International Society
for Presence Research

Month: September 2026

  • Call: Expert review of immersive game-based learning design guidelines

    Published:

    Call for Participation: Expert review of immersive game-based learning design guidelinesPosted to the GAMESNETWORK e-list on September 21, 2026 Hello, I am currently recruiting academics with experience in immersive technologies, serious games, gamification, or game-based learning to help validate a newly developed framework containing 103 design guidelines. If you sign up, you will receive a set of guidelines to review and will have 30 days to complete the review at your own pace. Following the analysis, you will receive a subset of modified guidelines. These will be guidelines have not reached consensus amongst the evaluators in the first phase and…

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  • Insights from veteran designers of immersive media attractions

    Published:

    [In this essay from blooploop (“the world’s most read news source for visitor attractions professionals”), experts in designing and creating presence-evoking immersive media attractions describe some of the many complex and interacting decisions involved. They argue that the criterion for successful design should not be a single technical specification like image resolution but a system that will produce the desired outcome for the user, “what guests actually experience.” Although it’s not mentioned by name, they make clear that presence is a big part of that outcome. See the original version of the essay for five more images. –Matthew] [Image: Odyssey…

    Read more: Insights from veteran designers of immersive media attractions

  • Call: Digital Death in Context and Practice: Care, Legacy, Culture and Society

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Digital Death in Context and Practice: Care, Legacy, Culture and SocietyDigital Legacy Conference (DLC) and Death Online Research Symposium (DORS) 2027May 27-28, 2027University of Birmingham, UKhttps://www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/call-for-papers-panels-and-practicepolicy-contributions Deadline for submissions: November 27, 2026 Join us for the Digital Death in Context and Practice: Care, Legacy, Culture and Society. The Digital Legacy Conference (DLC) and the Death Online Research Symposium (DORS) will come together in Birmingham on the 27-28 May 2027. Through a new collaboration and in partnership with University of Birmingham, the conference will explore how digital technologies are reshaping death, dying, bereavement, memory, legacy and relationships with…

    Read more: Call: Digital Death in Context and Practice: Care, Legacy, Culture and Society

  • AI-powered brain implant for paralysis enables both speech and body language

    Published:

    [While discussion often focuses on the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, AI is helping to enable important benefits. This news release from the National Institutes of Health in the US describes a new machine-learning powered brain-computer interface that lets people who are paralyzed communicate not only via speech but simultaneously using both speech and physical gestures via an avatar, “more closely replicating natural expression.” For details see the new published study, which includes links to five videos; one 0:56 minute video is available on YouTube. Coverage from Science includes this: “’The authors have taken an important step toward developing highly…

    Read more: AI-powered brain implant for paralysis enables both speech and body language

  • Call: IPrA 2027: Positioning in Mediated Political Talk

    Published:

    Call for Panel Contributions: Positioning in mediated political talk20th International Pragmatics Conference (IPC20)International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)June 27 -July 2, 2027University of HelsinkiFinlandhttps://discourseanalysis.net/en/cfp-ipra-2027-positioning-mediated-political-talk Deadline for submission of abstracts: October 15, 2026 In mediated political talk, participants continuously position themselves and others in relation to each other as well as to broader political discourses that shape and constrain their interaction. Through such positioning practices, situated interaction becomes interwoven with and related to wider (trans-situational) discursive formations. This panel invites contributions that explore this intersection between interaction and discourse by focusing on positioning and stancetaking (cf. Du Bois 2007) in mediated political talk.…

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  • First-person report: Apple finally hits a VR home run

    Published:

    [In this first-person report, the executive editor of Macworld describes his positive presence experiences using the Apple Vision Pro during a dedicated broadcast of a Major League Baseball game. See the original version for two embedded videos. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Foundry] Opinion Apple finally hits a VR home run An immersive baseball game opened my eyes to how incredible Vision Pro actually is. By Michael Simon, Executive Editor, MacworldAugust 31, 2026 I’ve never had a desire to buy a Vision Pro. Even if I had $4,000 to blow at the Apple Store, I’d probably pick up a loaded MacBook Pro…

