[Too often we ignore the power of audio alone to evoke spatial and social presence. This story from The Verge reports on iHeart Media’s new expansion into immersive audio; the company’s press release (also available via Business Wire) makes the connection with presence clear: “Binaural, or 3D audio, creates a sense of movement, location and triggers other senses, enhancing listening experiences and providing a new way for people to hear high quality, surround sound, immersive content, and reproducing real-life experiences, much like virtual reality has done for video, right in their own homes. […] This is virtual reality for the…

[An upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream into a global, interactive real-time experience demonstrates both the evolution of presence-evoking technologies and storytelling and the creative innovation necessitated by the pandemic. The story below is from The Guardian, where it includes an additional image. More information and a video trailer are available at https://dream.online/ –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Stuart Martin/Royal Shakespeare Company] Is this an avatar I see before me? Audience takes to stage in virtual Shakespeare play Video game software enables actors to interact with viewers in real-time fantasy By Dalya Alberge 7 February 2021 Playhouses may be dark,…

[As described in the story below from The Conversation, Clubhouse is a new audio-only, real-time only (no recordings), social media platform designed to evoke social presence. Other coverage includes these additional details: From CNN: “[Founders Paul] Davison and [Rohan] Seth, who are both well connected in the tech industry from previous roles at top companies, said their goal with Clubhouse ‘”was to build a social experience that felt more human — where instead of posting, you could gather with other people and talk.’” From Vogue: “A dizzying bringing together of live podcast-style conversations, panel discussions, networking opportunities (some savvy people…

[A Florida company’s technology designed to motivate exercise and other healthy behavior creates a real-time (presence-evoking) reflection of a person modified (e.g., based on their heart rate) so that they appear “with up to a 30 percent increase or reduction in weight or muscle mass.” Details are reported in this story from The Washington Post; visit the EnvisionBody website for more information including a one-minute video (an extended version of the video is available in an earlier press release via PR Newswire). A negative opinion about the effects of the technology can be found in Input Magazine. –Matthew] [Image: EnvisionBody…

[This story from Mississippi State University is about an interesting new application of presence-evoking technology that helps students safely and quickly learn about processes that in the real world are both high-risk and slow. See the first link at the end for more information including two earlier articles (here and here) and a slide set. –Matthew] [Image: Prototype of virtual greenhouse in development. Credit: Pulseworks, LLC] MSU virtual reality initiative to help future growers navigate high risk ag enterprise Contact: Vanessa Beeson February 1, 2021 STARKVILLE, Miss. – Learning how to maneuver the high-risk aspects of the agriculture industry is…

[As Newsweek reports, Hanson Robotics is set to produce thousands of Sophias and three other robot models starting this year; see the original story for three different pictures and a short video. For other interesting news about medium-as-social-actor presence with robots see a Yale University story about research by the Interactive Machines Group that explores how a robot can use eye gaze and humor to set photography subjects at ease and an earlier study of how a group of bystander robots with sad facial expressions can stop humans from abusing another robot. –Matthew] [Image: Sophia in lab. Source: Reuters, where…