ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: November 2020

Call: Exploring the Language of VR with The Look Club – Online Thurs Dec 3, 2020

Call for Participation

Exploring the Language of VR with The Look Club
An VR World Society event
Online
https://www.virtualworldsociety.org/events/vwsfireside14

  • When: Thursday December 03, 2020 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM (EST)
  • Where: AltspaceVR (including 2D mode on PC)
  • RSVP: Bit.ly/VWSFireside14

The rapidly expanding immersive media audience is confused by the plethora of forms and content becoming available. It desperately needs a common vocabulary, and ways to recognize quality in an immersive work. This emerging public needs someone to untangle the varieties of modern immersive media, and explain the wide range of techniques that today’s creators are testing and experimenting with—It needs to know, above all, if a particular immersive work is worth its time. Join us this week as Tom Furness chats with the founders and creators of The Look Club—three amazing women pioneers of immersive media, two of which will be joining in the conversation—Eve Weston and Jessica Kantor.… read more. “Call: Exploring the Language of VR with The Look Club – Online Thurs Dec 3, 2020”

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Why first virtual reality art prize is perfect for 2020

[Both the creative and financial potential of virtual reality art are explored in this link-filled story from Forbes, where the original includes two more images and three videos; note especially the link to the Radiance VR website, where you can review “documentations of more than 160 VR art experiences by 150 artists from 30 countries.” –Matthew]

[Image: Bangkok, Thailand – 2020/11/05: People enjoying with VR headset in front of the Marina Abramovic’s artwork during the exhibition at The Parq Klong Toey. Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) is a biannual art festival set in the capital of Thailand throughout the heart of Bangkok, in galleries, public spaces, temple, and iconic landmarks. Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) was commenced from 29 October 2020 through to 31 January 2021. Credit: Photo by Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]

Why First Virtual Reality Art Prize Is Perfect For 2020

Stephan Rabimov, Contributor – I write about emerging markets, fashion, arts, and culture.read more. “Why first virtual reality art prize is perfect for 2020”

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Call: 2021 IEEE 7th International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR 2021)

CALL FOR PAPERS

2021 IEEE 7th International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR 2021)
May 20-22, 2021
Foshan, China
http://www.icvr.org/

Submission deadlines:

  • Sessions, workshops: December 5, 2020
  • Abstracts: January 23, 2020
  • Full papers: January 30, 2021

After being held in Singapore, Los Angeles (United States), Chengdu (China), and Hong Kong (2017 & 2018), Singapore successively in the last six years, 2021 IEEE 7th International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR 2021), sponsored by IEEE and hosted by both Foshan University and Hangzhou Normal University in China, will be held during May 20-22, 2021 in Foshan, China.

ICVR 2021 is a forum to discuss new advances and developments in virtual reality by involving researchers, senior technical people, domain experts, and academics together. Authors are solicited to contribute to the conference by submitting original works that illustrate research results, projects, surveying works and industrial experiences that describe significant advances in related fields of virtual reality.… read more. “Call: 2021 IEEE 7th International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR 2021)”

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Extend Robotics launches R:O:B:, a teleoperated “robotically optimised bartender”

Watch the 1:04 minute demonstration video via the link in this short press release from Extend Robotics Ltd. via PR Newswire to see R:O:B:, a new teleoperated bartender robot that features “real-time, immersive and intuitive control using the latest VR technologies, highly realistic human-like dexterity and reachability to six degrees of freedom (DoF).” –Matthew]

[Image: Source: Extend Robotics on Twitter]

British firm, Extend Robotics Ltd., launches “R:O:B:” – a Virtual Reality-controlled ‘robotically optimised bartender’

Extend Robotics announces successful trial of VR remote-controlled robot with application in services, healthcare, utilities and energy

November 25, 2020

READING, England, Nov. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ —Extend Robotics Ltd., a UK-based innovator in general-purpose teleoperated robotics, announces the first successful trial of its virtual reality (VR) controlled cybernetic bartender, nicknamed “R:O:B:” (robotically optimised bartender). “R:O:B:” features a remarkable human-like dexterity and is fully capable of ‘virtually’ pulling a real pint!… read more. “Extend Robotics launches R:O:B:, a teleoperated “robotically optimised bartender””

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Call: CHI PLAY 2021 – 8th ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

Call for Papers

CHI PLAY 2021
8th ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
Vienna, Austria
October 18 – 21, 2021
https://chiplay.acm.org/2021/
@acmchiplay
#chiplay2021

Full paper submission deadline: February 17, 2021

CHI PLAY is the international and interdisciplinary conference, sponsored by ACM SIGCHI, for researchers and professionals across all areas of play, games, and human-computer interaction (HCI). We call this area ‘player-computer interaction’. The goal of the CHI PLAY conference is to highlight and foster discussion on high-quality research in games and HCI as a foundation for the future of digital play. To this end, the conference blends academic research papers, interactive play demos, and industry insights.

