International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Inside Facebook Reality Labs: The Next Era of Human-Computer Interaction

    Published:

    [The beginning of a Fox Business story excerpted below quotes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talking about presence and refers to a new Tech@Facebook blog post (also below) that outlines the company’s efforts and plans to develop AI- and AR-based presence-evoking technologies. See the original post for two more images and two videos and for related new stories see: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg thinks smart glasses could help combat climate change (CNBC) Mark Zuckerberg says realistic avatars are Facebook’s next big VR bet (The Verge) Facebook is considering a creepy new feature for its smart glasses (BGR) –Matthew] Facebook reveals more details…

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  • Call: Disability and Video Games: Practices of En-/Disabling Modes of Digital Gaming (Edited Book)

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Disability and Video Games: Practices of En-/Disabling Modes of Digital Gaming (Edited Book) Beate Ochsner & Markus Spöhrer (University of Konstanz, Germany) Deadline for Abstracts: 15.04.2021 (300 words) Deadline for papers: 15.09.2021 Please submit your abstracts: markus.spoehrer@uni-konstanz.de Concerns with the accessibility and adaptability of digital games, corresponding gaming platforms as well as peripheral devices have been uttered from different perspectives and sources during the last decades. Interestingly, subcultural or amateur DIY-accessibility practices have been documented since the mid-1970s. Counterplaying the arcade game Touch Me (Atari 1974) as a game for blind persons (cf. Kirke, 2018, p. 66;…

    Read more: Call: Disability and Video Games: Practices of En-/Disabling Modes of Digital Gaming (Edited Book)

  • Morehouse College launches virtual reality campus and classes

    Published:

    [Morehouse College, with help from Qualcomm and VictoryXR, is offering two courses on an immersive virtual reality version of its Atlanta, Georgia campus, as reported in this story from Auganix. The original story includes a second image and a short video example (also available with others via YouTube) and there’s more information in coverage by The Muscatine Journal (a first-person report) and Forbes, as well as the VictoryXR website. –Matthew] [Image: Some of the Morehouse College Professors in VR. Credit: Morehouse College / Qualcomm / VictoryXR] Morehouse College launches Virtual Reality campus and classes in collaboration with VictoryXR and Qualcomm…

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  • Call: Al: Limitations, Foundations, and New Directions – 24th CUNY Graduate Student Philosophy Conference

    Published:

    Call for Abstracts 24th Annual CUNY Graduate Student Philosophy Conference Artificial Intelligence: Limitations, Foundations, and New Directions Saturday, April 24, 2021 Online https://philevents.org/event/show/88190 Submission deadline: March 19, 2021 We welcome abstracts from graduate students on any topic related to artificial intelligence, broadly construed. The conference will be held virtually on Saturday, April 24. Keynote Speakers: Jesse Prinz (CUNY), TBA Contemporary research in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) is proving dramatically successful where earlier projects stalled. Image models and language models today display sophisticated (and sometimes uncanny) abilities in some narrow domains. Various flavors of machine learning see applications in many…

    Read more: Call: Al: Limitations, Foundations, and New Directions – 24th CUNY Graduate Student Philosophy Conference

  • Teaching empathy with VR and presence

    Published:

    [This story from Inc. about how one company is using avatars controlled in real time by actors to develop people’s empathy captures the essence of presence with this description: “like a good theater performance, the simulations have enough emotional realism to allow for a suspension of disbelief…  Participants react as they would in real life, even though they know the situation is artificial.” –Matthew] Learning Empathy Takes Practice. Lots of It. That’s Where Virtual Reality Can Help Mursion’s simulations use real actors in A.I.-generated scenarios–no bulky headset required. It could be the future of workplace learning. By Sophie Downes February…

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  • Call: Changing Values, Changing Technologies International Research Conference

    Published:

    Call for Abstracts Changing Values, Changing Technologies International Research Conference Delft University of Technology [see note below] 12 & 13 October 2021 Deadline for abstract submission: May 15 2021 NOTE: We are currently planning to have the conference in Delft. If the situation will change due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will update our plans accordingly. ORGANIZERS Ibo van de Poel, Anna Melnyk, Steffen Steinert, and Michael Klenk (Delft University of Technology) AIMS The aim of the conference is to present and discuss research on the interrelations of values and technology. Specifically, we aim to explore how novel technological developments…

