[The post headline above is from UploadVR’s coverage but all of the stories about the expansion of the Peabody Awards to presence-evoking and other ‘new’ media is all based on the press release below. –Matthew] PEABODY EXPANDS TO INCLUDE INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING Peabody Awards Expand To Include New Categories For Digital and Interactive Storytelling Distinguished Board Of Jurors Appointed For The Inaugural Awards ATHENS, GA (June 29, 2021)—The Peabody Awards today introduced the expansion of its award categories to recognize storytelling achievements across interactive, immersive and new media categories. An additional board of ten newly appointed jurors, composed of esteemed industry…

[Thanks to Journalism Professor Emeritus Howard Goldbaum, if you can’t experience the 19th century immersive panorama painting version of the Battle of Gettysburg in person you can experience it through a new interactive website or virtual reality. This story from the University of Nevada, Reno’s Nevada Today provides the details and links. –Matthew] [Image: One section of the “Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama”] Journalism professor emeritus turns one of the oldest forms of immersive media into virtual reality The “Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama” VR experience launches 158 years after the turning point battle By Jessica Fagundes June 30, 2021 Anyone with…

[This story from Digital Trends is an entertaining look at a new way to simulate smells to enhance presence for virtual reality users as well as in other contexts. See the original story for a second image and a video, and for more information about this and other presence-related work from the Human-Computer Integration Lab at the University of Chicago see the Lab’s website. –Matthew] Smell-O-Vision: This nose-zapping wearable simulates smell using electricity By Luke Dormehl June 6, 2021 Jas Brooks, a long-haired engineer who looks as if they might moonlight as the roadie for a hair metal band, sat…

[This is an interesting press release from UCLA via MedicalXpress about new neurophysics research that compares responses to virtual reality and the real world; it raises many questions about how we can measure and manipulate presence and its impacts. For more information see Maynak Mehta‘s website. –Matthew] Virtual reality boosts brain rhythms crucial for neuroplasticity, learning and memory by University of California, Los Angeles June 28, 2021 A new discovery in rats shows that the brain responds differently in immersive virtual reality environments versus the real world. The finding could help scientists understand how the brain brings together sensory information…

[This story from Road to VR evaluates a new presence-evoking technology announced by the company Varjo, which is promoting its Reality Cloud platform as “allowing the ultimate science fiction dream, photorealistic virtual teleportation, to come true.” Here’s a little of what Varjo says in a blog post announcement: “With Varjo Reality Cloud and Varjo XR-3, anybody will be able to capture their surroundings in 3D and then invite somebody else to join that same exact reality, see and hear others, and share their experience in absolute immersion. Instead of jumping on a plane, you will be able to teleport to…

[The Guardian recently published a “Readers Reply” discussion about the ultimate form of presence, the idea that our entire universe is a sophisticated simulation. Here’s a slightly abridged version with a few of my favorite comments highlighted (with [*]). –Matthew] Readers reply: how do we know we’re not living in a simulation like the Matrix? The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts 13 June 2021 Isn’t this just the kind of article our biomechanical overlords would simulate in order to keep us compliant…