International Society
for Presence Research

Month: February 2026

  • Call: Strangeness and Oddity: Embracing the Extraordinary in Arts-Based Research

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Strangeness and Oddity: Embracing the Extraordinary in Arts-Based ResearchA Transdisciplinary ConferenceMarch 10-11, 2026Onlinehttps://labrc.co.uk/2025/12/08/strangeness-and-oddity-2026/ Deadline for submission of abstracts: February 15, 2026 “Blessed are the weird people – poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters and troubadours – for they teach us to see the world through different eyes” – Jacob Nordby What happens when we look beyond the ordinary? Can the strange and the peculiar hold the key to deeper truths about our world and ourselves? In what ways does the “bizarre” serve as a mirror for societal norms, fears, and desires? Throughout history, the extraordinary has often been…

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  • Walk inside the Colosseum of ancient Rome at this super-realistic VR experience

    Published:

    [The short description below of a presence-evoking immersive media attraction now in New York is from TimeOut; an October 2025 Metro UK review of the attraction when it was in London provides additional context and includes a 2:08 minute video and this assessment: “The virtual journey is possibly the closest yet to imagining what Rome was really like thousands of years ago. And it feels almost too real as you’re standing at the edge of the balcony in the Colosseum, contemplating whether you should jump off to see what happens. It’s fantastically life-like.” Excerpts from another review from BroadwayWorld follow…

    Read more: Walk inside the Colosseum of ancient Rome at this super-realistic VR experience

  • Call: Cross-sensory Futures: Rewiring Perception in HCI – CHI 2026 Workshop

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Cross-sensory Futures: Rewiring Perception in HCIA Workshop at ACM CHI 2026, The Association of Computing Machinery conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsBarcelona, SpainWorkshop: April 13, 2026, https://xsensoryfutures.ousmet.com/CHI 2026: April 13-17, 2026, https://chi2026.acm.org/ Deadline for submission of statement of interest or position paper: February 16, 2026 MOTIVATION Sensory HCI is at a crossroads. Human–Computer Interaction has long explored how technology can engage more sensory modalities than just vision and sound. In recent years, a growing body of work has gone further, intentionally leveraging how stimulation in one sensory modality can alter perception, cognition, or experience in another;…

    Read more: Call: Cross-sensory Futures: Rewiring Perception in HCI – CHI 2026 Workshop

  • Deepfake AI pastors are scamming churchgoers

    Published:

    [Unfortunately, just as those who employ increasingly powerful presence-evoking technologies for positive applications, scammers use them to deceive their victims; another disturbing example is described in this story from Gizmodo (the original Wired report it references is behind a paywall for many readers). You can find the 9:23 minute cautionary video by Fr. Mike Schmitz described in the story on YouTube. For related information, see the AFP story “AI-generated Pope sermons flood YouTube, TikTok” and the MinistryWatch story “How scammers use AI and cryptocurrency to defraud churches.” –Matthew] [Image: Source: Ascension Presents on YouTube] Deepfake AI Pastors Are Stealing From…

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  • Call: Human Work Interaction Design (HWID) 2026

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Human Work Interaction Design 2026 (HWID 2026)Theme: Harmonisation of human and machine intelligence in the 5th Industrial Revolution (5IR) Workplace8th Working Conference of the IFIP WG 13.6 Human Work Interaction DesignJune 17-18, 2026University of West London, St. Mary’s Road, London (United Kingdom)https:/wg6.ifip-tc13.org/human-work-interaction-design-2026-hwid-2026 Deadline for submissions: February 23 (extended) Technologies in work settings are increasingly underpinned by Artificial Intelligence (AI). This means that applications and platforms such as those in the Metaverse, Digital Twin (DT) systems, and Industry 4.0 and 5.0 are becoming increasingly autonomous and intelligent. While these developments promise efficiency and innovation, they also present risks of…

    Read more: Call: Human Work Interaction Design (HWID) 2026

  • NASA funding AI-guided care via AR for medical emergencies in space and rural areas

    Published:

    [In what sounds like a very early step toward the Emergency Medical Hologram in the Star Trek franchise (“The Doctor” on Star Trek: Voyager), researchers at Arizona State University are developing AI-guided augmented reality technology to provide real-time instructions for providing emergency medical care for people in remote environments such as space and rural areas on Earth where there is no internet service. See the original story from Arizona State University Engineering News for two more pictures. An interview with the lead researchers is available in text and audio formats from KJZZ in Pheonix. –Matthew] [Image: Pooyan Fazli (left), an…

