Author: Matthew Lombard

How researchers are using virtual reality (and presence) to get inside the criminal mind

Published:

January 25, 2024

[Researchers at Australia’s Edith Cowan University are using virtual reality, and the presence experiences it enables, to better understand how criminals think and act. See the original version of the story below for three more images; for more details see the researchers’ article in Scientific Reports; and for a related story, see the March 2023 ISPR Presence News post “Professor’s VR research looks to pave way for more equitable police interrogations of young adults.” –Matthew] [Image: Participants are questioned inside a virtual reality interview room.] Using virtual reality to get inside the criminal mind ECU psychology researchers have revealed new…
Read more: How researchers are using virtual reality (and presence) to get inside the criminal mind
Call: Free, online Thursday January 25: 6th Furhat Conference on Social Robotics

Published:

January 24, 2024

Call for Participation The 6th Furhat Conference on Social Robotics Robots for all Thursday, January 25, 2024 at 4:00 PM CEST https://furhatrobotics.com/furhat-conference-on-social-robotics-6/ On behalf of the Furhat team, I am excited to invite you to join us for the sixth edition of the International Furhat Conference series. This two-hours online conference gathers leading scientists, innovators and creators that will showcase the latest work related to the area of social robotics. The speaker lineup includes: Christoph Bartneck (Assoc. prof, University of Canterbury, UK) David J. Gunkel (Professor, Northern Illinois University, USA) Håkan Lidbo (Musician, producer and sound artist, Stockholm, Sweden) Ross…
Read more: Call: Free, online Thursday January 25: 6th Furhat Conference on Social Robotics
Hologram lecturers thrill students at trailblazing UK university

Published:

January 24, 2024

[According to this story from The Guardian, and Loughborough University’s press release via GlobeNewswire, instructors and guest speakers will soon regularly appear in European university classes via Proto holograms, either appearing as realistic versions of themselves or as other personas. The press release notes that “the school joins a dozen U.S. universities using Proto” and that “Proto has been used at Harvard, Dartmouth, William & Mary Law School, Hobart & Williams, Gallaudet, the University of Central Florida, and many more.” Of course some of those quoted in the story may be biased, but it sounds like students are impressed by…
Read more: Hologram lecturers thrill students at trailblazing UK university
Call: “Symbolic Interaction and AI” for Studies in Symbolic Interaction

Published:

January 23, 2024

Call for Manuscripts Symbolic Interaction and AI Studies in Symbolic Interaction https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/series-detail/studies-in-symbolic-interaction/ Abstract submission deadline: March 1, 2024 Artificial Intelligence (AI), an umbrella term that includes any device capable of emulating or even exceeding human capabilities, emerged as computer technologies became more sophisticated and complex. While AI currently evokes frightened responses associated with human replacement, it has a history of being useful regarding human enterprises. For instance, mathematical analysts have used AI to find patterns in huge sets of data. However, recent rapid developments in AI have utilized the pattern-matching capacity to create words, images, and sounds independent of human…
Read more: Call: “Symbolic Interaction and AI” for Studies in Symbolic Interaction
Fake Joe Biden robocall urges New Hampshire voters not to vote in Tuesday’s Democratic primary

Published:

January 23, 2024

[It’s unclear how effective it will be, but the latest example of the growing threat from the use of generative artificial intelligence technologies to manipulate perceptions and behavior in the political sphere is the use of automatic phone calls that seem to be from President Joe Biden, telling prospective voters not to vote in today’s first-in-the-nation primary election. The details are in this story from CNN, where you can listen to the robocall. More context on the threat follows below from USA Today’s coverage. See also “Three technology trends shaping 2024’s elections” from MIT Technology Review. –Matthew] [Image: Attendees hold…
Read more: Fake Joe Biden robocall urges New Hampshire voters not to vote in Tuesday’s Democratic primary
Call: ECTEL 2024: 19th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning

Published:

January 22, 2024

Call for Papers European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (ECTEL) 2024 September 16-20, 2024 Krems an der Donau, Austria https://ea-tel.eu/ectel2024/ Deadline for submission of abstracts: March 15, 2024 The European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (ECTEL) engages researchers, practitioners, educational developers, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and policy makers to address current challenges and advances in the field. ECTEL 2024 will take place on 16-20 September 2024 in Krems, Austria with the theme “What is the role of TEL to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all?” ECTEL 2024 will be a face-to-face conference. In a world undergoing rapid transformation due to technological…
Read more: Call: ECTEL 2024: 19th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning
Virtual influencer/model catching the eye of famous footballers, MMA fighters and billionaires

Published:

January 22, 2024

[Virtual influencers on social media aren’t new, but as the technology improves and their images and text become more convincing, they’re more likely to evoke presence in internet users and be perceived as real people. This story from the Daily Mail provides a vivid example; see the original version for eight more images, one of which is a screengrab of a conversation with a user. For more images and information, see Emily Pellegrini‘s Instagram. Combine this story with one in Futurism titled, “Huge proportion of internet is AI-generated slime, researchers find,” and the increasing difficulty in accurately distinguishing human and…
Read more: Virtual influencer/model catching the eye of famous footballers, MMA fighters and billionaires
Call: Book chapters on “Aesthetics, Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence”

