[The short post below from Inside Higher Education describes the challenges in replicating an in-person conference using presence-evoking technologies, a concern obviously heightened in light of the Coronavirus. In the case of ISPR’s PRESENCE 2020 conference this October, we’re not planning to cancel or postpone the in-person event but we’ll offer a virtual component for those who can’t attend (see the Coronavirus note in the Call for Papers). For more on presence-evoking technologies as the virus spreads, see these stories: Latest developments: The Coronavirus Threatens to Upend Higher Ed. Here Are the Latest Developments (Chronicle of Higher Education) Coronavirus Industry…

[As this story from Apartment Therapy notes, artificial plants often look like their organic counterparts, which caused one woman to mistake the technology-created for the ‘real’ (see the original story for more pictures and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert video segment). Coverage in The Manc, and comments on the viral Facebook post in the story, make clear that many people experience this type of presence illusion. –Matthew] This Woman Watered a Fake Succulent for Two Years Because It Looked So Real—And the Story Went Viral By Nicoletta Richardson March 5, 2020 Some fake plants are so good at looking…

[A new three-minute ad in the UK is an entertaining, fast-paced portrayal of a presence-filled future; this story from Next Reality describes it as “an ambitious and undeniably fun approach to 5G marketing [that] might help consumers understand that they’re about to enter a new realm of connectivity, blanketed by the AR cloud and a million AR and holographic experiences that will change the very fabric of our daily reality.” See the original story for five animated gifs and the ad itself, which is also available on YouTube. –Matthew] UK Wireless Giant Three Promos 5G for AR, VR, & Smartphones…

[An interesting new way to use augmented reality, and then social media, to enhance both spatial and social presence is described in this story from Rolling Stone (see the original version for a different image). For more information and images see coverage in Loudwire and the Jadu website, where you can download the app and read a press kit statement that includes this: “’We want Jadu to enable a new sense of presence,’ said Asad J. Malik, creator of Jadu and founder and CEO of 1RIC. ‘There is something special about allowing artists to share this new sense of presence…

[This story from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (also available via Phys.Org) describes how the knowledge that animals, in this case adult zebrafish, can experience an illusion of nonmediation can be used to study how their – and by extension, our – brains interpret and respond to the world. See the original story for a second figure and for more details see the article in Nature Methods. –Matthew] [Image: The Virtual Reality arena. The fish is positioned between the posts under the microscope objective, where it can swim as it is shown the VR projection. The illumination by…

[This story from WKYC reports on efforts to use virtual reality and presence in the training of classroom teachers; the original version includes a 1:52 minute video news report. For more information see the Kent State website, which features a 2:44 minute video about the Extended Reality Initiative. Kent State also has a story about an NEH-funded project that will use augmented reality to commemorate the tragic events of May 4, 1970. –Matthew] Training future teachers with virtual reality The National Science Foundation has awarded Kent State’s team of researchers a three-year grant for $1.48 million. By Amani Abraham February…

[The loss of life is the biggest tragedy of course, but this story from Smithsonian Magazine describes an important application of presence-evoking technologies to bring awareness to the loss of monuments and other cultural heritage structures in ancient cities destroyed in “political and military upheaval.” See the original story for seven more images and a wider version of the image below. –Matthew] [Image: The exhibition presents the possibility that 3-D models (above: a digital rendering of Aleppo following the 2012 civil war in Syria), and the information extracted from them can be used for future restoration projects. Credit: Arab World…