[Presence via virtual reality lets us explore places most of us can never visit but that we need to better understand. This story is from Mashable, where it includes more images and a 4:37 minute video. See also coverage in Wired, and a closely related December 2015 post in ISPR Presence News. –Matthew] ‘North Korea VR’ is an extraordinary glimpse of the world’s most oppressive country By Gianluca Mezzofiore May 04, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump has really upped the war of words with North Korea in the past few months, prompting an endless flow of news reports about the…

[This news release from Newcastle University describes a new study that raises important questions about the ethics of presence in the context of sexuality; see also researcher Matt Bloom’s opinion piece in The Conversation. –Matthew] The ‘reality’ of virtual reality pornography How the latest digital technology could blur the line between reality and fantasy, pushing the dangers of porn to a whole new level. Published on: 19 May 2017 Experts at Newcastle University, UK, are investigating how virtual reality is changing the experience of pornography. Through headsets such as the Facebook owned Oculus Rift and Playstation VR, the technology allows…

[The creative marketing tool described in this story from Medium raises interesting questions about the roles of scale, personalization and nostalgia in presence experiences. The original story includes other images and both mentioned videos; an interactive 360 degree demonstration video is available from Audi Norway and on YouTube. The project is a logical extension of the AR Sandbox created at UC Davis. –Matthew] A VR Sandbox for Your Inner Child Alice Bonasio Feb 27, 2017 This sandbox 2.0 VR installation promises to make test-driving a whole lot more fun. The experience was created as a partnership between Audi Norway, MediaMonks…

[This story from The Atlantic is about how a variety of technologies will increasingly allow us to reproduce vivid memories; note the important comments near the end about some of the ethical implications of these developments (some of which echo concerns about telepresence after death). The original story includes an infographic titled “The Machinery of Memory: A Timeline.” –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Alvaro Dominguez] The End of Forgetting Technology delivers nostalgia on demand. Ben Rowen June 2017 Issue When Uncle Joshua, a character in Peter De Vries’s 1959 novel, The Tents of Wickedness, says that nostalgia “ain’t what it used to…

[This story from The New York Times describes a presence experience with the potential to alter opinions on a timely social issue, addresses some of the challenges of designing experiences in emerging media, and comments on the role of artists in determining the future success of those media (see the last paragraph in particular). The original story includes an additional image. –Matthew] Iñárritu’s ‘Carne y Arena’ Virtual Reality Simulates a Harrowing Border Trek By Jason Farago May 17, 2017 CANNES, France – After weeks in the desert, dehydrated and afraid, refugees and migrants who are apprehended crossing the United States-Mexico…

[This long piece from Backchannel provides an optimistic but realistic status report on the evolution of presence technologies, including details on Google’s new stand-alone VR headset; the original version of the story includes more images. –Matthew] Inside Google’s Slow-Mo VR Moonshot Clay Bavor knows immersive computing is a long-term project. Here’s what he’s doing to make it happen faster. Steven Levy, Editor of Backchannel May 17, 2017 No one in Silicon Valley loves virtual reality or believes in its future as much as Clay Bavor. As vice president of VR and AR for Google, he’s a passionate advocate for the…

[Today’s story is about the use of the technology of modern sculpture to create a presence illusion, this one with an important message. The original story in Mashable includes more images and two videos; more information is available via the project’s website and press release, My Modern Met, as well as Open Culture, where the author writes that “nobody who visits Venice during the Biennale could fail to pause before Support, a work whose visual drama demands a reaction that temperature charts or data-filled studies can’t hope to provoke by themselves. And even apart from the issue at hand, as…

[Planetariums are too often overlooked as a media technology capable of creating several types of presence, including social presence. Our colleague Tom Kwasnitschka makes the case in this story from Nature. For complimentary evidence, see coverage by Creators (including videos) of the recent Obscura Digital presentation ‘Chrysalis,’ the largest projection inside a geodesic dome, at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Creators] Planetariums — not just for kids Planetariums are not just for education, or even astronomy: they could display all sorts of data, if only scientists thought to use them, says Tom Kwasnitschka. 25 April 2017 Most…

[The Whole Story Project is an example of what could become an important trend, using presence experiences that augment our current reality to advocate for and bring about changes in that reality. The story is from Digital Trends, where it includes a 1:15 minute video. –Matthew] [Image: Source: AdStasher] This Pokémon Go-style app lets you find virtual statues of historic women By Hillary Grigonis – May 3, 2017 Out of the 5,193 historic statues decorating street corners in the United States, only about 7.5 percent depict women, and excluding fictional characters, New York’s Central Park has zero ladies in bronze,…

[This story from ThinkProgress describes the origins and potential impacts of a VR documentary on a very serious topic, along with some of the design decisions used to shape the presence experiences of the viewer. For a first person report on the experience see coverage in Engadget, and for a report on other virtual and mixed reality experiences from Tribeca Immersive at the recent Tribeca Film Festival see coverage in CNET. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Engadget] Rape survivors’ stories told through virtual reality in new documentary Rape survivors, up close and personal. Jessica Goldstein, Culture Editor at ThinkProgress May 4, 2017…

[As this story from UA News notes, we’ll want future comparisons including with in-person sessions, but these results highlight the value of presence in a deeply emotional context. This sentence stands out: “In follow-up assessments, participants in the virtual reality group said they felt as if they were in a real room during the sessions, with real people who were going through similar experiences.” The original story includes three more images. –Matthew] Virtual Support Groups Help Grieving Spouses With Depression For older adults who can’t travel to attend a traditional grief support group, a virtual version may be the next…

[Omnipulse is another effort to not only add the sense of touch but increase the ‘haptic resolution’ of presence experiences; this story is from Road to VR, where it includes two short videos. –Matthew] This Pulsating ‘Haptic Skin’ is Somewhat Creepy, Mostly Awesome By Ben Lang May 9, 2017 Omnipulse is a new haptic technology out of Cornell’s Organic Robotics Lab which uses an array of embedded pneumatic actuators to create haptic feedback which feels quite ‘organic’ compared to the more ‘mechanical’ of many other haptic technologies out there. With the ability to form the flexible Omnipulse skin into arbitrary…