[The pandemic has led to an increase in informal, intimate mediated concerts likely to evoke multiple forms of presence, as reported in this story from VOX (where the original includes nine video examples). See in particular the material following the added heading “[Presence-evoking characteristics of live streamed concerts]” and the last two short paragraphs. For another vivid example, see the recording of a Facebook Live living room concert by Eileen Jewel that I “attended” recently. For more information see NPR’s updated list of future concerts and CNBC’s coverage that focuses on “the future of the livestreamed concert beyond coronavirus.”…

[CNN is one of several press outlets reporting on an animal sanctuary’s clever way of entertaining and educating as they connect people with farm animals via Zoom (I seriously considered booking a “Goat-2-Meeting” for our next department meeting but they’re booked until June). Business Insider’s coverage adds that “Goat 2 Meeting is just one example of the innovative projects and offerings that have popped up in recent weeks to bring people together virtually.” and KQED adds “’There is a strong need for people to really get out, even through this vicarious video screen,’ said Sweet Farm co-founder Nate Salpeter.”…

[Warning: Adult content. Sexuality is a common but under studied and discussed application area for presence. As this concise and link-filled story from The Conversation states, in the current global situation “digital technology has never been so central to human sexual and intimate connection.” See the original story for a different image. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Cosmopolitan] Online sex parties and virtual reality porn: Can sex in isolation be as fulfilling as real life? April 16, 2020 Jennifer Power, Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Andrea Waling, ARC DECRA Research fellow,…

[In non-pandemic presence news, researchers at Stanford have developed a new system for augmented reality that makes virtual objects appear more solid, as reported in this story from IEEE Spectrum. For more information including images and a video, see the website of the study’s lead author, Brooke Krajancich. And in an at-least-peripherally related development, an international group of researchers has developed “a learning-based approach for removing unwanted obstructions, such as window reflections, fence occlusions or raindrops, from a short sequence of images captured by a moving camera” – for full details and impressive demonstrations see the project’s website; for a…

[Even if virtual meetings could fully replicate nonmediated communication they wouldn’t solve the many problems with human interactions, but as this story in The New York Times explains, the reduced experience of presence in meetings via video conferencing can amplify gender and personality-based inequities. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Shannon May] It’s Not Just You: Virtual Meetings Aren’t All That Great Overlapping chatter. Interruptions. Gaffes on camera. And for women, possibly not being heard at all. By Alisha Haridasani Gupta April 14, 2020 “Everything that we think is going to be an equalizer turns out not to be.” — Deborah Tannen, professor…

[There are still significant practical and technical issues to resolve, but this story from IEEE Spectrum explains why virtual reality will increasingly provide rich social presence experiences superior to today’s commonly used video conferencing systems (e.g., Zoom). See the original story for a second image. –Matthew] [Image: Virtual meeting on the Engage platform. Credit: Immersive VR Education] Forget Video Conferencing—Host Your Next Meeting in VR Recent advances have made VR the superior technology for conferences and meetings, some experts claim By Edd Gent 13 April 2020 With workers confined to their homes by the coronavirus pandemic, video conferencing is providing…

[While Zoom and other video conferencing tools provide social presence during the pandemic, stationary webcams and drone footage let us leave our homes and experience the now mostly-empty spaces of the world. This short story from Washington, D.C.’s WTOP highlights some of the “virtual escapes” that have become more popular in these strange days (the original version includes a brief audio news report). For more examples that include photos and videos see: As world quarantines, webcams and satellites quietly watch (AccuWeather) What the world looks like on lockdown: Webcams at popular tourist spots (OZY) Visit the Grand Canyon, Eiffel Tower…

[Another activity now only available in mediated form is yoga classes; this first person story from SFGate describes the (presence) experience it offers. See the original story for six more images and a video, and see a story in The Spaces for a picture and link filled “peek inside some of the world’s most striking yoga studios” offering virtual classes.  –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Madeline Wells] I tried virtual yoga. Here’s why it may be better than the real thing By Madeline Wells, SFGATE March 21, 2020 A few months ago, I finally caved into purchasing a membership at a small…

[The tragedy of the Coronavirus pandemic is accelerating some of the major changes in how people live, work and play that many who design, create and study presence-evoking technologies have predicted and propelled. This link-filled story from The Guardian focuses on some of these changes in the arts and culture sector. See the original story for two more images and a video. –Matthew] [Image: A view of an online gallery from Art Basel. Credit: Art Basel] ‘Beginning of a new era’: How culture went virtual in the face of crisis The rise of Covid-19 has forced cultural institutions to explore…

[ABC’s Good Morning America reports on how a California teen used TikTok to share her home celebration of her high school prom and then expanded the idea to a public virtual prom event. See the original story for four different pictures and five videos. For more information see a (pay walled) story in the San Francisco Chronicle and these related stories: Teen Vogue creates virtual prom for students staying home (Adweek) How high schoolers are planning online prom parties amid Coronavirus (Time) Ellen DeGeneres is asking high-school students to share photos of their prom outfits to make up for their…

[Virtual reality and presence are playing an important role in helping the medical community fight the pandemic, as reported in this story from TechRepublic (where the original includes a 7:24 minute video); for more on the Oxford Medical Simulation system see coverage in The Guardian, and for more on how immersive technology companies are helping, see a story in Forbes. –Matthew] [Image: Two doctors talk with a patient in this animated training image. Credit: Oxford Medical Simulation] 17,000 doctors and nurses training for COVID-19 pandemic using VR technology By Todd R. Weiss in Innovation April 2, 2020 Oxford Medical Simulation…

[BBT University in Tokyo used telepresence robots and Zoom to produce a virtual graduation ceremony for its students, as reported in this story from Business Insider (based on a report from the University). Coverage in LADbible adds this detail: “The novel and innovative ceremony was the idea of Professor Shugo Yanaka, Dean of Global Business Administration at the university. He said: ‘While new coronavirus measures are required, the introduction of avatars can realise a warm online graduation ceremony. We hope this initiative will be helpful to educational institutions who are having difficulty holding graduation ceremonies and entrance ceremonies.’” Interesting Engineering’s…