International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Call: “Performing Conflict…” for the journal Remote Connections

    Published:

    Call for Papers: “Performing Conflict. Theatre, Art, and Performative Media Forms in Wars and Protests”For the Artivism (Media Activism, Network as Art) section of an issue of the journal Connessioni remote (Remote Connections)https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/connessioniremote/announcement/view/1007 Deadline for submission of abstracts: March 10, 2026Deadline for submission of full papers: May 10, 2026 Contemporary wars, conflicts, and political protests exist in a condition that is increasingly inseparable from their representations. Current media and artistic ecosystems do not merely influence how these phenomena circulate but actively shape the very ways in which struggle is enacted. Performance is no longer simply a “medium” through which violence,…

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  • The power of sound in a virtual world

    Published:

    [Below you’ll find the introduction to, and then a few excerpts from the transcript of, a 37:31 minute episode (EP184) of Business Lab, a podcast produced by MIT Technology Review’s Insights. The guests are from the company Shure and the Perception & Cognition Laboratory at Yale University and although they only refer to it indirectly, they discuss the importance of presence in communication via technology. You can learn more about the research they discuss, and listen to audio clips from the study, in the podcast episode or via the online article: Walter-Terrill, R., Ongchoco, J.D.K., & Scholl, B.J. (2025). Superficial…

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  • Call: ACM SAP 2026: ACM Symposium on Applied Perception

    Published:

    Call for Papers: ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (ACM SAP)August 26-27, 2026Hosted by Inria Rennes, Francehttps://sap.acm.org/2026/ Deadline for abstract submission: April 21, 2026Deadline for paper submission: April 28, 2026 The ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (ACM SAP) provides an intimate forum for researchers who combine knowledge, methods, and insights from perception research and computer science disciplines. This includes such disciplines as cognitive psychology, perceptual psychology, psychophysics, behavior-analysis, and neuroscience on the perceptual side and computer graphics, computer vision, visualization, virtual reality and human-computer interfaces on the visual computing side. The interdisciplinary focus of this conference acknowledges that the various scientific…

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  • Researchers use AI to finetune robotic prosthesis, finding right balance between human and machine control

    Published:

    [Researchers at the University of Utah’s John and Marcia Price College of Engineering are using artificial intelligence to take over some of the control of the movements of robotic arms and hands to make the experience more natural and intuitive (i.e., make it easier for those with prostheses to overlook the role of technology in their experience). The original version of this story includes two video demonstrations (which are also on YouTube here and here). For related news, see “How much can an autonomous robotic arm feel like part of the body” from Toyohashi University of Technology (TUT) via EurekAlert!…

    Read more: Researchers use AI to finetune robotic prosthesis, finding right balance between human and machine control

  • Call: Intl. Conference on “Global Communication and Global Governance”

    Published:

    Call for Papers: International Communication Conference on “Global Communication and Global Governance”May 29-31, 2026Xiamen UniversityXiamen, Fujian Province, Chinahttps://telegra.ph/CALL-FOR-SUBMISSIONS-Xiamen-University-Announces-an-International-Communication-Conference-on-Global-Communication-and-Global-Go-02-03 Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2026 Xiamen University is pleased to announce an international communication conference on “Global Communication and Global Governance,” organized in collaboration with members of the National Communication Association (NCA) and leaders from the Communication University of China (CUC). The conference will be held at Xiamen University, China, from May 29 to 31, 2026. Under this overarching theme, we invite research presentations that engage broadly with the communication discipline, particularly within the following three thematic tracks: Theme 1: Digital…

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  • The Magic Table: A (presence-evoking) dinner that knows a few tricks

    Published:

    The Magic Table: A (presence-evoking) dinner that knows a few tricks [The new immersive dining experience described in this story from The Philippine Star is designed to evoke presence – a perceptual illusion of technology that magically doesn’t seem like technology. See the original version of the story for nine more pictures. For more about the creators’ earlier work, see the June 2015 ISPR Presence News post “Presence delights: Le Petit Chef brings projection mapping to your dinner plate.” –Matthew] [Image: Dinner, dealt with a sleight of hand] The Magic Table: A dinner that knows a few tricks At the…

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  • 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…

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

  • 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

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