Published:

January 19, 2024

Call for Book Chapters Aesthetics, Digitalization, And Artificial Intelligence For “Philosophia Digitalis” series by Brill / mentis-Verlag Deadline for submission of abstracts: March 30, 2024 The digital revolution affects all areas of our lives and does not stop at art, artistic creation, and aesthetic experience. The German art magazine “Monopol” ranked artificial intelligence (AI) second on its annual list of the 100 most influential figures in the art world in 2023. For five months of 2023, American screenwriters went on strike to change their precarious working conditions and to obtain regulation for the use of AI in the (re)writing of…
Read more: Call: Book chapters on “Aesthetics, Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence”
Your classmate could be an AI student at this Michigan university

Published:

January 19, 2024

[Although the focus of this story from MLive/The Grand Rapids Press isn’t on how people will perceive and respond them, the headline captures the potential for interesting medium-as-social-actor presence as students and others encounter “AI students” (which also expands the meaning of “diversity” on campuses). The story notes that at first “the two AI students, who are named Ann and Fry, will only be able to observe the class, but the goal is for the AI students to soon be able to speak during classroom discussions and have two-way conversations with their classmates.” Similarly, “the AI students won’t have a…
Read more: Your classmate could be an AI student at this Michigan university
Call: “Doing and Undoing the Anthropology of Place in an Increasingly Digitalized World” EASA 2024 panel

Published:

January 18, 2024

Call for Abstracts: Doing and Undoing the Anthropology of Place in an Increasingly Digitalized World [Media Anthropology Network] A panel at EASA 2024, the 18th Biennial Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists Barcelona, Spain July 23-26, 2024 https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2024/p/14648 https://easaonline.org/conferences/easa2024/programme#14648 Submission deadline: January 22, 2024 Dear friends and colleagues, We warmly invite you to submit a paper to the EASA Panel “Doing and Undoing the Anthropology of Place in an Increasingly Digitalized World” [Media Anthropology Network] at the EASA conference in Barcelona (July 23-26, 2024). Please submit your proposal here (deadline January 22): https://easaonline.org/conferences/easa2024/programme#14648 Convenors: Monika Palmberger (University of…
Read more: Call: “Doing and Undoing the Anthropology of Place in an Increasingly Digitalized World” EASA 2024 panel
First-person report: BMW just put AR in a car, and it finally makes perfect sense

Published:

January 18, 2024

[This first-person report on an experimental application of presence-evoking technology in a BMW electric vehicle is from TechRadar (where the original story includes four more images). The author writes that “It’s the subtlety that makes it work”; here’s a key quote from near the end: “[The augmented elements] appear as real objects and not in some illusion-crushing and distracting form… This is the key to successful AR in a car. It not only has to provide an augmented experience, but it has to work with and make sense in the real world.” –Matthew] BMW just put AR in a car,…
Read more: First-person report: BMW just put AR in a car, and it finally makes perfect sense
Call: Playing in VR: Imagination, Affordances and Aesthetic Experience International Conference

Published:

January 17, 2024

Call for Abstracts Playing in VR: Imagination, Affordances and Aesthetic Experience International Conference May 21-22, 2024 University of Antwerp Antwerp, Belgium https://philevents.org/event/show/118793 Confirmed speakers include: Shaun Gallagher, University of Memphis Pawel Grabarczyk, Technical University of Copenhagen Amy Kind, Claremont McKenna College Tom McClelland, Cambridge University Nele Van de Mosselaer, Tilburg University Submission deadline: March 18, 2024 ABOUT: Virtual reality (VR) has been discussed in depth within current philosophical fields, including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, ethics or aesthetics. In metaphysics, for example, the debate focuses on the ontological status of VR objects, and imagination is discussed in the context of…
Read more: Call: Playing in VR: Imagination, Affordances and Aesthetic Experience International Conference

International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

How researchers are using virtual reality (and presence) to get inside the criminal mind

Call: Free, online Thursday January 25: 6th Furhat Conference on Social Robotics

Hologram lecturers thrill students at trailblazing UK university

Call: “Symbolic Interaction and AI” for Studies in Symbolic Interaction

Fake Joe Biden robocall urges New Hampshire voters not to vote in Tuesday’s Democratic primary

Call: ECTEL 2024: 19th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning

Virtual influencer/model catching the eye of famous footballers, MMA fighters and billionaires

Call: Book chapters on “Aesthetics, Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence”

Your classmate could be an AI student at this Michigan university

Call: “Doing and Undoing the Anthropology of Place in an Increasingly Digitalized World” EASA 2024 panel

First-person report: BMW just put AR in a car, and it finally makes perfect sense

Call: Playing in VR: Imagination, Affordances and Aesthetic Experience International Conference

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