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  • Call: Health & New Media Research

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Health & New Media ResearchVolume 10, Issue 2https://www.hnmr.org/newsletter/call_for_papers.html Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2026. Health & New Media Research (HNMR) invites original research manuscripts for publication in Volume 10, Issue 2. HNMR focuses on the role of communication and new media in public and environmental health to advance scholarly discoveries and real-world solutions. HNMR is an open-access, international, biannual peer-reviewed academic journal and is published in June and December by the Health & New Media Research Institute at Hallym University (South Korea). The deadline for manuscript submissions is October 31, 2026. The submission should not have been…

    Read more: Call: Health & New Media Research

  • VR can help ease anxiety, claustrophobia during cardiac imaging

    Published:

    [As described in a news release from the American College of Cardiology, researchers at UCHealth in Colorado Springs, Colorado used the “immersive visual and auditory experiences” produced by virtual reality to “redirect the patients’ attention away from the scanner environment“ as they were undergoing PET and CT scans for cardiac imaging. The study apparently didn’t measure presence itself and has other limitations, but the positive patient responses and impacts of the intervention suggest its value and are consistent with studies of similar VR interventions in other medical contexts. For more information, watch a 2:50 minute video report from Fox21 News…

    Read more: VR can help ease anxiety, claustrophobia during cardiac imaging

  • Call: Where Is the Human? Communication, Connection, and Agency in the Age of AI

    Published:

    Call for Panelists: “Where Is the Human? Communication, Connection, and Agency in the Age of AI”At ICA 2027, the 77th Annual Conference of the International Communication AssociationJune 3-7, 2027Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdomhttps://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA27-calls-for-papers[From a post to NCA COMMNotes] Deadline for submission of abstracts and bio statements: October 16, 2026 I am organizing a panel proposal for the International Communication Association (ICA) 2027 conference exploring AI’s growing role as a participant in communication and what this means for human agency, authenticity, relationships, trust, and connection. As AI increasingly writes messages, advises decisions, supports relationships, assists leaders, and shapes organizational communication, the question…

    Read more: Call: Where Is the Human? Communication, Connection, and Agency in the Age of AI

  • Perhaps Star Trek’s computer voice makes sense

    Published:

    [As a fan of Star Trek since childhood, I’m particularly interested in this post from the Neurologica Blog about how the original television series almost exactly six decades ago (and I’d argue the many subsequent series and films) portrayed voice interactions with computers in the distant future. The author points out what many of us have observed, that the portrayal reflect little of the extremely convincing and presence-evoking simulations of human voices becoming common today, and he argues that whether purposely or not, the portrayal may represent a better approach. –Matthew] Perhaps Star Trek’s Computer Voice Makes Sense By Steven…

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  • Call: Mental Models in Human-AI Interaction

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Workshop on Mental Models in Human-AI Interaction: Methods and Challenges in the Generative and Agentic AI EraAt ACM IUI 2027: 31st Annual ACM Conference on Intelligent User InterfacesFebruary 8, 2027Helsinki, FinlandWorkshop: https://mentalmodelsofai.vercel.app/IUI 2027: https://iui.acm.org/2027/ Deadline for submission of papers: November 9, 2026 The mental model construct is widely used in HCI to refer to the knowledge structure people hold to reason about computing systems. Yet the construct is often used interchangeably with related concepts (e.g. folk theories, sensemaking) and methods of studying it are many and diverse. Generative and agentic AI systems further complicate mental model formation…

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  • How VR is changing brain-training technology

    Published:

    [Neurofeedback (a type of biofeedback) provides real time visual or auditory cues about a person’s brain activity to help them alter that activity – to ‘train their brain.’ Although it doesn’t directly consider the role of presence, a new meta analysis described in this PsyPost story tentatively indicates that the technique is more effective when the visual and auditory cues are not simple graphs and tones, but vivid and meaningful changes in an immersive virtual or mixed reality experience. Follow the link to the new publication for more details.  –Matthew] [Image: Figure 1 from the research review: The two different…

    Read more: How VR is changing brain-training technology

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