International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Call: “Technotext: Text and Technology in Literature, Linguistics, and Media” issue of INTERFACE

    Published:

    Call for Papers Technotext: Text and Technology in Literature, Linguistics, and MediaIssue 26 (March 2025) of INTERFACE – Journal of European Languages and Literatureshttps://interface.org.tw/index.php/if/pages/view/CallforPapers26 Guest Editors:Charlène Clonts (Kyushu University)Claudio Sansone (National Central University) Deadline for submissions: December 30, 2024 The relationship between text and technology is as ancient as human civilization. Perhaps the first step might be the stone tools used to edge cave paintings or/and the formulas of oral literature. Later writing technologies (hieroglyphs, syllabaries, alphabets, etc.) revolutionized the way humans record, disseminate, and preserve knowledge, as their enabling the transformation of text into object they also enabled innovations…

    Read more: Call: “Technotext: Text and Technology in Literature, Linguistics, and Media” issue of INTERFACE

  • MobilePoser performs low-cost, portable, real-time, full-body motion capture using our mobile devices

    Published:

    [This Hackster.IO report describes a new system developed at Northwestern University that could substantially increase the use of full-body tracking to generate “intuitive and immersive” (presence) experiences for technology users. See the original story for three different images and a 31 second video, and find more information and a 2:34 minute video (also available on YouTube) in coverage from Northwestern. –Matthew] [Image: Side-by-side image of a real-life scenario next to the motion-capture video generated by MobilePoser. Credit: Karan Ahuja/Northwestern University. Source: The Engineer] Tracking Movement on the Move MobilePoser uses AI and the sensors already present in our wearable devices…

    Read more: MobilePoser performs low-cost, portable, real-time, full-body motion capture using our mobile devices

  • Call: Chapters for “The Effects of Community on Game Play and Design”

    Published:

    Call: Chapters for “The Effects of Community on Game Play and Design” [NOTE: The earlier Call can be found in a June 2024 ISPR Presence News post. –Matthew] Dear colleagues, Please see the below CFA/CFP for an ongoing edited collection/book project. The project has undergone a refocusing from its initial title (“Git Gud”), so we are recirculating the CFA/CFP with a new December deadline to provide colleagues another opportunity to submit. There is now a clearer understanding of submission expectations and adjustment to the volume’s scope, which is now more explicitly focused on community and its role in game play,…

    Read more: Call: Chapters for “The Effects of Community on Game Play and Design”

  • Uncanny digital quintet Plave shows fans what a real-life virtual concert looks like

    Published:

    [There’s a long, interesting history of virtual musical artists (see Music Business Worldwide for details). Until recent advances in artificial intelligence enabled software to automatically generate their material and performances, specific and often anonymous human beings did that creative work. This review of a “fan concert” by the virtual boy band Plave from the Korea JoongAng Daily describes the “most uncanny experience” provided by a “real-life virtual concert” in which remotely located musicians interact with a crowd of fans via digital avatars. The review includes interesting observations about the appeal of this social presence experience; see the original version of the…

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  • Call: “Creative Machines and Minds Without Life” Nordic Summer University (NSU) Symposium

    Published:

    Call for Abstracts and Artistic Submissions Creative Machines and Minds Without Life: Critical Detachment and Disengaged FuturesA Cybioses Study Circle/Symposium organized by the Nordic Summer University (NSU)March 5-8, 2025“Augmented Performance Lab” at Aalborg University CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmarkhttps://www.nsuweb.org/study-circles/circle-2-cybioses-life-in-the-future-imperfect/ Deadline for submissions: January 15, 2025 As part of the study circle/symposium series Cybioses – life in the future imperfect, organized as part of the Nordic Summer University (NSU; https://www.nsuweb.org/), we are pleased to announce a call for abstracts and artistic submissions for our symposium on “Creative Machines and Minds Without Life”. Invitation We invite scholars, artists, students, technologists, and other professionals working or…

    Read more: Call: “Creative Machines and Minds Without Life” Nordic Summer University (NSU) Symposium

  • Meet the couples who met by dating in VR – which is only going to get more common

    Published:

    [This story from The Times provides insights into how and why people are increasingly using virtual reality (and presence) to meet and date romantic partners. See the original version for nine more (large, vivid) pictures. I particularly like this comment that suggests the ubiquity of presence in modern lives: “Hamilton and Harrison got engaged in Kyoto in June, and are now planning their wedding — maybe at Disney World, in real life, if Disney World counts as real life.” –Matthew] [Image: The British filmmaker Joe Hunting met his girlfriend, Jenny, while making the first commercially distributed feature film shot entirely…

