[The images of the Instagram CGI character Imma (roughly, “now”) in this story from Inverse are compellingly realistic and raise intriguing questions about the impacts of the “virtual influencer” trend. For more examples see ITP Live, and for information about a potentially important factor in the impacts see the 2014 story in Motherboard titled “Lonely People Are More Likely to Think Inanimate Objects Are Alive.” –Matthew] The Weirdest Trend on Instagram: Virtual Influencers Who Make Real Content By Danny Paez January 19, 2019 The sun may already be setting on the age of the ambiguously famous social media influencer. After…

[The RealityVirtually Hackathon at MIT sounds like a fascinating, fun and valuable event where people gather to bring creative ideas for presence applications to life. This story from The Boston Globe (where it features a different image) describes many of the projects at this year’s event; for much more information about them see the Winners page on the RealityVirtually website. –Matthew] These developers are trying to make virtual reality more useful By Scott Kirsner, Globe Correspondent January 24, 2019 If you’ve seen a set of virtual reality goggles — in person or otherwise — you may have jumped to a few…

[PoliceOne reports on a new application of VR and presence to help teens learn how to avoid conflicts with gang members in New York City. For more information see NY1’s coverage that includes a 2:07 minute video report and the official press release via PR Newswire. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Officer.com] NYPD virtual-reality program to aid children with tough situations Police are putting teens through computer simulations to help them de-escalate gang confrontations January 23, 2019 Anthony M. Destefano, Newsday NEW YORK — The NYPD is using virtual reality to help teenagers deal with real life on the street.…

[“Paradoxically, our tendency to dehumanize robots comes from the instinct to anthropomorphize them” – this interesting story from The New York Times explores the reasons for human attacks on robots and other technologies; medium-as-social-actor (MASA) presence is both a cause and apparent solution to the problem. For more about this see a June 2018 story in The Boston Globe. –Matthew] Why Do We Hurt Robots? They are like us, but unlike us, and both fearsome and easy to bully. By Jonah Engel Bromwich Jan. 19, 2019 A hitchhiking robot was beheaded in Philadelphia. A security robot was punched to the…

[While telepresence rooms, virtual and augmented reality, IMAX theaters and simulation rides, and computers, virtual assistants and robots, are more often the focus of presence scholarship, television has for decades been arguably the most common and personal presence-evoking technology. And it’s evolving to be even more effective, as illustrated in this short story from Digital Trends about Samsung’s latest models. See the original story for a 2:56 on-site video report, and coverage in Techradar for the second image below and more information including the fact that the smaller (!) 75-inch model is called “The Window.” –Matthew] Samsung’s blistering 219-inch Micro…

[This story from YES! considers the potential and the limitations of virtual reality and presence to create empathy and sympathy and thereby lead to individual and social change. See the original version for two more images; for more on “An Empathy Bridge for Autism” and the “1000 Cut Journey” experience designed to give users a better understanding of racism, see a 2018 post and a 2017 post in ISPR Presence News. –Matthew] [The materials used for “An Empathy Bridge for Autism” VR experience are mostly low-cost and utilize tranquil hues. Photo by Paul Plews.] Using Virtual Reality to Teach Empathy Walking…