International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Webcast funerals: Convenient, dehumanizing

    Published:

    [From The Daily Titan, student newspaper of California State University, Fullerton; the New York Times story mentioned is available here] Opinion Webcast funerals are dehumanizing By Amy Leadbetter Published: February 16, 2011 The progression of technology and its dehumanizing effects has hit an all-time low. An article published last week in The New York Times titled, “For Funerals Too Far, Mourners Gather on the Web” by Laura Holson, addressed the recent popularity of funerals broadcast online. Holson’s article informs the reader that this is seen as a blessing for those who live too far or who are unable to make it…

    Read more: Webcast funerals: Convenient, dehumanizing

  • Call: Perceiving Others’ Minds

    Published:

    Perceiving Others’ Minds Friday 1st July 2010 Boardroom, Arthur Lewis Building University of Manchester M13 9PL http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/philosophy/events/pom/ Speakers: Peter Goldie (University of Manchester) Rowland Stout (University College Dublin) Albert Newen (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) Anil Gomes (Birkbeck College, London) Will McNeill (University of York) Attendence is free but please register by e-mailing Joel Smith. The event is funded by the Royal Institute of Philosophy. We know a lot about each others’ mental lives. There’s a question about how we know what we do. There’s no doubt that perception plays a role in securing us some of this knowledge. It is often by…

    Read more: Call: Perceiving Others’ Minds

  • $US500 iRobot hack lets you be two places at once

    Published:

    [From Gizmodo] $US500 iRobot Hack Lets You Be Two Places At Once By Kit Eaton – FastCo on February 12, 2011 A hacker has put together a viable home-brew telepresence robot using easily available components that’s good enough (if not pretty enough) to rival much more expensive peers like Anybot’s QB. More than anything this suggests telepresence virtual working is an imminent phenomenon. The enterprising chap in question is Johnny Chung Lee. Temporarily separated from his partner after a work-driven relocation, he wanted to create a simple way to maintain a presence in their previous home. Telepresence droids would be…

    Read more: $US500 iRobot hack lets you be two places at once

  • Call: Designs on eLearning Conference: Creative learning spaces of the future

    Published:

    The 7th International Designs on eLearning Conference DeL 2011: Creative learning spaces of the future Aalto University September 13 -16 2011 http://www.designsonelearning.net/conferences/face_to_face/sept2011/del_sept2011.htm Aalto University is a new multidisciplinary university, where science and art meet technology and business. The University is located in Espoo and Helsinki in Finland. Call for papers The notion of space regains fresh momentum every time we interact with the world around us. As mobile devices weave into the fabric of everyday life, we are no longer confined to a specific location, time and place in accessing and interacting with communications technologies. Interfaces become more adaptable and…

    Read more: Call: Designs on eLearning Conference: Creative learning spaces of the future

  • Transmedia of future to engage the populace in an immersive and interactive way

    Published:

    [From The Scavenger] [Large image available here] Transmedia: The experience of the future? With the former glory of old, linear media fading, Melody Ayres-Griffiths examines just what the new media artform known as ‘transmedia’ is, and how it will engage an increasingly discerning yet time-starved populace in an immersive and interactive way. 13 February 2011 Late in January, 2011, I attended a conference regarding just what exactly ‘transmedia’ is, and perhaps where it’s going. Although the meaning of the phrase changed somewhat depending upon who you talked to, the core of the explanations I received was simply this: transmedia engages…

    Read more: Transmedia of future to engage the populace in an immersive and interactive way

  • Call: 2nd International Workshop on Human-Centric Interfaces for Ambient Intelligence (HCIAmI’11)

    Published:

    First Call for Papers 2nd International Workshop on Human-Centric Interfaces for Ambient Intelligence (HCIAmI’11) To be held during the 7th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE’11) 26 July 2011, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Following the success of HCIAmI’10 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2010), HCIAmI’11 will provide a forum to explore the concepts and applications of the multi-disciplinary area of human-centric interfaces, modelling, and computing for Ambient Intelligence application design. It will enable the exchange of experiences from around the world concerning the use of technologies which offer unobtrusive, intuitive, or adaptive interfaces. These technologies have a major potential to…

    Read more: Call: 2nd International Workshop on Human-Centric Interfaces for Ambient Intelligence (HCIAmI’11)

  • The world’s largest touchscreen

    Published:

    [From Bit Rebels, which features more images and a 1:22 minute video also available here] The World’s Largest Touchscreen 02/12/2011 By Diana Adams Holy batman, now that’s a touchscreen! I’m going to tell you the size of this thing immediately because I know that’s what you really want to know, right? It is 10 meters (32.8 feet) by 2.8 meters (9.2 feet). The screen uses 1,000 LEDs and 6 Optitrack cameras. The resolution is 4900 by 1700 pixels. Its shape is curved, and it can track 100 people touching it at once. The University of Groningen in the Netherlands created…

    Read more: The world’s largest touchscreen

  • Call: Creating Second Lives 2011: Crossing Boundaries

    Published:

    Call for Papers: Creating Second Lives 2011: Crossing Boundaries September 8th & 9th 2011 School of Creative Studies and Media, Bangor University Conveners: Dr Eben J. Muse and Dr Astrid Ensslin Submission deadline: 30 April 2011 The Creating Second Lives conference is a chance to explore lives lived in virtual worlds, electronic games, MMORPG and other parts of cyberspace. Following Creating Second Lives 2008: Reading and Writing Virtual Communities, the theme of Creating Second Lives 2011 is the blurring of boundaries in the mixed reality of ubiquitous computing and augmented reality. New technologies are moving users into the screen (Microsoft’s Kinect),…

    Read more: Call: Creating Second Lives 2011: Crossing Boundaries

  • Creating VR illusions to affect user’s body perceptions

    Published:

    [From PhysOrg.com] [Image: An avatar with large belly size representing the participant. Credit: Jean-Marie Normand, Elias Giannopoulos, Bernhard Spanlang & Mel Slater] Virtually feeling fat February 1, 2011 By Charles Q. Choi Greasy food and a lack of exercise aren’t the only things that can make you feel fat — now you can add virtual reality and being poked by a stick to the list. By having people wear head-mounted displays that make them see pot-bellied computer-generated versions of their bodies and by having them poke their tummies with sticks at the same time, scientists found they could make people…

    Read more: Creating VR illusions to affect user’s body perceptions

  • Call: International Workshop on “Language-Action Tools for Cognitive Artificial Agents: Integrating Vision, Action and Language”

    Published:

    Call for Papers: International Workshop on “Language – Action Tools for Cognitive Artificial Agents: Integrating Vision, Action and Language“ http://sifnos.ilsp.gr/Poeticon/aaai-workshop A Satellite event of the 25th Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-2011), 7-11 August, 2011, San Francisco, USA http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/aaai11.php Scope Endowing artificial agents with language and action abilities has been a quest in many Artificial Intelligence (AI) subfields. A number of AI applications require coupling of language and motoric or visual action (and objects), ranging from language-based human-robot interaction to event recognition. Recent years have witnessed great advances in different disciplines that provide the theoretical and technological framework for an interdisciplinary…

    Read more: Call: International Workshop on “Language-Action Tools for Cognitive Artificial Agents: Integrating Vision, Action and Language”

  • For IBM’s Watson technology, what happens after ‘Jeopardy!’?

    Published:

    [From ABC News, where the story includes videos and other materials] For Watson Technology, What Happens After ‘Jeopardy!’? IBM’s Supercomputer Has Implications for Healthcare, Information Tech and More By KI MAE HEUSSNER Feb. 9, 2011 Wouldn’t it be nice to have your very own supercomputer in your pocket? If your laptop crashed while you were working on a major presentation, you could ask your portable expert to help diagnose the problem. If you wanted to bone up on Middle Eastern history, you could ask it to comb every document available and then wrap it all up in a simple summary…

    Read more: For IBM’s Watson technology, what happens after ‘Jeopardy!’?

  • Call: IVA 2011 (Intelligent Virtual Agents) and GALA 2011 (Gathering of Lifelike Virtual Agents)

    Published:

    IVA 2011 – International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents GALA 2011 – The Gathering of Lifelike Agents Festival  Eleventh International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents http://iva2011.ru.is September 15-17, 2011 Reykjavik, Iceland Intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are interactive characters that exhibit human-like qualities and communicate with humans or with each other using natural human modalities such as speech and gesture. They are capable of realtime perception, cognition and action that allows them to participate in dynamic social environments. IVA 2011 is an interdisciplinary annual conference and the main forum for presenting research on modeling, developing and evaluating intelligent virtual agents with…

    Read more: Call: IVA 2011 (Intelligent Virtual Agents) and GALA 2011 (Gathering of Lifelike Virtual Agents)

ISPR Presence News

Subscribe

Search ISPR Presence News:

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

Recent Comments