International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Hologram telepresence is finding itself a new home in the corporate market

    Published:

    [With so many fast-evolving technologies and different sets of users and types of applications, the meaning of telepresence, presence and related terms continues to evolve, which can create confusion. But this story from Inavate Magazine describes the latest developments in the use of technologies in the corporate world that provide “life-size,” “3-D,” “realistic” illusions of being with the people in a remote location. See the original version of the story for two more images. –Matthew] [Image: Logitech’s Project Ghost telepresence prototype. Source: New Atlas] Is ‘hologram’ tech changing the corporate world? Hologram telepresence is finding itself a new home in…

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  • Call: International Workshop on Affective Computing for Mental Wellbeing: Challenges, Opportunities, and Promising Synergies

    Published:

    CALL FOR PAPERS mWELL@ACII2023: International Workshop on Affective Computing for Mental Wellbeing: Challenges, Opportunities, and Promising Synergies At ACII 2023, the 12th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction September 10, 2023 MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, USA Workshop: https://mwell.tbm.tudelft.nl/ ACII 2023: https://acii-conf.net/2023/ Submission deadline: April 28, 2023 The prevalence of mental illness is globally on the rise, leading to high individual and societal burdens. Many people in need do not seek professional help, the ones that do are confronted with limited availability of practitioners, and despite considerable progress, the success rate of therapies remains limited. While more and…

    Read more: Call: International Workshop on Affective Computing for Mental Wellbeing: Challenges, Opportunities, and Promising Synergies

  • VR “body rub parlour” offers an alternative to sex. But should we be worried about intimacy?

    Published:

    [This story from The Toronto Star explores the trends that may be behind – and the potential benefits and dangers involved with – the use of presence-evoking technologies to create physical intimacy (while some claims, e.g., about the Brain Waves XR technology, require more detailed, credible documentation, the larger concepts and issues are thought-provoking). See the original version of the story for four more images. –Matthew] Virtual reality body rub parlour offers an alternative to sex. But should we be worried about intimacy? So while the virtual world can provide a much-needed escape, there are societal and technology forces at…

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  • Call: TEI 2024, 18th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

    Published:

    Call for Papers TEI 2024: 18th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction February 11-14, 2024 Cork, Ireland https://tei.acm.org/2024/ Abstract submission deadline: July 25, 2023 Full submission deadline: August 1, 2023 Dear colleagues, We are happy to announce that the call for papers for TEI 2024 is now out! TEI 2024 is the 18th annual conference presenting the latest results in tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction. It brings together researchers, practitioners, businesses, artists, designers and students from various disciplines, including engineering, interaction design, computer science, product design, media studies and the arts. The conference theme will be “On the…

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  • What will happen to society when “AI lovers” fool millions of people?

    Published:

    [This essay from Big Think uses recent developments in conversational AI and science-fiction portrayals to warn us about the perils of a type of medium-as-social-actor presence experience in which humans emotionally bond with disembodied or even embodied human-like algorithms: “The danger is not of an AI falling in love with a human — that is a meaningless proposition. The danger comes from humans falling in love with an algorithm that behaves so much like a human that we deem it to be real, capable of feeling and reciprocating emotions.” –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Annelisa Leinbach / Big Think; Adobe Stock] What…

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  • Call: The world’s very first fully AI-generated conference

    Published:

    [This call for papers was posted on Facebook by James Mackay on April 1. Although it’s not “real” (!), some version of an AI-generated conference certainly could provide interesting illustrations of media as social actor presence. –Matthew] Announcing the world’s very first fully AI-generated conference – please consider submitting! Submissions are invited for the world’s first fully AI conference in July 2023. This gathering intends to explore the potential of “artificially intelligent co-pilots” to increase the efficiency of academia by removing human academics from the process as much as possible. Papers may be on any topic, in any discipline –…

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  • Inside the cozy but creepy world of VR sleep rooms

    Published:

