Author: Matthew Lombard


  • Job: PhD Studentship in Mediated Social Interaction at UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

    University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience PhD Studentship (£17,040 PER ANNUM) http://www.antoniahamilton.com/hamilton_PhD_student_advert3.pdf Application deadline: 30th November 2016 A 3-year PhD studentship is available in the Social Neuroscience group (led by Dr Antonia Hamilton) at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, in collaboration with Prof Marco Gillies at Goldsmiths College. The PhD project is titled Understanding and generating real-time face-to-face social interactions, and aims to use new motion capture and virtual reality technology to understand the coordination of nonverbal behaviour between two people in high resolution. The student will have a lead role in recording and analysing data…

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  • What’s it like to be a bot? Embodying multiple, different human-like and non-human-like bodies

    [This story from New Scientist considers a future in which we use telepresence to embody not just a single robot but many of them, both human-like and non-human-like. The prospects raise lots of intriguing research and philosophical questions. The original story includes a different image and a 2:54 minute video. –Matthew] [Image: Source: YouTube] What is it like to be a bot? The strange world of telerobotics Not Like Us is Aviva Rutkin’s monthly column exploring the minds of intelligent machines – and how we live with them By Aviva Rutkin 2 November 2016 “What is it like to be a…

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  • Call: “Digital interlocutors: Theory and practice of interactions between human and machines” (CHB journal section)

    Call for Papers Computers in Human Behavior Digital interlocutors: Theory and practice of interactions between human and machines http://www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-in-human-behavior/call-for-papers/call-for-papers-digital-interlocutors-theory-and-practice-of Submission deadline: October 1, 2017 Robots and other machine communicators are emerging in all aspects of everyday life. They are increasingly performing social and workplace roles such as teachers, caregivers, surveillance, decision-makers and personal companionship. They have the ability to improve quality of human life through assistance, enabling, for instance, independent living or providing support in work-intensive, difficult and possibly complex situations. They also can be used as educators and motivators. This special section of Computers in Human Behavior aims to…

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  • Microsoft Research advances touch-sensitive VR interfaces

    [Microsoft is advancing the state-of-the-art in adding a sense of touch to presence experiences; see the original version of this story from SiliconANGLE for a 3:25 minute video. –Matthew] Microsoft Research paper points to touch-sensitive VR interfaces by Kyt Dotson | Oct 17, 2016 Virtual reality headsets made by Oculus, HTC, Sony and others can drive powerful audio-visual immersion, but one aspect of immersive user interfaces is still literally out of reach. That’s what Microsoft Research aims to change. This week, Microsoft Corp.’s research arm is publishing a white paper on a pair of new prototype systems that provide “haptic…

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  • Call: 9th International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment (INTETAIN 2017)

    CALL FOR PAPERS INTETAIN 2017 9th International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment June 20-22, 2017 – Funchal, Madeira http://www.intetain.org Digital technologies are woven deep into the fabric of our everyday existence. Play and entertainment serve a crucial role in determining how such technologies evolve, having served both as catalyst for the development of novel devices and interaction paradigms, as well as proposing novel uses for technology. The 9th International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment (INTETAIN 2017) celebrates the future of Interactive Entertainment by inviting researchers to submit contributions around developments and insights in art, design, science,…

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  • L’Oréal launches virtual reality hair education for salon stylists

    [Here’s another interesting application of VR and presence – and note the explicit use of the term in this story from VentureBeat. More information can be found in coverage by Fast Company. –Matthew] L’Oréal launches virtual reality hair education for salon stylists Dean Takahashi November 1, 2016 Salon stylists may not be known as early adopters of new technology, but L’Oréal is targeting them with its virtual reality hair education program in a partnership with 8i and hair care brand Matrix. The move is a recognition that consumers aren’t the only target for VR, which is expected to be a…

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  • Call: Codes & Modes: ReFraming Reality, Virtuality & Non-Fiction Media

    Call for Papers Codes & Modes: ReFraming Reality, Virtuality & Non-Fiction Media March 17th & 18th 2017 Hunter College, City University of New York http://ima-mfa.hunter.cuny.edu/reframe/ Deadline: December 1st, 2016 Amidst the flurry of techno-utopian industry hype surrounding Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning, not enough attention has been paid to long-term socio-cultural or neurobiological impacts of these new technologies. How can theorists, activists and artists develop a useful framework to explore the complex implications of using these technologies? This version of the Codes and Modes Symposium aims to create an intervention into the uncritical excitement…

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  • ‘Donald Dump’ artist Hanksy brings street art into virtual reality

    [This story from The Creators Project describes an interesting example of presence being used to preserve and reproduce the experience of a place, in this case a temporary art installation; the original story includes lots of pictures. –Matthew] ‘Donald Dump’ Artist Hanksy Brings Street Art into Virtual Reality Andrew Nunes Oct 26 2016 Once known as a parodist street artist who riffed on Banksy tags through the goofy addition of Tom Hanks’ head, the anonymous Hanksy has begun to branch out to bigger and better things. This past weekend the artist put on Surplus Candy VR, a New York show…

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  • Call: Phenomenology and Virtuality Conference

    Call for Abstracts Phenomenology and Virtuality Conference 29-30 May 2017, KU Leuven, Belgium Deadline: 31st January 2017 What is virtuality? How do we experience it? What is its relation to perception and imagination? What is its status with regard to the real and irreal, actual and possible, present and absent? Can we give a phenomenological account of virtuality? Finally, how are present-day virtual technologies changing not only our daily lives, but perhaps even the ways we think and behave? It is such questions that this two-day international conference on Phenomenology and Virtuality seeks to address. This call for abstracts is therefore…

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  • Boiler Room and the emerging worlds of VR in electronic music

    [As the Boiler Room CEO/founder notes in this story from Magnetic Magazine, presence technologies are poised to bring music fans closer to performers and performances, “to what it’s like being at a sweaty rave or an amazing concert half-way across the world.” The story includes two videos; for more information see the press release available via BusinessWire. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Pitchfork] Boiler Room and the emerging worlds of VR in electronic music Electronic music fans can now get closer than ever to the live streaming action Akhil Kalepu October 27, 2016 The international music broadcaster is bringing their live streaming…

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  • Call: HCI International 2017

    HCI International 2017 Vancouver, Canada, 9 – 14 July 2017 Vancouver Convention Centre http://2017.hci.international/index.php Deadline: 4 November 2016 (extended) Welcome to the 19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. HCI International 2017, jointly with the affiliated Conferences, held under one management and one registration, will take place at Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada, under the auspices of 15 distinguished international boards. HCII2017 invite you to participate and contribute to the international forum for the dissemination and exchange of up-to-date scientific information on theoretical, generic and applied areas of HCI, through the following modes of communication: Plenary / Keynote Presentation, Parallel…

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  • Using presence to humanize ‘The Enemy’

    [One of the most important applications of presence is bringing people together via technology to increase the likelihood of understanding; the project described in this story from the New York Times (where it features an additional image), is a good example. This work reminds me of Sam Keen’s book and documentary “Faces of the Enemy” and his more recent “The Art of Enemy Making.” –Matthew] [Image: Jiabao Li experiencing the virtual reality project “The Enemy” in Cambridge, Mass. Credit: Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times.] Meeting ‘the Other’ Face to Face By Randy Kennedy October 26, 2016 CAMBRIDGE, Mass.…

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