    Read more: NASA funding AI-guided care via AR for medical emergencies in space and rural areas

  • Call: Serious Play 2026 Conferences (Europe / North America)

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Serious Play Europe 2026 and Serious Play North America 2026From the Gamesnetwork mailing list Hello colleagues, I am writing to share an update on Serious Play 2026. This year we are running two in-person events and we would love to welcome more games scholars and research teams into the program. Serious Play Europe 2026 June 18–19, 2026 | Mainz, Germany (KUZ Kulturzentrum Mainz) Call for Speakers is now open (February 15th deadline) 20% early bird registration discount until February 15 with EARLYBIRDNA20 code. Serious Play North America 2026 August 5–7, 2026 | Duke University, Durham, North Carolina…

    Read more: Call: Serious Play 2026 Conferences (Europe / North America)

  • She walks, shows emotion, holds eye contact and is warm — but she’s a robot

    Published:

    [A new humanoid robot named Moya is drawing attention on social media and in the press for some of its realistic attributes. The story below is from New Atlas, where the original version includes the mentioned 1:33 minute video from Shanghai Eye (the video is also available on YouTube). Additional details from Interesting Engineering and TechRadar follow below. More videos are available from the South China Morning Post (1:11 on YouTube), Hola Fujian (0:28 on Facebook, with the tagline “Science fiction coming to life”), and AI Revolution (a detailed 13:30 minute report). –Matthew] [Image: Source: Interesting Engineering] She walks, shows…

    Read more: She walks, shows emotion, holds eye contact and is warm — but she’s a robot

  • Call: Sound of Games, 5th International Video Game Studies Conference

    Published:

    Call for Papers: SOUND OF GAMESFifth International Video Game Studies Conference (SVI2026)November 12-13, 2026Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland [and online]https://sviconference.org/ Deadline for submissions: July 1, 2026 The fifth edition of the SVI video game conference, Sound of Games, is dedicated to the study of sound, music, and voice as fundamental yet still insufficiently examined dimensions of video games. Building on the long-standing dialogue between academic research and industry practice that characterizes the SVI series, the conference aims to bring together scholars, composers, sound designers, voice actors, and other practitioners working with game audio. Focusing on issues such as the aesthetics…

    Read more: Call: Sound of Games, 5th International Video Game Studies Conference

  • Trump’s use of AI images pushes new boundaries, further eroding public trust, experts say

    Published:

    [A government’s use of AI to alter images of real people and events to manipulate perceptions of media users is clearly unethical and a serious peril of increasingly sophisticated presence-evoking technology. This story from AP describes examples of this behavior by President Trump and his administration along with the views of several experts regarding the dangers it brings. See the original version of the story for an interactive version of the header photographs as well as a second image. –Matthew] [Image: An image of Nekima Levy Armstrong posted by Kristi Noem (left) and a manipulated image of her posted by…

    Read more: Trump’s use of AI images pushes new boundaries, further eroding public trust, experts say

  • Call: Evolutions in Cinematic Virtual Reality Symposium

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Evolutions in Cinematic Virtual RealitySymposium at The University of Hong Kong eXtended Humanities LabMay 18-19, 2026https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/02/02/evolutions-in-cinematic-virtual-reality Deadline for submission of abstracts: February 20, 2026 [Post on COMMLIST says February 15] Just over a decade ago, the arrival of consumer-grade VR head mounted devices (HMDs) enabled the development of a new form of linear storytelling in digital virtual reality. In industrial and academic settings, this new narrative medium has been referred to as Cinematic Virtual Reality (Dooley 2021; Mateer 2017; Ross and Munt 2018), a label that recognizes the adaptation of cinematic conventions and tropes within virtual spaces.…

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  • Theatre students use virtual reality to explore ancient performance spaces

    Published:

    [This story from Penn State Schuylkill provides another example of how an interdisciplinary team of experts, supported by their university, can use presence-evoking technology to enhance student experiences and learning outcomes. Follow the link in the story for more information. –Matthew] [Image: Penn State Schuylkill students, Noy Halimi and Jayden Blankenhorn using VR headsets in Theatre 105 class. Credit: Penn State.] Theatre students use virtual reality to explore ancient performance spaces February 3, 2026 SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. — Students in Theatre 105 at Penn State Schuylkill are stepping into the past using modern technology, exploring ancient and historic performance spaces…

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