We would like to encourage authors to think ‘bold and beyond’. While CHI PLAY has always been open to all ways of knowing—from modelling behaviour to participatory design approaches—adapting to the situation, our reviewing guidelines will emphasize the value of other ways to gain insights beyond lab studies—think online studies, interviews conducted via email or video chat, literature reviews, or 1st person design explorations.… read more. “Call: CHI PLAY 2021 – 8th ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play”

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Virtual reality and presence help measure vulnerability to stress

[Using measures of physiological and behavioral responses to a series of experiences inside virtual reality, researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed an objective measure that predicts people’s susceptibility to the damaging impacts of stress. This story from EPFL describes the project; the original version includes three different images and a 2:47 minute video (also available via YouTube). See the article in Nature Communications for more details. –Matthew]

[Image: Elevated alley VR scenario. Source: EPFL via Newswise]

Virtual reality helps measure vulnerability to stress

Behavioral scientists at EPFL have developed a virtual reality test that assesses a person’s vulnerability to stress while exploring immersive environments. The resulting model offers the field of stress research one of the first such tools that does not rely on subjective evaluations.

By Nik Papageorgiou, EPFL
November 23, 2020

We all react to stress in different ways.… read more. “Virtual reality and presence help measure vulnerability to stress”

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Call: “Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human Robot Interaction” issue of Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics

Call for Papers

Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human Robot Interaction
Special issue in Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics

Deadline for submissions: 28 February 2021

DESCRIPTION

This special issue in Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics is based on the “Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human Robot Interaction – SCRITA 2020” third edition Workshop held at the 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).

The special issue focuses on investigating users’ trust in robots. Although the previous editions had the pleasure to welcome the participation of leading researchers in the field, and several exceptional invited speakers, who identified some principal points in this research direction, current research still presents several limitations. For this reason, we continue to further explore the role of trust in social robotics to effectively support the design and development of socially acceptable and trustable service robots.… read more. “Call: “Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human Robot Interaction” issue of Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics”

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Zoom Dysmorphia: Virtual meetings linked to negative self-image, increase in plastic surgery demand

[The Tribune report below describes an effect of the limitations in presence provided by video conferencing systems including Zoom. Coverage in health24 adds these details:

“Dr Benjamin Marcus, an author of another study that investigated self-observation, self-criticism and narcissism commented on the results of the study: ‘The Covid-19 pandemic has radically changed the frequency with which we are confronted with our own image. The shift to online work, learning, and even socialising has dramatically increased the time we have to observe ourselves.’

[…]

The phenomenon of Zoom Dysmorphia has been developing for a while. In an Allure article, which looked into plastic surgery during the pandemic, Jessica Weiser – a dermatologist in New York City – noted that people had started finding fault with their appearance on video even before the pandemic. ‘No one has ever really looked at themselves in this way – for this long, or this frequently – and I think that’s driving a lot of the demand,’ Jessica Weiser told Allure.”… read more. “Zoom Dysmorphia: Virtual meetings linked to negative self-image, increase in plastic surgery demand”

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Job: Professor in Media and Health Communication at KU Leuven

[Note especially the fourth research area under “Duties > Research.” –Matthew]

Call for Applications

Full-time Professor position in Media and Health Communication
Leuven School for Mass Communication Research
Department of Communication Sciences
Faculty of Social Sciences
KU Leuven (Belgium)
(ref. ZAP-2020-182)
https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/jobs/55921882?hl=en&lang=en

Application deadline: February 22, 202

The fulltime professor position (open-rank) will be held within the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research, a research unit within the Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven (Belgium). KU Leuven represents a leading academic institution in Europe that is currently by far the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure. The university’s mission is to provide excellence in academic education and research and to offer a distinguished service to society. Owing to KU Leuven’s cutting-edge research, KU Leuven is a charter member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and is consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in Europe.… read more. “Job: Professor in Media and Health Communication at KU Leuven”

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How virtual reality simulators are changing law enforcement training

[This essay from American City & County by the CEO and founder of a company that makes them, describes how presence-evoking simulators are evolving to better prepare law enforcement for the challenges of their job, including the insidious role of biases regarding members of the public. –Matthew]

How virtual reality simulators are changing law enforcement training

By Bob Ferris, VirTra
28th October 2020

There’s a pressing need for improvements in effective police training. Officers need to hone their skills for managing crisis situations and de-escalating dangerous encounters. Repeatable and accurate training is required to build their resiliency to stress and encourage them to make the right decision based on proven methodologies.

But training doesn’t equal improvement – effective training equals improvement. By using virtual reality (VR) that places officers in consequential situations, departments are seeing significant improvements in de-escalation, decision making and better handling situations to keep both the public and the officers safe from harm.… read more. “How virtual reality simulators are changing law enforcement training”

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