[One last news item before ISPR Presence News takes a break for a few weeks: This piece from Big Think considers the role of VR and other presence-evoking technologies in defining, and controlling, our personal reality; the original includes more images and three videos. –Matthew] [Image: You are who you are because of your environment. What happens in a virtual world? Credit: Shutterstock/Big Think] How will virtual reality change your mind’s consciousness? May 16, 2018 by Derek Beres Over a half-century ago, Canadian professor and philosopher Marshall McLuhan wrote one of the most influential books on media theory ever. Understanding…

[A Villanova University professor is using a CAVE to evoke spatial presence and help baseball players train; this story is from Philly.com, where it includes two more images. –Matthew] [Image: A Villanova professor developed a program to help Wildcat players improve at the plate. Sam Margulis, a freshman outfielder, demonstrates the virtual reality setup located in “The Cave” in a campus library. Credit: Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer.] Taking a swing at virtual reality: How Villanova baseball is using tech to improve at the plate Updated: May 10, 2018 by Frank Fitzpatrick, Staff Writer Heads down, hoods up, hands buried…

[Peter Rubin’s new book covers a wide range of interesting presence topics; this interview with the author is from The Verge (where it includes a different image). –Matthew] Why the real promise of virtual reality is to change human connection It’s not all about gaming By Angela Chen Apr 17, 2018 All the talk about virtual reality revolutionizing the gaming industry is “just first-day stuff,” says VR expert Peter Rubin. Forget 360-degree video and video games, he says. That’s just the beginning, and focusing too much on these uses takes away from the true potential of VR: a social technology…

[I somehow missed this important story from last fall about a project that uses presence to help people experience the microaggressions that result from implicit bias, “quiet, coded moments of racial bias that shape [a black person’s] worldview and sense of justice over time.” The story is from Engadget, where it includes more images. For more information on the project, created through a collaboration with our colleague Jeremy Bailenson, see the 1000 Cut Journey page on the Tribeca Immersive website and coverage in VR World that includes Courtney Cogburn’s TED Talk. For discussions of the broader potential of VR and…

[This is a too-short story about our colleague Andrea Stevenson Won and some of her fascinating and valuable work related to presence. It’s from the Cornell Chronicle, where it includes two more images. For more information see the Virtual Embodiment Lab website and her page on the Cornell website. –Matthew] [Image: Andrea Stevenson Won, assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University, in the Virtual Embodiment Lab. Credit: Sasha Israel/Provided] Relieving real pain in a virtual world By Jennifer Savran Kelly April 30, 2018 We’ve all enjoyed losing ourselves in a good book, but what if the story…

[The demonstration of Google’s AI-powered virtual assistant Duplex at the Google I/O conference is both extremely impressive and, to many, worrisome. This story from NPR describes some of the concerns about the ethics of such effective presence illusions; for more on the ethics and a 4:25 minute video of the demonstration see coverage in The Verge, and for an expanded discussion that includes practical concerns, see coverage in Motherboard. –Matthew] [Image: Google CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated new AI technology that can use human-like speech to carry on phone conversations at the Google I/O 2018 Conference on Tuesday in Mountain View,…

[Google’s May 3, 2018 360-degree virtual reality Doodle is another small landmark in the history of presence. This story is from Adweek, where it includes two videos; for in-depth information see coverage in Engadget and Google itself (where the page includes a Making Of… video). The Washington Post elegantly describes the project this way: “Google has melded the future of the past, technologically and narratively, with the future of the now.” –Matthew] Google’s First Virtual Reality Doodle Honors a French Illusionist Director An homage to the ‘father of special effects’ Georges Méliès By Marty Swant May 3, 2018 Google just…

[The headline is just one of the interesting results in this story from Forbes, where the original includes more charts. –Matthew] VR Needs More Social: 77% of Virtual Reality Users Want More Social Engagement John Koetsier April 30, 2018 77% of people who use virtual reality want more social engagement in VR, according to a new survey of 4,217 consumers. And while many of their headsets don’t get regular use, most intend to use their VR headsets more in the future. “Led by Generation Z and Millennials, 77% of respondents who own a VR headset say they are interested in…

[As a rail fan I find this review of a new model train simulator for virtual reality particularly interesting; the more inclusive term “Trainset VR” is also an intriguing presence concept. The review is from UploadVR, where it includes different images and a video trailer; more information including images and a video is available in coverage by Stuff.co.nz. –Matthew] Rolling Line Review: A Delightful Model Railway Simulator By Jamie Feltham May 4th, 2018 Platforms: Rift (Reviewed), Vive Trainset VR is a term I’ve used to describe some of my favorite VR titles. By that, I’m referring to experiences that make…

[This opinion column from Aeon is from late 2016 but it’s still extremely relevant to a key debate about the effects and ethics of presence. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura/Getty] Murder in virtual reality should be illegal Angela Buckingham is a writer living in Berlin. She writes about power, moral choice, self-deception, bravery and cowardice. Her most recent work, The Colonel, is a play inspired by the events surrounding the Dreyfus Affair in 1890s France. November 2016 You start by picking up the knife, or reaching for the neck of a broken-off bottle. Then comes the lunge and wrestle, the…

[A new Facebook feature will create navigable 3D virtual reproductions of places where our memorable experiences occurred. Interestingly, the limitations of the reproductions (a “pointillism effect”) apparently create both the “sense of presence in a place… [and] a sense of memory.” This first-person report on Facebook’s demo at the F8 conference is from Engadget, where it includes more images. See CNET for a 2:14 minute video. –Matthew] Facebook’s AI-created virtual memories are magically haunting Wandering through pointillistic art felt like being in a dream. Nicole Lee May 1, 2018 Ever since Facebook bought Oculus, it’s been investing in virtual reality in a…

[This story from Nature describes the nascent use of virtual and augmented reality, and the presence experiences they produce, for scientific research. See the last paragraph for a succinct summary. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: The Project Twins] Virtual-reality applications give science a new dimension Virtual- and augmented-reality tools allow researchers to view and share data as never before. But so far, they remain largely the tools of early adopters. David Matthews 30 April 2018 As I put on a virtual-reality (VR) headset, the outside world disappears. A cell fills my visual field, and as I crane my neck, I can see…