[This story from the New Statesman describes both the benefits and ethical challenges of incorporating multiple types of presence, particularly medium-as-social-actor presence, in education. –Matthew] “Eton for all”: will robot teachers mean everyone gets an elite education? From Shakespeare holograms to mental health, how artificial intelligence could transform our schools. October 2 2017 By Lizzie Palmer There are a few certainties in this world: death, taxes, and that our jobs will eventually be taken by robots. However, some professions are under greater threat than others. Accountants and couriers should probably worry. But doctors and teachers will be fine, surely? Even…

[This story about the award-winning VR film “Bloodless” describes a media creator’s perspective on the important differences between film and interactive,  immersive virtual reality; it’s from the AP via Philly Voice. For more information, see coverage in the Korea Herald and the Gina Kim‘s website. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Samantha K. Kim] Director turns to virtual reality to tastefully show tragedy By Youkyung Lee Associated Press October 02, 2017 SEOUL, South Korea — For 25 years filmmaker Gina Kim wanted to make a movie about the true story of a South Korean sex worker killed by an American soldier, but struggled…

[This short story from PsyPost is about a logical and potentially valuable application of presence for accurately diagnosing social anxiety. Note: ISPR Presence News will be away on Thursday and Friday and return on Monday. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung] Virtual reality technology could be a powerful tool in diagnosing social anxiety disorder Eric W. Dolan September 23, 2017 A team of German researchers is hoping to use virtual reality technology to diagnose social anxiety disorder. Their initial results have been published in the scientific journal Computers in Human Behavior. “Most of the work done with VR so far (including from…

[As with other presence-evoking technologies, advertising in VR and AR can easily cause breaks in presence; this story from Venture Beat describes how one company is working to minimize the likelihood of this frustrating and counter-productive phenomenon (the CEO uses the phrase “breaking immersion”). –Matthew] Advrty brings native ads to virtual reality Stephanie Chan September 21, 2017 Advrty wants to offer a new avenue of monetization for virtual reality developers, which doesn’t involve full field-of-view pop-up ads. Instead, it’s a platform aimed toward designing and incorporating nonintrusive product placement. It’s in beta. “Initially, think billboards, posters and product placements using…

[Adding more personality to voice assistants could increase medium-as-social-actor presence for users. This story from Digiday, which includes a 1:20 minute video, describes an interesting example created by the B-Reel agency. The experience might be optimized if users could adjust the degree, and even type, of personality expressed. –Matthew] This agency created a voice assistant inspired by a Swedish grandmother September 25, 2017 by Ilyse Liffreing Google Home, Echo and other voice-activated devices have many capabilities, but one agency believes they lack something essential for the future of voice: personality. B-Reel designed a virtual assistant that takes on the persona…

[This story from Smithsonian Magazine is an effective reminder that VR is just the latest popular attempt to use technology to create presence experiences (example quote: “The world in a stereoscope seemed transcendent, hyper-real”). I agree with the concluding suggestion that VR will eventually become just another tool and perhaps fade from use, but I’m confident we’ll continue to be driven to develop (and popularize) technologies that are increasingly effective at evoking presence. The original story contains many more images and a link to a related book. –Matthew] [Image: This Underwood & Underwood stereograph (c. 1901) shows a woman viewing…

[I’m just back from the IBC2017 Conference, where I gave a talk, got a glimpse of new technologies and had a series of valuable and enjoyable conversations about presence; great thanks to long-time presence advocate and producer of the IBC technical sessions Nick Lodge (info; video). The story below from Fast Company describes a VR project that raises a series of intriguing questions about presence without ever using the term; if only Horton and Wohl, who originated the term parasocial interaction, could see “Fall in Love VR.” The original version of the story includes a second image and a 0:29…

[This story from Digital Trends is a realistic, and in the end hopeful, look at what it’ll take to turn browsing the web into a presence-evoking experience; the original version includes a second image and two videos. –Matthew] VR Web Browsing Needs Revolution More Than Evolution By Jon Martindale September 9, 2017 Virtual reality has given us new ways to play games, and has the potential to bring us closer to loved ones around the world, but it’s yet nail down how to let us browse the internet properly. We’re still far from having a VR headset replace an entire…

[Quantifying the health benefits of different activities in virtual environments could be valuable in promoting presence; the original version of this story from the San Francisco Chronicle includes two more images. –Matthew] [Image: Aaron Stanton exercises using a virtual reality headset at San Francisco State University on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. Photo: James Tensuan, Special to the Chronicle.] S.F. State tests benefits of workouts in virtual reality games By Nanette Asimov September 5, 2017 You enter the boxing ring and face your opponent. He glares at you, his bulging pecs glistening under the arena lights. Pow! You nail him with…

[Another effort to use VR and presence to ease medical treatment; this story is from Forbes, where it includes a different image. –Matthew] Virtual Reality Startup Uses The Psychology of Gaming To Do Battle With Cancer Moira Vetter, Contributor September 9, 2017 Virtual reality innovations are often believed to be speculative technologies that haven’t yet found practical applications. People think of gamers and hobbyists wearing a headset or goggles and peering into a synthetic reality. But virtual reality isn’t so virtual anymore. One startup, OnComfort, has fixed its sights on one of the most daunting foes there is to fight—cancer.…

[Especially in light of recent and current natural disasters, this is an encouraging story from the University of Virginia; for more information on the How to change the world engineering podcast competition and to listen to Bethany Gordon’s 7:31 minute winning entry see coverage from the Royal Academy of Engineering. –Matthew] [Image: UVA graduate engineering student Bethany Gordon’s idea to apply virtual reality technology to crisis situations recently won an international podcast contest. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)] Virtual Reality Can Make a Remote Crisis Real – And Spur Effective Responses September 07, 2017 In Gyumri, Armenia, about 4,000…

[This story from Slate’s Future Tense series provides a useful perspective on alternate meanings of the term virtual and their implications for how we perceive and realize the potential of VR and presence. –Matthew] [Image: Perhaps to speak of virtual reality is to anticipate the disappearance of the world we know. Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo. Photos by Thinkstock.] Our Virtual Future What philosophers say about the inevitability of VR. By Jacob Brogan September 1, 2017 A few months ago, I pulled on an Oculus Rift headset for the first time and stepped into a virtual reality meeting room. I…