International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Telepresence robots give distance students their own seat at the table

    Published:

    [This column in EdTech highlights the importance of presence, and ways to enhance it, in the distance learning classroom; for more information, see the Michigan State University study “From 2D to Kubi to Doubles: Designs for Student Telepresence in Synchronous Hybrid Classroom” in the International Journal of Designs for Learning. –Matthew] [Image: Source: “Transforming classrooms with telepresence robots. Presented by John Bell, William Cain, and Marcus Rosenthal” (PDF of PowerPoint presentation)] Telepresence Robots Give Distance Students Their Own Seat at the Table Michigan State University helps online students feel represented in a unique way. By John Bell March 8, 2017…

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  • Call: Purposeful 2: VR with Purpose

    Published:

    Purposeful 2: VR with Purpose Thursday 30th March at 6pm @ Century Club Soho, London More info and RSVP here: http://preloaded.com/purposeful2/ Spaces are limited, but hope to see as many of you as possible. Last year Preloaded (preloaded.com) launched an event series called Purposeful with the aim of bringing together like-minded creators, content experts and curators (amongst others!) to explore pertinent topics relating to purposeful play. Join us for Purposeful 2 when we will explore the potential for VR to deliver transformational experiences for audiences and organisations through a set of ‘micro talks’ followed by a showcase of emerging technology…

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  • Japanese company’s answer to Amazon Echo: Anime holograms with ‘comforting’ personalities for the lonely

    Published:

    [You have to watch the 2:00 minute video in this story from Motherboard to fully understand the nature of Gatebox, a new embodied virtual assistant from Japan’s Vinclu Inc. As coverage in Vocativ notes, “The plot from Spike Jonze’s movie ‘Her,’ about a man who falls in love with an artificially-intelligent operating system companion, just keeps getting closer to reality.” As detailed in Forbes, the company has just been purchased by South Korea’s Naver, which has 700 million registered users for its LINE messaging app and is developing its own “digital assistant powered by machine learning.” For more details about…

    Read more: Japanese company’s answer to Amazon Echo: Anime holograms with ‘comforting’ personalities for the lonely

  • Call: Workshop on Serious Moral Games at ISAGA 2017

    Published:

    Call for Papers Workshop on Serious Moral Games at the 48th International Simulation and Gaming Association conference (ISAGA 2017) Delft, the Netherlands, 10-14 July 2017 Extended deadline for submission – papers:  20 March 2017 Deadline for submission – game demo:  31 March 2017 Dear All, If you are interested in the use of video games for purposes of ethics training / moral education, we’d like to make you aware of a thematic workshop on Serious Moral Games, which we are organizing at the ISAGA Conference in Delft (10.-14.07.2017). The purpose of this thematic session is to bring together experts from…

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  • Mondly launches virtual reality for learning languages, powered by chatbots

    Published:

    [This would seem like an ideal application area for presence; the first story below, from ZDNet, describes the new Mondly language learning VR app, and the second, from The Next Web, provides a first-person user’s evaluation. For more information see the company’s press release via PR Newswire. –Matthew] Mondly launches virtual reality for learning languages, powered by chatbots Practice talking in 28 different languages with virtual characters, which teach language fundamentals and help build confidence, with the Mondly VR app By Eileen Brown February 28, 2017 Romania-based ATi Studios, the creator of the Mondly language learning platform, has released a…

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  • Call: Game studies and the Humanities (La valle dell’Eden special issue)

    Published:

    [NOTE: I wasn’t able to find this journal via Google searches. –Matthew]   CALL FOR PAPERS FOR La valle dell’Eden/East of Eden, 31/2017 Game studies and the humanities History, critique, and perspectives on a dialogue Edited by Ricardo Fassone, Ph.D Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici Università degli Studi di Torino http://unito.academia.edu/RiccardoFassone Deadline for abstracts: April 17, 2017 The study of video games has historically been at the centre of an interdisciplinary dialogue aimed at addressing the technological nature of the medium, its social and discoursive practices, and its stylistic, asethetic, and visual traits. Disciplines such as design studies, HCI, and computer…

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  • VR simulation helps airline KLM engineers escape in an emergency

    Published:

    [This story from Computer Weekly describes the effective use of presence for training for fire safety as well as for enhancing several aspects of an airline’s operation. The original version includes more images and links to related stories. For more news about the use of presence for safety training see “Virtual reality training for ‘safety-critical’ jobs” from the University of Exeter. –Matthew] Virtual reality simulation helps KLM engineers escape in an emergency Dutch airline KLM develops virtual reality simulation to show engineers what happens if the maintenance hanger catches fire Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly 06 Mar 2017 Airline KLM is…

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  • Call: Digital Transformation & Global Society (DTGS ’17)

    Published:

    Call for Papers Second International Conference “DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & GLOBAL SOCIETY” (DTGS’17) June 21-23, 2017, St. Petersburg, Russia Website: http://dtgs.ifmo.ru Paper Submission Deadline: 20 March 2017 DTGS’17 is co-organized by the by ITMO University and Higher School of Economics (HSE), St. Petersburg, held during the Information Society Week. The mission of the DTGS is to serve as a common platform for scholars and practitioners to discuss the transformative impact of digital technology on the way we work and live, with special emphasis on socio-technical aspects of cyberspace. DTGS’17 is focused on the ICT-enabled and ICT-transformed behavior in different spheres of…

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  • The ethics of presence on Saturday Night Live

    Published:

    [The ethics of presence made its way onto the popular U.S. program Saturday Night Live this weekend, as reported in this story from Exclaim! –Matthew] [Image: Saturday Night Live photo by Will Heath] Father John Misty Addresses Taylor Swift Lyric from “Total Entertainment Forever”: “That Is the Worst Thing I Can Think Of” By Stephen Carlick Published Mar 05, 2017 Last night (March 4), Father John Misty stopped by Saturday Night Live to perform a new song from his forthcoming third album, Pure Comedy, titled “Total Entertainment Forever.” The song’s opening line — “Bedding Taylor Swift every night inside the…

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  • Call: SIMUTools 2017 – 10th EAI International Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques

    Published:

    Call for Papers and Proposals SIMUTools 2017 – 10th EAI International Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques September 11–13, 2017 | Shenzhen, People’s Republic pf China http://simutools.org/2017/show/home Deadlines: Workshops Proposal Submission:  March 15, 2017 Full Paper Submission:  May 1, 2017 Short Paper, Poster and Demo:  May 19, 2017 SIMUTools 2017 is the 10th edition of the annual International Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques. The conference focuses on a broad range of research challenges in the field of simulation, modeling and analysis, addressing current and future trends in simulation techniques, models, practices and software. The conference is dedicated to fostering…

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  • Entrepreneurs use telepresence robots to skirt U.S. travel uncertainty

    Published:

    [It’s sad that in addition to convenience, cost and carbon emissions we have to add bypassing the U.S. travel ban (and other such restrictions) to the reasons for using telepresence technologies. This story is from Business Vancouver. –Matthew] [Image: Simon Fraser University Prof. Carman Neustaedter has been using technology to solve some of the concerns business executives and others now have about travel to the U.S. | Photo: Rob Kruyt] Entrepreneurs tap tech to skirt U.S. travel uncertainty Concerns over connecting with U.S. clients, opportunities spark travel alternatives search By Tyler Orton Feb. 28, 2017 Ahead of a May lecture in Edmonton,…

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  • Call: Robots for Learning – Special issue of International Journal of Social Robotics

    Published:

    Call for Papers International Journal of Social Robotics (SORO), Springer Special Issue on Robots for Learning Guest Editors: Wafa Johal, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland Ginevra Castellano, Uppsala University, Sweden Sandra Okita, Teachers College, Columbia University, United States Fumihide Tanaka, University of Tsukuba Contact: wafa.johal<at>atepfl.ch, ginevra.castellano<at>it.uu.se, okita<at>tc.columbia.edu and tanaka<at>iit.tsukuba.ac.jp You can download the CfP at: http://r4l.epfl.ch/IJSORO IMPORTANT DATES Submission of Manuscripts (deadline): 15-March-17 (extended deadline) Notification of Acceptance: 15-July-17 Submission of Final Paper: 15-October-17 Final Acceptance: 15-November-17 Publication: 01-January-18 OVERVIEW Research in Human-Robot interaction is being vastly applied to assist humans in their everyday lives. Pertaining to this context…

    Read more: Call: Robots for Learning – Special issue of International Journal of Social Robotics

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