[Here’s another of a seemingly increasing number of projects that purposefully use presence experiences to motivate and persuade media users; the story from Collectively includes more images. –Matthew] Now Anyone Can Swim Through Australia’s Coral Reefs With DIY Virtual Reality Goggles Scott Pierce June 12th, 2015 This week, the World Wildlife Fund launched Virtual Reality Reef Goggles, an unbelievable way to explore the Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia’s most diverse, sensitive ecosystems. All you need is a smartphone with a cardboard viewer, which you can easily learn to make here, and visit It’s Your Reef. Don’t have a smartphone…

[This story from Mashable provides a good description of how technology creators are refining presence-evoking technology in a popular and challenging context; as the note at the beginning says, the original story contains more images (it also includes a 1:11 minute video). –Matthew] Virtual reality sex is coming — and the toys are already here By Mandy Stadtmiller May 29, 2015 Note: The following post contains sexually graphic images and descriptions. You’re lying back on a bed. You look around. A porn star walks in. She mounts you. And as she does, you can feel the thrill of her tight…

[The widespread use of VR headsets raises lots of practical issues, and the need for new social conventions; this is from The New York Times, where the story includes another image (btw, I think many would question the claim that HTC’s Vive, and not Oculus, is the “best known of a new league of virtual reality headsets”). –Matthew] [Image: Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, center, demonstrating the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and the Oculus Touch hand controllers at an event in San Francisco last week. Credit Ramin Talaie for The New York Times] Virtual Reality Headsets Raise Very…

[It continues to be an exciting time to be studying presence! This story from USA Today includes more pictures and a 2:12 minute video about ILM’s presence-evoking special effects. –Matthew] [Image: ILMxLAB’s creative director John Gaeta tests a prototype immersive experience. The experience combines live performance capture with sound and interactive real-time 3D rendering, immersing the viewer in the scene. (Photo: Greg Grusby)] Industrial Light & Magic wants to bring virtual reality to the movies Marco della Cava, USA TODAY June 12, 2015 SAN FRANCISCO — Industrial Light & Magic is taking the notion of DVD-extras to a whole other…

[This sounds like an impressive presence-enhancing tool; the story is from Tech Times and includes a 0:36 minute video, and much more information (including images and videos and links to a developer site) is available from Kickstarter. –Matthew] [Image: Smart gloves dubbed Gloveone will enable users to feel sensations when interacting with virtual objects. The brainchild of Spain-based NeuroDigital Technologies, Gloveone aims to give VR users a more immersive experience and will enable them to “feel” what they see. (Photo : NeuroDigital Technologies | Kickstarter)] Gloveone Smart Gloves Will Let You Feel Virtual Reality By Anu Passary, Tech Times |…

[This item from PSFK may be of interest: Follow one of the links to download the new PSFK Virtual Reality Report (some but not all parts are free). –Matthew] PSFK Launches The Virtual Reality Report The PSFK Labs team explores the potential virtual reality holds as a medium for better storytelling and story-making PSFK Labs 8 june 2015 For decades we have been on the edge of our seats, patiently awaiting the arrival of the holy grail of entertainment and storytelling: virtual reality. We have been teased by VR in movies, serving as inspiration for a plethora of science fiction…

[Aside from the use of presence to teach people about, and hopefully help prevent, environmental damage to rivers, this story in the Chattanooga Times Free Press contains links and detailed timelines and illustrations related to the evolution of VR. –Matthew] [Image: Andree Herbert tries out the Oculus Rift virtual reality device on March 20, 2015, in a classroom at the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX Theatre in Chattanooga. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality device, and the aquarium is using a development kit version to build VR programming which teaches students about stream ecology conservation. Photo by Doug Strickland/Times Free Press.]…