    Read more: Meet the couples who met by dating in VR – which is only going to get more common

  • Call: LOVE & LOSS: Nostalgia Symposium and Research Creation Event

    Published:

    Call for Papers “LOVE & LOSS” – Third symposium by THE NOSTAGAIN NETWORKAn interdisciplinary symposium featuring creative and critical perspectives on nostalgia, longing, attachment, and griefFebruary 14, 2025Concordia University, Montreal, Canada (and online – see event website)http://www.nostagain.ca/cfp2025 Deadline for submission of abstracts and research creation works: January 12, 2025 The NOSTAGAIN NETWORK is looking for paper presentations and research creation projects for our symposium “LOVE & LOSS” on February 14, 2025. THE SYMPOSIUM: Nostalgia is a complex thing to talk about and pinpoint. Scholarly efforts to recognize the more positive and creative aspects of nostalgia have opened up insights for…

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  • This little desktop robot is helping sick children attend school

    Published:

    [While traditional “iPad on a stick” telepresence robots let the remote user “drive the robot around, see what [they] wish, and interact with people through video,” this story from CNN is about how schools are using a small, stationary, screenless desktop robot called the AV1 to allow children who can’t attend in person to feel present in their classrooms. See the original version of the story for two more images, and see the No Isolation website for much more information about the AV1 (interestingly they’re available for rental, but purchase prices are comparable to the traditional robots). –Matthew] [Image: The…

    Read more: This little desktop robot is helping sick children attend school

  • Call: Book chapters on Cyber-Ethics, Techno-Ethics and Digital Media

    Published:

    Call For Book Chapters Cyber-Ethics, Techno-Ethics and Digital MediaEmerald Publishinghttps://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/cyber-ethics-techno-ethics-and-digital-media-call-book-chapters Proposed book editors: Dr Adelina Mbinjama, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Dr Janelle Vermaak-Griessel, Nelson Mandela University, Prof Bianca Wright, Coventry University Deadline for submission of abstracts: November 30, 2024 The digital media space is not immune from rapid advances in technology and changes spawned across society.  The evolution of technology has occasioned notable ethical considerations that users should take into cognisance. This results in the rise of fields such as techno-ethics and cyber-ethics, which address the moral implications of digital technologies and media (Tavani, 2012). Techno-ethics is a field…

    Read more: Call: Book chapters on Cyber-Ethics, Techno-Ethics and Digital Media

  • I tried MR yoga on Meta’s $500 headset. It was a glimpse into the future of workouts

    Published:

    [The author of this story from Fortune provides a first-person report on a new app for the Meta Quest 3 that uses volumetric capture and mixed reality to provide spatial and social presence for home workouts. As usual, the discomfort of the headset is said to interfere with (but not negate) presence. See the original story for a second image. –Matthew] [Image: Alo Moves and Magnopus have developed these semi-lifelike conditions using volumetric capture, which uses synchronized cameras to capture a 3D view of a landscape or person. Credit: Alo] I tried virtual reality yoga on Meta’s $500 headset. It…

    Read more: I tried MR yoga on Meta’s $500 headset. It was a glimpse into the future of workouts

  • Call: IACAP/AISB 2025 Philosophy of Computing and AI Conference

    Published:

    Joint Call for Abstracts The International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IACAP)andThe Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB)Philosophy of Computing and AI ConferenceJuly 1-3, 2025University of TwenteEnschede, Netherlandshttps://pretalx.iacapconf.org/iacap-2025/cfp Deadline for submission of Symposia proposals: December 1, 2024Deadline for Extended Abstracts for individual Presentations, Posters, and Workshops: December 20, 2024 Keynote Speakers: AISB Keynote – Philip Brey IACAP Covey Award Address – To be announced. Nominations: https://www.iacap.org/2024/10/02/call-for-nominations-the-covey-award-2025/ IACAP Simon Award Address – To be announced. Nominations: https://www.iacap.org/2024/10/02/call-for-nominations-the-simon-award-2025/ The International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IACAP) and the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB) will host…

    Read more: Call: IACAP/AISB 2025 Philosophy of Computing and AI Conference

  • Can an AI chatbot be your friend?

    Published:

    [According to a new set of studies, talking with an AI chatbot instructed to be “helpful, empathetic, friendly, and upbeat” makes people feel less lonely, an effect “on par with talking to another human being,” and presumably due to evoked medium-as-social-actor presence. The story below is from Knowledge at Wharton (a business journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania); follow the links for more information about the research and researchers. –Matthew] Can an AI Chatbot Be Your Friend? People reported feeling less lonely after interacting with AI chatbots programmed to be empathetic, according to a new study…

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