ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: October 2019

Call: “AI and its Discontents” issue of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

Artificial Intelligence and its Discontents
Call for Papers for a special issue of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews
(https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yisr20)

Guest Editor: Colin Shunryu Garvey, Fellow, Human-Centered AI Institute, Stanford University

Deadline for abstracts: November 15, 2019

This is increasingly the Age of AI. Artificial Intelligence, the suite of technologies that make machines capable of performing tasks considered “intelligent” when performed by people, is colonizing an increasing number of domains, from Internet search and social media to the natural sciences and even criminal sentencing. AI may soon become ubiquitous, coextensive with civilization itself, a taken-for-granted feature of modernity like electricity or running water.

But this does not mean that all is well: AI has, and has always had, its discontents; those who doubt, question, challenge, reject, reform and otherwise reprise “AI” as it is practiced and promoted. With the hope of scaffolding deeper understandings of both the epochal transformations being wrought by AI technologies and the range of responses these changes, this special issue of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews will bring together reflections from practitioners, assessments from scientists in fields transformed by AI, and historically-informed accounts of AI and its critics, both past and present, in order to capture something of the significance of this historical moment for future generations.… read more. “Call: “AI and its Discontents” issue of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews”

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Meeting the ‘Mona Lisa’ for an intimate (virtual) rendezvous

[The New York Times reports on a new way to experience the Mona Lisa (and other art). See the original version of the story for 6 different pictures as well as coverage in ArtNet and a 4:49 minute video from HTC Vive via YouTube. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: RFI]

Meeting the ‘Mona Lisa’ for an Intimate (Virtual) Rendezvous

Visitors to the Louvre will experience Leonardo da Vinci’s world through a virtual-reality tour that brings them closer to the masterpiece than ever before.

By Doreen Carvajal
October 15, 2019

PARIS — Mona Lisa’s lingering smile remains the same, but she is getting a first-of-its-kind virtual makeover from the Louvre Museum, which has struggled this year with the popularity of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece and the throngs of selfie-snapping tourists.

With a blockbuster Leonardo exhibition fast approaching, the Louvre and its production partners are fine-tuning a virtual reality tour with three-dimensional views of the portrait that look beyond the jostling crowds, the shatterproof glass case and the layers of varnish from restorations and the fading green patina.… read more. “Meeting the ‘Mona Lisa’ for an intimate (virtual) rendezvous”

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Call: TCC (Technology, Colleges and Community) 2020 Worldwide Online Conference

Call for Proposals 2020

25th Anniversary Special!
TCC (Technology, Colleges and Community) Worldwide Online Conference
Vision 2020
April 14-16, 2020
Homepage: tcchawaii.org
Hashtag: #tccsilver

Submission deadline: December 20, 2019
Submission form: http://bit.ly/tcc2020proposal

In celebration of its 25th anniversary, TCC 2020@25 will feature a Day in the Life of TCC with continuous plenary sessions throughout 24 hours on Wednesday. Tuesday and Thursday will feature usual participant presentations. Additionally, a commemorative pre-conference symposium held on-site at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (March 17-18) will be delivered online to interested parties.

TCC Hawaii invites faculty, support professionals, librarians, counselors, student affairs professionals, graduate students, administrators, and consultants interested in learning technologies to submit proposals for papers and general sessions presentations.

THEME

Learning technologies continue to influence how we learn, create and share. Online tools transform communication, networking, and collaboration. Learning today is global, life-long, ubiquitous, and irrespective of time and place.… read more. “Call: TCC (Technology, Colleges and Community) 2020 Worldwide Online Conference”

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Microsoft’s DreamWalker replaces real-world walk with a virtual reality

[This post from the Microsoft Research Blog is featured in new press coverage of the company’s DreamWalker system as well as other innovations. DreamWalker uses VR to substitute the experience of walking through a real world environment with a parallel walk through a virtual one (which of course raises some important safety concerns). See the original blog post for several more images and 3 videos. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: VentureBeat]

A new era of spatial computing brings fresh challenges—and solutions—to VR

October 21, 2019
By Microsoft blog editor

Virtual reality (VR) has continually pushed the boundaries of how we perceive, from its early days of Ivan Sutherland’s Sword of Damocles to today. With the technology emerging from its early stages of bulky equipment tethered to one place out of necessity, researchers now are working with increased possibilities derived from hardware and new input sensors.… read more. “Microsoft’s DreamWalker replaces real-world walk with a virtual reality”

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Jobs: Research Fellows at Heriot-Watt University in Conversational AI/NLP and HRI

Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, Great Britain
Interaction Lab, Department of Computer Science

Research Associate / Research Fellow in Conversational AI and NLP
https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/jobs/job_SVJDMjQzMTY.htm

Research Associate / Research Fellow in Human-Robot Interaction
https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/jobs/job_SVJDMjQzMTU.htm

Application deadline: 15 November 2019

ABOUT HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY

Heriot-Watt University has five campuses: three in the UK (Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Orkney), one in Dubai and one in Malaysia. The University offers a highly distinctive range of degree programmes in the specialist areas of science, engineering, design, business and languages.

