[Microsoft researcher Bill Buxton has been collecting “interactive gadgets,” including many designed to evoke presence, for over four decades and he has interesting things to say about what we should learn from the history they represent. The short story below from CRN includes a 1:49 minute video report and much more information is available from Bill Buxton‘s website, a 2:16 hour lecture from TorCHI from April and a 14:48 minute interview from CHI 2011 from TEK.GADG on YouTube. –Matthew] Watch: Microsoft’s Bill Buxton Shows Off Virtual Reality Gadgets From 1838 By Diana Blass August 1, 2018 CRNtv recently had the…

[Augmented reality hasn’t gotten that much attention from presence scholars but that’s likely to change as the technology improves and the public begins to encounter it more often. This short story from ZDNet is about one of the ways restaurants are using AR to create an illusion within and linked to the otherwise nonmediated world. See the original story (or YouTube) for a one minute video and the Kabaq website for more information on this and related uses of AR. –Matthew] Augmented Reality is coming to a restaurant near you Food porn is going 3D as the restaurant industry explores…

[Andrew Thaler’s DIY headset lets users experience and navigate the world at least in part as a dolphin would. This short story is from The Verge; Dr. Thaler’s post in Southern Fried Science has much more information and NowThis Future has a 1:53 minute video summary. –Matthew] The DolphinView headset lets you ‘see’ like your favorite sea creature But you’ll have to build it yourself By Angela Chen July 24, 2018 The good news: a headset exists that helps you “see” like a dolphin. The bad news: you’ll have to build this “DolphinView” headset yourself. The other good news: it’s…

[In most presence experiences technology creates the illusion of reality, while inverse presence experiences produce the illusion that reality is mediated by technology (see “When ‘real’ seems mediated: Inverse presence”). Recent art installations by German duo Quintessenz provide a vivid example, as described in this short story from Fast Company about the 2017 work Paradis Perdus. The original story includes more images and a 0:33 minute video; for more details and photos see the Quintessenz website. And for coverage of the duo’s latest work see This is Colossal. –Matthew] This beautiful art installation looks like Photoshop. It’s not.…

[This personal story from VentureBeat is a reminder that despite the current limitations of technology, presence experiences have great potential to improve individual lives. See the original version for a second image. –Matthew] How I discovered the therapeutic power of VR — by accident David Waltenbaugh July 26, 2018 Ask anyone that has experienced a true, high-production virtual reality experience and nearly all can remember our “first time.” The immersive nature of the technology tends to evoke such a visceral response that it often remains with us long after our dive into the virtual realm. Most people I’ve spoken with…

[The press release below from davidbowie.com previews new AR- and VR-based versions of the “David Bowie Is” touring exhibit. They’ll follow several other applications of technology to create presence experiences related to Bowie, including the “Augmented Reality: David Bowie in Three Dimensions” feature by The New York Times, a “2.5-minute train journey through the world of David Bowie” from NS and the Groninger Museum, the “Heroes” dance sequence for 360-degree Gear VR and Microsoft HoloLens from Sundance 2017, and a VR version of the Bowie musical “Lazarus” (see more material by searching for “Bowie” on the V&A Museum website. –Matthew] David…

[As a cyclist with poor vision even with corrective glasses, I’m particularly interested in this post about using presence to reduce accidents by increasing driver-cyclist empathy. A report in Australia’s Nyngan Observer about how the government there is using VR to reduce accidents with quad bikes on farms led me to the short story below from Campaign that describes a Ford program that uses VR to give motorists the experience of bicyclists and vice versa. For much more information including videos, see Ford’s Share the Road website and the Ford Europe blog. For a recent published study on this topic,…

[This story from Hyperallergic explores current dating sims, “a sub-genre of video games which center around the user forming and maintaining romantic relationships with digital partners through the use of VR/AR and (for now) rudimentary AI” and considers some of their positive and negative implications. Designers and scholars need to consider the implications since the (presence-evoking) technologies are evolving quickly. Note that the author plans a follow-up report on gender roles and sexual preferences in the sims. The original version of the story below includes four additional images. –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot of the game VR Kanogo. Credit: The author for…

[This first person report and evaluation of a new mixed reality art exhibit in New York City from TechRadar describes both the promise and current limitations of presence-evoking technologies. See the original story for six additional images and a 2:59 minute behind-the-scenes video. For more information see Microsoft’s coverage, the exhibit’s website (which features a nice interactive rippling water illusion), a 2:04 minute video report from CNET, and another first person report from Engadget. –Matthew] Microsoft HoloLens and Times Square prove an odd mix for an underwater AR exhibit Tourists’ first introduction to augmented reality may underwhelm By Michael Hicks…

[Here’s a new and surprising use of presence-evoking technology for summer fun. The story is from Digital Trends, where it includes a 1:06 minute video. More information from coverage in Gearbrain follows below and see the Ballast website for more on VRSlide and the company’s larger vision for underwater applications of VR and presence. –Matthew] World’s first VR-augmented waterslide is totally unnecessary, but also amazing Luke Dormehl July 18, 2018 Let’s face it: We live in a pretty jaded society. In such a “been there, seen that” environment, the promise of a regular ole’ waterpark wouldn’t be enough to prompt…

[When racial bias has been considered in the context of presence it usually has involved virtual environments (e.g., search for the phrase in the archives of ISPR Presence News), but this story from IEEE Spectrum describes a new study that examined this bias in the context of medium-as-social-actor presence, along with the controversy the work has generated. The original version of the story includes a second image. If the link in the story doesn’t work, the study itself is available (at this writing) in a pdf file here. –Matthew] [Image: Example of image that researchers from the University of Canterbury,…

[Evermore is a new form of smart experience theme park opening soon in Utah; this abridged story from Blooloop describes the vision for the park that “blurs the line between video games, fantasy, and real life.” See the original version for several more images and two videos and see the Evermore website for more information. –Matthew] Evermore – how Utah’s new smart park is imagineered for fantasy gaming Lalla Merlin 12th June 2018 Imagine a theme park without rides or IP, but with live action role playing (LARP), dragons, quests, pirates, and midnight costume parties. This is Evermore, opening in…