Japanese company’s answer to Amazon Echo: Anime holograms with ‘comforting’ personalities for the lonely”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: Workshop on Serious Moral Games at ISAGA 2017

Call for Papers

Workshop on Serious Moral Games
at the 48th International Simulation and Gaming Association conference (ISAGA 2017)
Delft, the Netherlands, 10-14 July 2017

Extended deadline for submission – papers:  20 March 2017
Deadline for submission – game demo:  31 March 2017

Dear All,

If you are interested in the use of video games for purposes of ethics training / moral education, we’d like to make you aware of a thematic workshop on Serious Moral Games, which we are organizing at the ISAGA Conference in Delft (10.-14.07.2017).

The purpose of this thematic session is to bring together experts from diverse disciplines and areas of practice to share knowledge about the design, development, and evaluation of serious moral games (SMGs), i.e. games that explicitly try to stimulate learning in the moral domain. On the one hand, we are looking for research presentations (call for papers / extended abstracts).… read more. “Call: Workshop on Serious Moral Games at ISAGA 2017”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Mondly launches virtual reality for learning languages, powered by chatbots

[This would seem like an ideal application area for presence; the first story below, from ZDNet, describes the new Mondly language learning VR app, and the second, from The Next Web, provides a first-person user’s evaluation. For more information see the company’s press release via PR Newswire. –Matthew]

Mondly launches virtual reality for learning languages, powered by chatbots

Practice talking in 28 different languages with virtual characters, which teach language fundamentals and help build confidence, with the Mondly VR app

By Eileen Brown
February 28, 2017

Romania-based ATi Studios, the creator of the Mondly language learning platform, has released a virtual reality app for language education.

The VR app uses Mondly’s conversational voice chatbot, released by the company in August 2016, which has self-learning technology.

It combines voice chatbot technology with speech recognition in virtual reality to create a new way for users to learn a new language.… read more. “Mondly launches virtual reality for learning languages, powered by chatbots”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: Game studies and the Humanities (La valle dell’Eden special issue)

[NOTE: I wasn’t able to find this journal via Google searches. –Matthew]

 

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR La valle dell’Eden/East of Eden, 31/2017

Game studies and the humanities
History, critique, and perspectives on a dialogue

Edited by
Ricardo Fassone, Ph.D
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Università degli Studi di Torino
http://unito.academia.edu/RiccardoFassone

Deadline for abstracts: April 17, 2017

The study of video games has historically been at the centre of an interdisciplinary dialogue aimed at addressing the technological nature of the medium, its social and discoursive practices, and its stylistic, asethetic, and visual traits. Disciplines such as design studies, HCI, and computer science are interested in the technical and technological aspects of game development. Social sciences and psychology have been developing seminal theories regarding the uses and effects of videogames, with the works of scholars such as Marsha Kinder (1991), and the rich corpus of texts addressing the relation between video games and childhood.… read more. “Call: Game studies and the Humanities (La valle dell’Eden special issue)”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

VR simulation helps airline KLM engineers escape in an emergency

[This story from Computer Weekly describes the effective use of presence for training for fire safety as well as for enhancing several aspects of an airline’s operation. The original version includes more images and links to related stories. For more news about the use of presence for safety training see “Virtual reality training for ‘safety-critical’ jobs” from the University of Exeter. –Matthew]

Virtual reality simulation helps KLM engineers escape in an emergency

Dutch airline KLM develops virtual reality simulation to show engineers what happens if the maintenance hanger catches fire

Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
06 Mar 2017

Airline KLM is using a virtual reality computer game to train 300 engineers how to safely evacuate an aircraft maintenance hangar in the event of a fire or other emergency.

The project is part of an experiment by the airline to find a more effective way than traditional MicroSoft PowerPoint presentations and online courses of training large numbers of employees.… read more. “VR simulation helps airline KLM engineers escape in an emergency”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: Digital Transformation & Global Society (DTGS ’17)

Call for Papers

Second International Conference
“DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & GLOBAL SOCIETY” (DTGS’17)
June 21-23, 2017, St. Petersburg, Russia
Website: http://dtgs.ifmo.ru

Paper Submission Deadline: 20 March 2017

DTGS’17 is co-organized by the by ITMO University and Higher School of Economics (HSE), St. Petersburg, held during the Information Society Week.

The mission of the DTGS is to serve as a common platform for scholars and practitioners to discuss the transformative impact of digital technology on the way we work and live, with special emphasis on socio-technical aspects of cyberspace. DTGS’17 is focused on the ICT-enabled and ICT-transformed behavior in different spheres of human life.

Preference will be given to submissions addressing the core conference topics:

  • eSociety: social informatics, digital sociology, cyber activism;
  • ePolity: politics, governance and civic participation in cyberspace;
  • eFinance: new forms and methods of ICT-enabled financial behavior;
  • eEconomy: digital economy and markets;
  • eCity: urban environment and Smart City;
  • eHealth: eHealth technologies and their social effects.
read more. “Call: Digital Transformation & Global Society (DTGS ’17)”
Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

The ethics of presence on Saturday Night Live

[The ethics of presence made its way onto the popular U.S. program Saturday Night Live this weekend, as reported in this story from Exclaim! –Matthew]

[Image: Saturday Night Live photo by Will Heath]

Father John Misty Addresses Taylor Swift Lyric from “Total Entertainment Forever”: “That Is the Worst Thing I Can Think Of”

By Stephen Carlick
Published Mar 05, 2017

Last night (March 4), Father John Misty stopped by Saturday Night Live to perform a new song from his forthcoming third album, Pure Comedy, titled “Total Entertainment Forever.” The song’s opening line — “Bedding Taylor Swift every night inside the Oculus Rift, after mister and the missus finish dinner and the dishes” — has caught a lot of people’s attention.

In his song, Father John Misty’s Josh Tillman says, the last thing he’s doing is lusting after Swift; rather, he’s holding a mirror up to society’s “disturbing,” obsessive, all-consuming taste for entertainment of all forms.… read more. “The ethics of presence on Saturday Night Live”

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