International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Call: 2026 ZIP-Scene Conference on Immersive Storytelling

    Published:

    Call for Presentations: Authentic Interactions: Interactive Digital Narratives, AI, and the Question of AuthenticityZIP-Scene Conference on Immersive Storytelling vol. 8.November 12–14, 2026DOX: Centre For Contemporary Art, Poupětova 1, 170 00 Praha 7-HolešovicePrague, Czech Republichttps://conf.zip-scene.com/ Deadline for submission of abstracts, bio statements and headshot pictures: July 1, 2026 What does it mean to be authentic in an age when our expressions can be generated, our emotions simulated, and our stories co-authored by machines? Authenticity, as research on social media platforms shows, is a negotiated tension between the desire for raw, unfiltered expression and the need to present oneself in ways that…

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  • ALTER-EGO robot in clinical trial to support care for ALS patients

    Published:

    [A robot developed over several years by a diverse team of relevant stakeholders including engineers, clinicians and patients, and now capable of both telepresence and semi-autonomous or autonomous operation, is being tested in a clinical trial. The story below from the University of Pisa provides details and context (see the original version for two more images). For more information visit these websites: clinicaltrials.gov, SoftBots Lab of the Italian Institute of Technology, and the Natural Machine Motion Initiative; a 4:22 minute video of the robot from Liguria Notizie is available on YouTube. –Matthew] Maugeri, the Italian Institute of Technology and the…

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  • Call: Politics of Pleasure: Erotic Culture, AI and the Future of Human Intimacy

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Big Time Sensuality: The Politics of PleasureErotic Culture, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Human IntimacyNovember 4-5, 2026Prague School of Creative Communication (VŠKK), Na Pankráci 420/54Prague, Czech Republichttps://pscc.university/about-us/big-time-sensuality-the-politics-of-pleasure/ Deadline for submission of abstracts and bios: June 30, 2026 It is with great pleasure that we are announcing call for papers for the “Big Time Sensuality” conference hosted by Prague School of Creative Communication (PSCC). — Europe is entering a new cultural phase. According to Eurostat’s 2026 report on 2025 data, more than 63% of young people aged 16–24 in the EU use generative AI.…

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  • AI, VR give food science students a taste of study abroad experiences

    Published:

    [An innovative “collaborative online international learning, or COIL” course in food science at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign uses a variety of presence-evoking and other technologies to provide students vivid and impactful experiences in international settings. Note this quote from UIUC professor Toni Gist: “Virtual reality allowed students to step into these environments and compare them directly to their own experiences in the U.S. That level of immersion creates a different kind of learning experience that moves beyond reading or watching something that isn’t interactive and reflective.” Follow the links within the story below, and the one to her YouTube…

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  • Call: IWRM 2026: International Workshop on Reality Mediation

    Published:

    Call for Papers: IWRM 2026International Workshop on Reality Mediation: Personalized, Shared, and Connected RealitiesCo-located with UbiComp/ISWC 2026 (ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing/ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing)October 11 or 12, 2026Shanghai, ChinaIWRM 2026 Workshop: https://reality-mediation.github.io/2026/UbiComp/ISWC 2026: https://www.ubicomp.org/ubicomp-iswc-2026/ Important Dates: Submission Deadline: July 3, 2026 Notification of Acceptance: July 20, 2026 Camera-Ready Deadline: July 27, 2026 Overview Ubiquitous computing is no longer only about sensing context and adapting services. As AI, XR, multimodal sensing, wearable and ambient interfaces, and cyber-physical infrastructures become embedded in everyday environments, computational systems increasingly influence what people notice, how situations are interpreted,…

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  • VR for flood risk communication: Making rare events tangible

    Published:

    [This story from PreventionWeb, a website of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, describes the use of presence-evoking technologies to help people visualize, understand the risk of, and begin to prepare to respond to, rare but dangerous flooding events in France. See the original version of the story for two more images, bios of the three authors, and a 10 minute video (also available on YouTube; the video is in French but you can read English subtitles by clicking on Settings Subtitles/CC Auto-translate English). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Peter Scholl] Virtual reality for flood risk communication: Making rare events tangible…

