Author: Matthew Lombard


  • Telepresence after death via Facebook, avatars and more

    [The prospect of technology giving us a virtual life after our death raises fascinating and challenging practical, psychological and ethical questions for presence scholars and others. The story below is from the BBC, where it includes several images. For more on this topic, see the journal article Telepresence After Death.  –Matthew] [Image: Source: http://eterni.me/] Facebook is a growing and unstoppable digital graveyard At some point, there will be more dead Facebook users than living ones – and for those left behind, it is transforming how we experience the death of those around us. By Brandon Ambrosino 14 March 2016 The…

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  • Call: ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (SUI) at UIST 2016

    ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (SUI) 2016 October 15-16, 2016 Tokyo, Japan Co-located with UIST 2016 We invite you to participate in the (SUI, rhymes with GUI, http://sui-symposium.org/), which will be co-located with UIST 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. We seek original, unpublished papers documenting original research contributions, practice and experience, or novel applications, from all areas of spatial user interaction. User interface evaluations are strongly encouraged for every publication in this venue.…

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  • How NASA is using presence for the public and for astronauts

    [NASA is working on several presence-related projects; this story from Popular Science includes a 1:40 minute video about the Destination: Mars exhibit and a 0:23 minute video of astronauts playing Space Invaders in VR in space; follow the links in the story for much more information. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Astronaut Tim Peake on Twitter] New NASA Exhibit Lets You Virtually Tour Mars With Buzz Aldrin No spaceship required By Mary Beth Griggs Posted March 30, 2016 At its most optimistic, the earliest NASA can hope to put people on Mars is sometime in the 2030s. But we’re impatient, and want…

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  • Call: Fifth International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction (Symbiotic 2016)

    Call for Papers Fifth International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction (Symbiotic 2016) Padua, Italy, 29-30 September 2016 http://symbiotic2016.org The Fifth International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction will take place on the 29th and 30th of September 2016 and will be hosted by the Human Inspired Technology Research center of the University of Padua (Italy). HIGHLIGHTS: extended deadline, common to all categories: 15 June doctoral consortium with prominent figures from different fields and DC award best paper award confirmed keynote speaker: Hans Gellersen, Lancaster University OVERVIEW The International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction is the primary venue to present scientific works dealing with the…

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  • How VR and presence can change the way we see gender and horror movies

    [The ability of emerging technologies to give users a sense of presence from different perspectives raises a lot of really interesting and important questions; this story is from The Verge, where it includes the 1:18 minute trailer for Abe VR. –Matthew] How virtual reality can change the way we see gender and horror movies Men, women, and headsets By Adi Robertson on May 5, 2016 Yes, virtual reality will now let you experience being tortured to death by a lovesick robot. Or at least, that’s what I’m getting from Road to VR’s Paul James, who recently tried out Abe VR…

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  • Call: 2nd EAI International Conference on Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good

    Call for Papers 2nd EAI International Conference on Smart Objects and Technologies for Social Good 30 November – 1 December 2016 Venice, Italy http://goodtechs.eu/2016/show/cf-papers SCOPE OF THE CONFERENCE By social good we refer to a “good” or a service that benefits the largest number of people in the largest possible way. Some classic examples of social goods are, of course, healthcare, safety, environment, democracy, and human rights, but we can add to this classic list even communication, art, entertainment and much more. In this context, the popularity of portable computing devices, like smartphones, tablets, or smart watches combined with the…

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  • Human-like robots may have a disturbing impact on actual humans

    [While some are excited by the possibilities for human-like robots, others point to possible negative consequences of this form of ‘medium as social actor’ presence; this story from Tech Insider includes the full 58:06 minute panel during which Stuart Russell made his comments (which begin at the 21:35). For a cogent review of the status of AI see Slate’s coverage, which includes a link to a recent interview with Russell. –Matthew] [Image: Meka Robotics. Source: YouTube] Human-like robots may have a disturbing impact on actual humans Danielle Muoio May 4, 2016 Researchers hailing from NASA to Google have invested in…

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  • Call: Computational Intelligence and Games – Special session at CEEC 2016

    Call For Papers CEEC 2016 Eighth Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference Special Session on Computational Intelligence and Games 28th – 30th September 2016, University Of Essex Paper Submission deadline: 15th May 2016 Games are an ideal domain to study Computational Intelligence (CI) methods because they provide affordable, competitive, dynamic, reproducible environments suitable for testing new search algorithms, pattern-based evaluation methods, or learning concepts. They are also interesting to observe, fun to play, and very attractive to students. Additionally, there is great potential for CI methods to improve the design and development of both computer games and non-digital games such…

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  • Anne Frank virtual reality film raises ethical issues

    [Technology can now reproduce and immerse us in historical and personal moments as never before; the presence experiences will not always be positive or deemed appropriate. This story is from The Hollywood Reporter; for more on the ethics involved see coverage in Bustle. –Matthew] [Image: Anne Frank at her home in Amsterdam in 1942, just weeks before she and her family entered the annex. Photograph: Reuters/Corbis/Reuters Photographer / Reuters. Source: The Guardian] Anne Frank Virtual Reality Film Planned The sensitive nature of ‘Anne’s’ plot — and the intensity of the Frank family’s situation — will invariably leave the project open…

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  • Call: Social Believability in Games Workshop at DiGRA/FDG 2016

    Call for Papers to the Social Believability in Games Workshop 2016 @ Digra/FDG Dundee, Scotland August 1, 2016 https://sites.google.com/site/socialbelievabilityingames Submission of long and short papers: May 8, 2016 The Social Believability in Games Workshop intends to be a point of interaction for researchers and game developers interested in modeling, discussing, developing systems for, and the humanistic inquiry of social believability in games. This can include behaviour based on social and behavioural science theories and models, systems for SBG frameworks, approaches, methodologies, theories, interpretations, social affordances when interacting with game worlds and more. We invite participants from a multitude of disciplines…

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  • Next big thing for virtual reality: Eye-tracking lasers in your eyes

    [Adding eye-tracking to VR headsets should allow more natural and effortless interactions and enhance both spatial and social presence; this story is from USA Today, where it features more images and a 1:53 minute video. A 0:21 minute EyeFluence ‘demo clip’ is available on YouTube. –Matthew] Next big thing for virtual reality: Lasers in your eyes Marco della Cava, USA TODAY May 2, 2016 SAN FRANCISCO – The next big leap for virtual and augmented reality headsets is likely to be eye-tracking, where headset-mounted laser beams aimed at eyeballs turn your peepers into a mouse. A number of startups are…

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  • Call: Multisensory HCI – Special issue of International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

    Call for Papers: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS): Special Issue on Multisensory Human-Computer Interaction http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-human-computer-studies/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-multisensory-human-computer-interaction IMPORTANT DATES Expression of interest (400 words): July 1th, 2016 Submission deadline: August 1st, 2016 First round of notifications: October 10th, 2016 Final round of notifications: April 23rd, 2017 SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORS Marianna Obrist (University of Sussex, UK) Nimesha Ranasinghe (National University of Singapore, Singapore) Charles Spence (University of Oxford, UK) SCOPE OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE Our interactions with technology are primarily limited to the senses of vision and audition, whilst increasingly involving touch. Even though there is a growing number of researchers working…

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