With a history dating back to 1821, Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and practical, leading-edge research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for business and industry. We connect with industry at every level and develop programmes to match their needs – so employers get work-ready industry-fit graduates.

Heriot-Watt is also Scotland’s most international university, boasting the largest international student cohort.… read more. “Jobs: Research Fellows at Heriot-Watt University in Conversational AI/NLP and HRI”

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LG enhances South Korean TV sets with shoppable augmented reality ads

[Products featured on home shopping channels, and various other objects in other genres, will be entering TV viewers’ living rooms thanks to LG and Eyecandylab, as described in this story from Next Reality. See the original version for 3 more pictures and a 1:46 minute video; for more information see the press release via PR Newswire. –Matthew]

LG Enhances South Korean TV Sets with Shoppable Augmented Reality Ads

By Cristina Brooks
October 21, 2019

Best known for its mobile phones and television sets, South Korea’s LG has had a quieter presence in the US compared to the country’s homegrown efforts.

Now, the company is leveling up its augmented reality capabilities with 3D advertisements that spring from home televisions, in a move that competitors in the US are likely to want to follow.

LG’s telecom subsidiary, LG Uplus, and startup Eyecandylab have launched an app that works with two Korean home shopping channels.… read more. “LG enhances South Korean TV sets with shoppable augmented reality ads”

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Call: GamiFIN 2020: 4th Annual International GamiFIN Conference

Call for Papers

GamiFIN 2020: 4th Annual International GamiFIN Conference
April 1-3, 2020
Levi, Lapland, Finland

NEWS

  • DEADLINE EXTENDED. New deadline: November 3, 2019
  • Fast-track option to AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction| Electronic Markets | Internet Research
  • Elisa Mekler and Andreas Lieberoth announced as Keynote speakers!

IMPORTANT DATES

  • November 3, 2019: Submissions deadline for papers
  • December 20, 2019: Notifications of acceptance sent to authors of papers
  • January 15, 2020: Submissions deadline for posters and doctoral consortium
  • January 31, 2020: Acceptance for posters and doctoral consortium entries
  • February 28, 2020: Registration deadline for authors
  • March 8, 2020: Deadline for camera-ready
  • April 1-3, 2020: Conference

THEMES

Gamification is a multi-faceted phenomenon that affects many domains of human life. Therefore, we welcome submissions related to this ludic transformation of reality under several domains and related (but not limited) to the following keywords:

  • Users: e.g.
read more. “Call: GamiFIN 2020: 4th Annual International GamiFIN Conference”
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Presence after death: What happens if your mind lives forever on the internet?

[This is a wonderfully vivid description of what it might be like for both the biological and simulated versions of a person when technology allows digital duplication of minds and the presence after death that that suggests. The story is from The Guardian, where the original includes 4 more pictures. –Matthew]

[Image: Credit: James Melaugh]

What happens if your mind lives for ever on the internet?

It may be some way off, but mind uploading, the digital duplication of your mental essence, could expand human experience into a virtual afterlife

Michael Graziano, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton University
October 20, 2019

Imagine that a person’s brain could be scanned in great detail and recreated in a computer simulation. The person’s mind and memories, emotions and personality would be duplicated. In effect, a new and equally valid version of that person would now exist, in a potentially immortal, digital form.… read more. “Presence after death: What happens if your mind lives forever on the internet?”

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Call: Virtual Teaching Conference: VR, AR and 360 Video in Higher Education

Call for Papers

Virtual Teaching Conference: VR, AR and 360° Video in Higher Education
March 8-10, 2020
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/cte/symposiums/virtualteaching/vt_conference_call_papers.php

See conference web site for Calls for Panels and Showcase Presentations

Submission Deadline: November 22, 2019

Virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360° video are making the transition from the arcade and the playroom into the classroom, providing opportunities to enhance traditional learning with elements of simulation and gamification. The Virtual Teaching: VR, AR, and 360° Video in Higher Education conference provides a forum for the presentation of essays and research regarding the use of these technologies in higher education, providing an opportunity to share insight into the challenges and successes experience in the application of these technologies.

The conference will take place at the University of South Carolina in historic Columbia, SC, located midway between the Atlantic beaches and the foothills of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains.… read more. “Call: Virtual Teaching Conference: VR, AR and 360 Video in Higher Education”

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Phone-based VR is officially over

[The Verge reports on an important development in the history of presence-evoking technologies, the failure of smartphone-based virtual reality (the good news is that more compelling, convenient and cost-effective VR is supplanting the phone-based headsets). –Matthew]

Phone-based VR is officially over

By Adi Robertson
October 16, 2019

Mobile virtual reality headsets helped millions of people try out VR, but as of yesterday, they’re all but officially a thing of the past. Oculus CTO John Carmack offered a “eulogy” last month for the phone-powered Gear VR mobile headset, saying that the headset’s days were numbered. And Google just revealed that it’s discontinuing the similar Daydream View mobile headset, in addition to omitting Daydream support from the new Pixel 4 phone. The app will still work on older phones, but Google has now given up on a platform it once portrayed as an integral part of Android.… read more. “Phone-based VR is officially over”

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