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  • Call: Brand Relationships: Consumer Behavior, Communication, and Trust in Digital Spaces

    Published:

    Call for Chapters: Brand Relationships: Consumer Behavior, Communication, and Trust in Digital Spaces[From the National Communication Association COMMNotes e-list] Deadline for submission of chapter abstracts and synopses: June 12, 2026 BOOK SYNOPSIS Brand Relationships: Consumer Behavior, Communication, and Trust in Digital Spaces examines the evolving nature of relationships between brands and consumers within digitally mediated environments. As communication technologies have transformed the marketplace into an interactive and participatory space, consumers increasingly interpret brands not simply as transactional entities, but as relational actors engaged in ongoing dialogue. This volume advances a communication-centered framework that positions relational processes, such as meaning-making, responsiveness,…

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  • “Can you spot what’s real?” Game

    Published:

    [As generative AI and image editing software become more powerful, it’s increasingly difficult to separate the many “real” (original, camera-generated) and “fake” (computer generated or manipulated) images we encounter, which means that both presence and inverse presence are becoming more common. A new promotion for Skylum’s Luminar software provides a potentially powerful demonstration: The “Can you spot what’s real?” game has users earn points by accurately determining whether each in a series of images is “AI generated or a real photo.” A brief introduction to the game from Luminar on Instagram is below (see the original post for six different…

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  • Call: Rose Bruford College XR-Research Symposium

    Published:

    Call for Participation: Rose Bruford College XR-Research SymposiumJune 17, 2026 at 10:30 AM – 5:30 PMRose Bruford CollegeSidcup, Englandhttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rose-bruford-college-xr-research-symposium-tickets-1987595193729 Reserve a spot at the Eventbrite link above The XR-Research Symposium at Rose Bruford College brings together academics, artists and technologists using XR technologies for research in theatre and performance. The use of XR (augmented/mixed/virtual reality) tools and techniques is now well-established in many fields of artistic practice and academic enquiry, from their use to make various kinds of digital performance to VR reconstructions of historic theatres. This one-day symposium brings together academics and practitioners to share, discuss and explore how…

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  • LE SSERAFIM VR concert delivers stunning multi-dimensional K-pop experience

    Published:

    [This first-person report from LionhearTV via MSN describes the experience and user reactions to what sounds like an impressive VR concert film being shown in theaters around the world (in this case in Cubao, Metro Manila, the Philippines). See the original version of the story for six different images and a 1:42 minute video. For more details, see a review from AsiaOne and the LE SSERAFIM website; for more context on VR concert films by K-pop artists see a story in the Korea Herald. –Matthew] [Image: Source: The First Times] LE SSERAFIM VR concert at Gateway Cineplex delivers a stunning…

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  • Call: “Reshaping Spatial Acoustics” Workshop

    Published:

    Call for Papers: “Reshaping Spatial Acoustics” WorkshopAugust 25-26, 2026Aalto University, Finlandhttps://www.aalto.fi/en/school-of-arts-design-and-architecture/respa-reshaping-spatial-acoustics-1 Deadline for submission of abstracts: June 18, 2026 Sound is energy traveling through a medium. Sound is also experienced by humans and other living organisms, and as such, it is a way of transmitting information. In this process of sound becoming a medium in itself, it has an embodied effect on a person’s ability to think, feel, and act in a given environment. Our research project “RESPA –Reshaping Spatial Acoustics: Embodied Sound in AR Environments” (PI Sanna Lehtinen) is based on the idea that it increases “productive awareness” that…

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  • Why brain implants are more than a sci-fi fantasy

    Published:

    [The potential applications and benefits of brain-computer interfaces go far beyond presence, but most of them do involve overlooking the role of technology in perception (at least over time). This abridged version of a clear and balanced story about BCIs is from Bloomberg via the Japan Times, where the original includes two more images. Note especially the last two sections, about uses beyond medicine (including allowing consumers “to question AI chatbots with their thoughts and receive the answers through their headphones,” and soldiers to pilot drones with their thoughts), and the barriers to successful widespread adoption of the technology. –Matthew]…

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