International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Sarah Silverblatt-Buser’s “Collective Body,” an interactive virtual reality dance experience

    Published:

    [The creator of Collective Body, an “intimate, immersively embodied VR experience” currently on a global tour, describes the project and its origins, design, and impacts in this interview from The Dance Enthusiast; see the original version of the interview for four more images. For more information see a story from Playbill and a review from The VR Critic. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center] THE DANCE ENTHUSIAST ASKS: Sarah Silverblatt-Buser’s “Collective Body,” an Interactive Virtual Reality Dance By Sarah Cecilia BukowskiOctober 20, 2025 Collective Body is an interactive virtual reality experience that guides participants through movement explorations to…

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  • Call: Media Realities International Symposium 2026

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Media Realities International Symposium 2026April 29-30, 2026HLK campus at Jönköping UniversityJönköping, Swedenhttps://ju.se/mediarealitiesinternationalsymposium2026 Organisers: Annette Hill (MKV, Jönköping University) and Hario Priambodho (Lund University) Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 12, 2025 Media realities face multilevel challenges. Realities play off varieties of representations, technologies and experiences. Media realities are rooted in different professional traditions, e.g. film and television, radio and journalism, gaming, social and synthetic media. There are multiple routes for realities, including archives and records, representations and remixes, virtual and artificial intelligence. These roots and routes for media realities take place in intense, contested settings regarding trust,…

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  • U. of Miami researchers using art and VR to train future health professionals

    Published:

    [An interdisciplinary team at the University of Miami is studying the effectiveness of visual arts training via presence-evoking virtual reality for teaching medical, nursing and physical therapy students. As one of the researchers notes, “Through guided discussion of art, students learn to embrace multiple perspectives, tolerate ambiguity, and support their interpretations with evidence, which are abilities that translate directly to the bedside.” See the original version of the story for two more images. For a related story about a virtual reality nutrition training program, see a story from New Mexico State University. –Matthew] [Image: A virtual reality session with six…

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  • Call: Policy Responses to Generative AI – Special issue of Telecommunications Policy

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Policy Responses to Generative AISpecial issue of Telecommunications Policyhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/325753/policy-responses-to-generative-ai Deadline for submissions: February 28, 2026 As generative AI disrupts and pervades industry, politics, national security, education, and beyond, scholars should assess the need for new/updated law and regulation. This special issue aims to expand the literature on AI policy responses, addressing the extent to which existing policy frameworks are applicable to challenges posed. Submissions may address national or international AI policymaking approaches, as well as governance modes for aspects of AI technologies (e.g. training data, algorithms/automation, product/service marketplace, implementation, user experience, etc.). Against this background we seek…

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  • Deepfake videos of NVIDIA CEO and fictional SNAP recipients illustrate expanding perils of AI-evoked presence

    Published:

    [The PC Magazine report below describes a recent deepfake video of a keynote address that was streamed as the actual address was being delivered by the CEO of NVIDIA. The incident is just one example of how AI-based videos have expanded to deceive viewers of real-time events. On his blog, technology writer Shelly Palmer had this take: “The good news is that no credible reports suggest the scam moved NVIDIA’s stock price or resulted in major financial losses. The bad news is that this kind of impersonation is not only super-easy to pull off, it’s getting harder to detect. Get…

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  • Call: SHAPEXR: Shaping Human-AI-Powered Experiences in XR – ACM IUI 2026 Workshop

    Published:

    Call for Papers: “SHAPEXR: Shaping Human-AI-Powered Experiences in XR”Workshop at 2026 ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI 2026)March 23, 2026Paphos, Cyprushttps://shapexr.icar.cnr.it/IUI 2026 (March 23-26): https://iui.acm.org/2026/ Deadline for submissions: December 19, 2025 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION This workshop explores how eXtended Reality (XR) can serve as a multimodal interface for AI systems, including LLMs and conversational agents. It focuses on designing adaptive, human-centered XR environments that incorporate speech, gesture, gaze, and haptics for seamless interaction. Main topics include personalization, accessibility, cognitive load, trust, and ethics in AI-driven XR experiences. Through presentations, discussions, and collaborative sessions, the workshop aims to establish a…

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  • Call: “Chatbots: Help Some/Harm Others. Might Destroy Humanity” – Free online lecture