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  • Presence evolution: The links between linear perspective and VR technology

    Published:

    [This piece from Hyperallergic provides a centuries-long view of the evolution of presence experiences from the development of linear perspective to represent three dimensions to today’s virtual reality headsets that “trap [the user] in a very well-designed sensorial cage.” How will presence experiences evolve over the next several centuries? See the original story for five more images. –Matthew] [Image: Thomas Eakins, “Perspective Study Of Boy Viewing Object” (1910). Credit: Wikiart] The Links Between Linear Perspective and Virtual Reality Technology It may surprise the reader to find that one of the founding moments for the development of virtual reality actually happened…

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  • Call: Ethics and Technology Workshop and Network for Graduate Students

    Published:

    Call for Abstracts and Participation Ethics and Technology Workshop for Graduate Students April 26th 2021 https://forms.gle/XGYVRGpczFXejb4p7 We are the Graduate Research Group on Ethics and Technology. We are hoping to set up a network supporting graduate research in ethics and technology, beginning with the ‘Ethics and Technology Workshop’ on April 26th. We are welcoming any work-in-progress proposals for the group to discuss together for either this workshop or later events to come. This group is intended to be a relatively informal, meeting place for early stage researchers where we can share our research and make some connections with others who…

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  • Forget Zoom. Microsoft wants you to chat with holograms.

    Published:

    [Mashable’s story below features a first-person report about a new multi-device mixed reality platform after the company provided a demonstration “specifically meant to show ‘all the core capabilities of Microsoft Mesh: Presence and 3D collaboration.’” See the original story for the four-minute video the author mentions. For more information see the Microsoft Mesh website, the company’s concept video on YouTube, and another first-person report from The Verge (a second story there focuses on a prototype of a new Mesh-enabled iteration of Pokémon Go and includes a video). –Matthew] Forget Zoom. Microsoft wants you to chat with holograms. By Brenda Stolyar…

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  • Call: CHItaly 2021 Interactive Experiences track

    Published:

    Call for Submissions CHItaly 2021 Interactive Experiences track 11-13 July Bozen-Bolzano (Italy) and online (www) [see note below] CHItaly 2021: https://chitaly2021.inf.unibz.it Interactive Experiences track: https://chitaly2021.inf.unibz.it/interactive_experiences.html Submission deadline: 19th March 2021 NOTE: We are hoping to safely welcome some of you to Bolzano (Italy) in July but, in case it is not possible, online participation will also be available. INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES CHItaly 2021 Interactive Experiences track is a venue for exploring, representing, and challenging the frontiers of HCI through co-located and distributed interactive experiences. The track welcomes prototypes and installations that demonstrate and question how digital technologies mediate personal, collaborative, and…

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  • Here’s how worried you should be about those Tom Cruise deepfakes

    Published:

    [A new set of deepfake videos apparently of Tom Cruise have raised new concerns about the rapid evolution of the AI technology. This story from VICE, where the original includes several videos and Tweets, is somewhat reassuring about the pace of that evolution but provides disturbing examples (at the end) of how coverage and discussion about the phenomenon is already causing harm. And a new story in Fortune adds this: “While today’s deepfakes are usually identifiable with careful digital forensic analysis, this process is time-consuming and requires a certain amount of expertise. Researchers are working to create A.I. systems that…

    Read more: Here’s how worried you should be about those Tom Cruise deepfakes

  • Call: Future Technologies Conference 2021

    Published:

    Call for Papers FTC 2021 – Future Technologies Conference 2021 28-29 October 2021 Vancouver, Canada and/or online [see note below] https://saiconference.com/FTC2021/CallforPapers Submissions due: 15 March 2021 NOTE: In view of the COVID-19 uncertainty, we want to reassure everyone that if travel is not feasible, you will be able to participate online/virtually. The Future Technologies Conference presents the best of current systems research and practice, emphasizing innovation and quantified experience. FTC has emerged as the foremost world-wide gathering of academic researchers, Ph.D. and graduate students, top research think tanks and industry technology developers. Join us for FTC 2021, the world’s pre-eminent…

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