    [This story from MIT Technology Review describes and offers a first-person report on how people are using both spatial and social presence to find sleep and company (even “cuddling”) in virtual reality. For more on this topic see the 2021 post in Ryan Schultz’ blog “Exploring sleep worlds in VRChat” and the VRchat subreddit.  –Matthew] [Image: Stephanie Arnett/MIT TR. Credit: Envato, Istock (Butter)] Inside the cozy but creepy world of VR sleep rooms Going to sleep in virtual reality can alleviate insomnia and loneliness—if you can avoid being harassed by kids. By Tanya Basu March 29, 2023 Lo-fi chill music…

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  • Call: “Governing Artificial Intelligence” Mancept Workshops 2023 panel

    Published:

    Call for Abstracts: Governing Artificial Intelligence Mancept Workshops September 11-13, 2023 University of Manchester, UK and Online https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/mancept/mancept-workshops/ Convenor: Markus Furendal (Department of Political Science, Stockholm University) Submission deadline: May 21, 2023 As the development of increasingly capable Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues at a striking speed, questions around the social and ethical impact of AI technology – and how it ought to be shaped politically – are more pressing than ever. For instance, as government agencies and public institutions turn to automated or AI-assisted bureaucratic decision-making, AI begins to wield public authority. As complex generative AI systems begin creating text…

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  • Peril and promise of AI-evoked medium-as-social-actor presence

    Published:

    [As you probably have noted, the news and commentary about the evolution of conversational AI has been accelerating. This week “Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter” (which at this writing has nearly 1900 “vetted” signatories) argued: “AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research[1] and acknowledged by top AI labs.[2] As stated in the widely-endorsed Asilomar AI Principles, Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning…

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  • Call: EuroXR 2023: 20th EuroXR International Conference

    Published:

    Call for Contributions The 20th EuroXR International Conference – EuroXR 2023 November 28-30, 2023 Rotterdam, Netherlands https://www.euroxr-association.org/conference2023 Submission deadline for scientific papers: April 24, 2023 The EuroXR Association (https://www.euroxr-association.org/) would like to invite researchers and practitioners in the field of XR to contribute to the 20th EuroXR International Conference – EuroXR 2023. This year, the EuroXR Conference will be collocated with Immersive Tech Week (formerly VRDays). It will be held with in-person attendance so that participants will get a more satisfying and enriching experience. We seek original, high-quality contributions in all areas related to virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality,…

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  • Face a virtual audience, hone speaking skills in new U. of Hawaii at Manoa VR lab

    Published:

    [The use of presence-evoking virtual reality to practice and reduce anxiety about public speaking isn’t new, but this story from University of Hawaiʻi News describes some of the benefits as it introduces a new NSF-funded VR Lab at the university developed specifically for helping faculty and students communicate more effectively. See the original story for two more pictures and a 1:25 minute video (also available on YouTube), and see the Lab’s website for a 4:20 minute first-person video (also on YouTube) that nicely illustrates the experience of visiting the Lab. A 1:51 minute 2022 HTC VIVE TALK provides more general…

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  • Call: New Coordinates for Creative Hybrid Space-Experiences (two volume monograph)

    Published:

    [From Adrian Kvokacka (adrian.kvokacka@FF.UNIPO.SK)] Dear All, I am pleased to share two CFPs for the collective monograph entitled ‘New Coordinates for Creative Hybrid Space-Experiences: Environments, communities, identities, and art’ and ‘Experiences in Hybrid Spaces: Creation, Reception, Understanding’. Basic Guidelines: Deadline for submissions: August 31, 2023 Language of submissions: English (British) Length of submissions: Up to 6000 words (references included) Reference style: Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.) Format: Word (accompanied with an exported pdf file) All submissions should be sent to: cfp@caphe.space The calls are available below and also at the links: Volume I.: https://shorturl.at/erwU4 Volume II.: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uy1XyzIiIWjqPi905iaULiWEJ9JZ3gwT/view?usp=share_link On behalf…

    Read more: Call: New Coordinates for Creative Hybrid Space-Experiences (two volume monograph)

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