    Published:

    Call for Participation: “Chatbots: Help Some/Harm Others. Might Destroy Humanity”A free online lecture by Allen J. Frances (Duke University School of Medicine, USA)November 25, 2025 at 17:00 CET (8:00 PST)https://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa?A2=index&L=PHILOS-L&O=D&P=112304712 The registration for the second lecture of the Institute of Applied Psychology Interdisciplinary Series – see: https://ips.uj.edu.pl/nauka/iapis/iapis_en – (Season 7) is open. We will be hosting Allen Frances (Duke University School of Medicine, USA) with a talk titled: “Chatbots: Help Some/Harm Others. Might Destroy Humanity.” REGISTRATION: Please feel welcome to register using this link:https://forms.gle/xhrRgQ6vfQRgQhcR7 ABSTRACT: Chatbots are the most consequential invention in human history. They have a wonderful potential to…

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  • Samsung’s Galaxy XR transforms AI into an embodied being

    Published:

    [As this essay from SamMobile notes, right now artificial intelligence exists mainly in “apps and browser windows,” but the new Samsung Galaxy XR headset and others like it “move AI from its current state into an embodied, spatial and truly interactive being.” As the author writes, this new (medium-as-social-actor presence-evoking) capability will create both benefits and dangers. –Matthew] Galaxy XR’s biggest breakthrough isn’t what you might think, here’s why It’s where you meet AI halfway. By Adnan FarooquiOctober 27, 2025 There’s been a lot of excitement for Samsung’s first extended reality headset. It was launched as the Galaxy XR last…

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  • Call: Tech Abuse Conference

    Published:

    Call for Papers and Contributions: Tech Abuse ConferenceMay 19-21, 2026Londonhttps://www.genderandtech.net/conference Deadline for submission of abstracts: October 31, 2025 Dear All, I’m reaching out to share the Call for Papers and Contributions for our upcoming Tech Abuse Conference, taking place 19-21 May 2026 in London:https://www.genderandtech.net/conference. Together with my team at the UCL Gender and Tech Research Lab, we’re working to convene a diverse, global community committed to understanding and addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence and abuse. This includes not only academics, but also practitioners, survivors and survivor-led organisations, policymakers, technologists, legal experts, educators, journalists, NGOs, law enforcement, industry professionals, activists, and many…

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  • Virtual reality in medical education: Can empathy become a simulation?

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    [This link-filled essay from Bioethics Today, the website for the American Journal of Bioethics, raises some thought-provoking and important concerns about the use and impact of (presence-evoking) simulations in medical education. –Matthew] Virtual Reality in Medical Education: Can Empathy Become a Simulation? By Hana Abbasian, MS, a Research Assistant at Harvard Medical School and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)October 28, 2025 Medical education has always relied on simulators. From wooden mannequins in the 17th century to the digital cadavers of today, physicians have long used different tools to practice care without consequence. But virtual reality (VR) changes the…

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  • Call: Online Conference: Media Technologies and Future Storytelling

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Online Conference: Media Technologies and Future StorytellingDecember 16, 2025http://commlist.org/archive/calls/2025-all/msg00936.html Deadline for submission of abstracts: November 14, 2025 We are pleased to announce an online one day conference exploring the evolution of storytelling in the wake of advancements in media technologies. This event will investigate how emerging technologies are reshaping the way we tell, preserve, and reimagine our stories. We live in a world where stories are not just read and watched but physically felt through technologies like (VR/AR/XR). As technologies like VR, AR, and XR make the user’s body an integral part of the narrative, we must…

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  • New presence experience ‘Interstellar Arc’ might be Las Vegas’ most imaginative

    Published:

    [The selection of rich presence experiences in Las Vegas continues to grow with Interstellar Arc, as described in this story from the Las Vegas Review-Journal; see the original version of the story (or YouTube) for a 30 second trailer. Coverage in Travel Weekly adds that the new attraction “is part of Area15’s expansion, which includes Universal Horror Unleashed and other attractions to open soon.” That story also includes this quote from co-creator Félix Lajeunesse: “Some of our early participants have described the experience as ‘visually beautiful and surreal.’ One even described the moment of waking from cryosleep as ‘a shockingly…

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