ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: May 2020

Job: Postdoc for MARIA Project on perceived mind and morality in HMC at Texas Tech U.

Post-Doctoral Research Associate for the MARIA Project on perceived mind and morality in human-machine communication
Texas Tech University
College of Media & Communication
Requisition Number:  20901BR
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/comc/about/employment/post-doc-research-assoc-banks.php

Review of applications will begin on June 1, 2020 and will continue until the position is filled

This position will provide an individual holding a doctoral degree with the opportunity to assist in supervised research into the communication and relational dynamics between humans and social robots. The successful applicant will work closely with Dr. Jaime Banks to conduct planned research projects funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Job responsibilities are conducted under the supervision of the Principal Investigator and principally include:

Assist with or oversee data collection procedures, including implementing research protocols, maintaining lab notes, performing lab safety procedures, lab operation and management, operation and maintenance of complex devices, and developing methods or instrumentation relative to research procedures.… read more. “Job: Postdoc for MARIA Project on perceived mind and morality in HMC at Texas Tech U.”

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What the pandemic tells us about personal identity, embodiment, and presence

[This story from the New Statesman about the nature of personal identity and the importance of embodiment considers timeless philosophical issues against the backdrop of the pandemic. While not using the term, it raises thought-provoking questions about mediated (i.e., tele-) presence. For example, as technology improves, to what extent will it be possible and necessary to create actual or simulated embodiment in mediated presence experiences? –Matthew]

What the pandemic tells us about personal identity

We have become more used to seeing others through screens and software, but we are embodied beings and digital communication can feel lacking. What effect will this have on us?

By Kieran Setiya
7 May 2020

Like many of us these days, I spend half of my life online. There’s no point fighting it. If I want to connect with anyone beyond my nuclear family, I have to do it virtually.… read more. “What the pandemic tells us about personal identity, embodiment, and presence”

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Call: “Pandemic Encounters: Being [together] in the deep third space” networked performance installation

GLOBAL LASER / KICKOFF
Pandemic Encounters ::: being [together] in the deep third space
Saturday, May 23rd, 12pm ET-US
Online

Location/Registration: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/pandemic-encounters

A Networked Performance Installation by Paul Sermon in collaboration with Randall Packer, Gregory Kuhn. The project is organized by the Third Space Network in collaboration with Leonardo LASER Hosts. (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous)

Pandemic Encounters is a networked performance installation inhabited by the live chroma-figure of Paul Sermon. Participants are invited to enter into the deep third space to engage & perform a ritual action as a reflection on the Covid-19 state of being [together] remotely. Each action has its own form: an artistic expression, a scientific analysis, a poetic rendering, a political manifesto, a social critique, a dystopic cry of distress, a subtle movement, a moment of catharsis, or a call in the night from some distant corner of the world.… read more. “Call: “Pandemic Encounters: Being [together] in the deep third space” networked performance installation”

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Missing Sounds of New York: An Auditory Love Letter to New Yorkers

[The New York Public Library is offering a (free) “immersive experience” that recreates the familiar sounds of the city that are temporarily absent because of the Coronavirus pandemic. This story is from the Library‘s website, where you can listen to the eight tracks. –Matthew]

Missing Sounds of New York: An Auditory Love Letter to New Yorkers

By NYPL Staff
May 1, 2020

The New York we know and love is one click away: cabs honking, pigeons cooing, bike messengers whizzing by, strangers gossiping, the hum of a local library. Anywhere you are can now become the city—all you need is Missing Sounds of New York, The New York Public Library’s new album.

A new immersive experience, the album is a collection of audio landscapes that evoke some of the sounds of New York City. Missing Sounds of New York, a partnership with creative agency Mother New York, is a love letter to NYC, connecting New Yorkers around the familiar sounds of urban life that they love and miss during this unprecedented time of social separation.… read more. “Missing Sounds of New York: An Auditory Love Letter to New Yorkers”

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Call: Free online game studies seminar on Mod Theory and landscape in computer games

From Peter Andrew Clarke NELSON (peteracnelson@hkbu.edu.hk)

Hello everyone,

I would like to invite you to a small game studies seminar called Mod Theory that I will be streaming over the next two weeks. Mod Theory began in 2019 as an experimental method for discussing landscape in computer games, with a focus on platform studies and the political unconscious. Prompted by the geographical restrictions of 2020 and our interest in using virtual environments as a place for theoretical discussion, this new seminar series will be held in the sandbox environment Garry’s Mod (Facepunch Studios 2003), streamed live, then edited and re-uploaded. We have a great set of speakers and topics for this series and would love to have a live audience for questions. You can find information on our speakers and links to the YouTube streams below:

Speaker schedule:

Seminar 1: Game Objects & Representation.read more. “Call: Free online game studies seminar on Mod Theory and landscape in computer games”

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Saganworks creates virtual reality rooms for storing files and folders

[This very short story from Blocks and Files describes the latest attempt to translate the 2D interface for computer file storage to a more intuitive (and presence-evoking) 3D system. Follow the links in the story for more information; see many more videos on the company’s Vimeo page; and for even more information visit the Saganworks website. –Matthew]

[Image: Screenshot from “Introduction to Saganworks” video. Source: Vimeo]

Saganworks creates virtual reality rooms for storing files and folders

By Chris Mellor
May 12, 2020

Saganworks, a US startup, aims to revitalise file:folder user interfaces with virtual reality rooms that create a memory or mindmap of user files.

The thinking is that storing files in a 3D space makes finding them easier than storing them in lists in a 2D space such as on a computer desktop. This is analogous to mind mapping, as Shanley Carlton, Saganworks QA testing and customer support manager, explains.… read more. “Saganworks creates virtual reality rooms for storing files and folders”

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Call: HCI and Academic Computing Education in the future – Computing Curricula 2020

[From the BCS-HCI elist]

Dear colleagues,

The Computing Curricula 2020 (CC2020) is a joint project launched by professional computing societies to examine the current curricular guidelines for academic degree programs in computing and provide a vision for the future of computing. “Humans and Organizations” is one of the 6 knowledge domains in all curricular guidelines, with “User Experience Design” or “Human-Computer Interaction” as an important knowledge area.

We have now produced a final draft report and invite you and your colleagues to review the draft report and complete the survey. The stakeholders of the report are, industry and employers, current and potential students and their care givers, government policy makers and academia.

Please feel free to distribute this draft report to your mail lists and any other stakeholders you consider appropriate. The survey must be completed by June 15th 2020. All comments will be taken into account as we produce the final report.… read more. “Call: HCI and Academic Computing Education in the future – Computing Curricula 2020”

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Coronavirus sheltering reveals new VR use: Emotional escape

[This story from the Los Angeles Times is an interesting first-person report on the current status of virtual reality and the nature of its value during the pandemic and more generally. It’s just one of several recent, sometimes-contradictory articles about the status and prospects for the technology; for example:

–Matthew]

[Image: Get lost in a virtual, interacting coloring book in “Color Space.” Credit: Lighthaus]

How I broke my VR skepticism and found emotional escape during coronavirus sheltering

By Todd Martens
April 25, 2020

All it took to make me a believer of virtual reality was for reality to break.… read more. “Coronavirus sheltering reveals new VR use: Emotional escape”

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Call: “Moral and Political Philosophy and AI” articles for Moral Philosophy and Politics

Call for Papers:

Moral and Political Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence
For the journal Moral Philosophy and Politics
Guest editor: Mathias Risse, Harvard University

Papers should be submitted before November 1, 2020

Many experts consider it likely that some kind of general artificial intelligence becomes possible in the 21st century (the kind of AI that approximates human abilities across a broad range). To be sure, many ethical issues arise already with regard to the kind of innovation that becomes possible through a combination of machine learning, Big Data, computational capacities and robotics. Governments have new tools at their disposal for screening citizen. The private sector collects data through use of electronic devices, to such an extent that some observers talk about commodification of all of human reality. Deepfakes undermine the use of a medium that for decades has functioned as a kind of epistemic backstop.… read more. “Call: “Moral and Political Philosophy and AI” articles for Moral Philosophy and Politics”

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Helsinki’s huge VR gig hints at the potential of virtual tourism

[The pandemic has spurred presence-related innovations in many sectors; this story from The Guardian describes a very large interactive live concert event in a realistic digital replica of Helsinki, Finland and includes speculation on the future of virtual travel. Note the concluding comment from an expert:

“The role of VR will increase… The tourism industry may need to consider hybrid experiences – a combination of real and virtual – in the future. And, after this forced isolation, people will be more open for virtual experience as an alternative way of socialising and enjoying life. It might be accepted as the new normal within tourism.”

 –Matthew]

[Image: Virtually there … screenshot from VR gig by Finnish rap duo JVG on Virtual Helsinki]

Helsinki’s huge VR gig hints at the potential of virtual tourism

Finland’s biggest online event – a gig by JVG – was ‘attended’ by over half a million but Helsinki has even more ambitious plans to become the virtual capital of the world

Sarah Baxter
May 5, 2020

According to Finland’s National Police Board, this year’s Vappu Eve (the festive night before May Day, when the country traditionally enjoys public fun and frolics) was “exceptionally peaceful”.… read more. “Helsinki’s huge VR gig hints at the potential of virtual tourism”

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