Category: Presence in the News
News stories explicitly or implicitly related to presence from a wide variety of sources
-
Penn State campus ‘sensory room’ adds VR and presence to help students through end of semester stresses
Published:
Read more: Penn State campus ‘sensory room’ adds VR and presence to help students through end of semester stresses[As many of us know well, the end of a semester at a college or university can be a particularly stressful time for students (and others). In addition to counseling and therapy dogs, presence experiences via virtual reality may be a helpful tool in managing the stress. The story below from Penn State University describes a simple but apparently successful example. –Matthew] [Image: First-year student Manan Jain uses a Meta headset to try the Liminal Virtual Reality experience. The virtual reality headset is in the Center for Academic Achievement and is available for use by all Penn State Beaver students.…
-
VR training to equip first responders for birth emergencies developed in Australia
Published:
Read more: VR training to equip first responders for birth emergencies developed in Australia[A doctoral student in Australia has designed a new program that uses presence-evoking virtual reality to train volunteer ambulance officers and paramedics to manage out-of-hospital births. An excerpt from coverage by MobiHealthNews follows the short news release below from Edith Cowan University (where the original version includes a second image). –Matthew] [Image: PhD candidate Michella Hill has developed a virtual reality training program for volunteer ambulance officers and paramedics to enhance confidence and competency in managing birth emergencies before arriving at hospital] Cutting-edge VR training to equip first responders for birth emergencies A new virtual reality (VR) training program developed…
-
We need to stop pretending AI is intelligent – here’s how
Published:
Read more: We need to stop pretending AI is intelligent – here’s how[This forceful essay in The Conversation by a cognitive neuroscientist captures what to me is most fascinating and potentially dangerous about rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technology: its ability to mimic human cognition and social cues that evoke compelling medium-as-social-actor presence illusions. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Kundra/Shutterstock] We need to stop pretending AI is intelligent – here’s how By Guillaume Thierry, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Bangor UniversityApril 14, 2025 We are constantly fed a version of AI that looks, sounds and acts suspiciously like us. It speaks in polished sentences, mimics emotions, expresses curiosity, claims to feel compassion, even dabbles in what…
-
Chinese women finding heartthrobs in 3-D otome games: Is it a worrying trend?
Published:
Read more: Chinese women finding heartthrobs in 3-D otome games: Is it a worrying trend?[This story from SHINE (the digital arm of Shanghai Daily) examines a presence phenomenon in which women in China develop emotional attachments to virtual characters and in some cases even bring the parasocial relationship into real life via cosplayers. See the original version for six more images. –Matthew] Why so many women find heartthrobs in virtual reality. Is it a worrying trend? By Lu FeiranApril 14, 2025 Yunnan Province resident Xiao Cheng, disillusioned with male relationships, has a boyfriend. She spends an hour with him after work every day but never holds his hand. His name is Caleb Xia. He’s…
-
Researchers from Japan pioneer a technology that uses real-world doors to connect the real and virtual worlds
Published:
Read more: Researchers from Japan pioneer a technology that uses real-world doors to connect the real and virtual worlds[A team of researchers in Japan are using the combination of real (nonmediated) doors and virtual ones to create more “natural and intuitive” transitions less likely to disrupt presence for users of mixed reality technologies. Some of the details are reported in the news release below from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology via EurekAlert! (it’s also available via Tech Xplore). –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Daiki Hagimori from NTT DOCOMO, Inc., Japan] Transforming doors into gateways to the virtual world: The future of mixed reality! Researchers from Japan pioneer a technology that uses real-world doors to connect the real and…
-
I tested the AI that calls your elderly parents if you can’t bothered
Published:
Read more: I tested the AI that calls your elderly parents if you can’t bothered[While it may provide important benefits, especially given age-related demographic trends, the prospect of utilizing presence-evoking technologies to supplement or even replace human beings who provide health care to the elderly raises concerns about dystopian outcomes. The author of the important story below from a 404 Media email newsletter reports on his test of a new service that uses audio AI to check in on and converse with elderly family members each day and then provides a report on the interaction to the service subscriber. See the original version of the story for two more images and audio recordings of…
-
DIY haptic controller brings touch typing to virtual reality
Published:
Read more: DIY haptic controller brings touch typing to virtual reality[As this story from Mixed notes, “without tactile feedback, typing in VR feels unnatural and inefficient,” but a new input device could make using one technology (a computer) within another (VR) evoke greater presence (I guess that could be called nested presence). See the original version of the story for a different image and the 1:02 minute demonstration video (also on YouTube), and see Github for more information. –Matthew] [Image: Source: GitHub] DIY haptic controller brings touch typing to Virtual Reality A creative developer has built a wearable eight-key controller that could solve one of VR’s most persistent challenges: text…
-
“Echo of the Abyss” uses VR (and presence) to connect players with ocean ecosystems
Published:
Read more: “Echo of the Abyss” uses VR (and presence) to connect players with ocean ecosystems[The story below from Carnegie-Mellon University’s Center for Transformational Play describes a doctoral student’s creative and research work in a project that uses a presence-evoking virtual reality experience to help people feel connected to the deepest parts of the ocean; see the original version of the story for three different images and a video trailer. –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot from “Echo of the Abyss” trailer] Using Virtual Reality to Connect Players With Ocean Ecosystems By: Maila Jill RibleApril 2, 2025 Fewer people have been to the deepest parts of the ocean than have walked on the surface of the moon. Researchers…
-
Mixed reality game keeps players ‘virtually’ safe from lightning
Published:
Read more: Mixed reality game keeps players ‘virtually’ safe from lightning[A mixed reality game developed at the University of Maryland helps players learn about the consequences of different behaviors during a thunderstorm, and hopefully stay safe when they encounter dangerous storm conditions in the real world. Follow the links in the story below for more information. –Matthew] [Image: A car protects a cartoon owl from a lightning strike in a mixed-reality game designed to teach lightning safety that was designed by a UMD researcher and created with help from a student team. Credit: Image courtesy of Guangyang Fang] Game Keeps Players ‘Virtually’ Safe From Lightning VR Headset Provides Immersive Learning…
-
Jianwei Xun, the supposed philosopher behind the hypnocracy theory, does not exist and is a product of AI
Published:
Read more: Jianwei Xun, the supposed philosopher behind the hypnocracy theory, does not exist and is a product of AI[If presence involves the failure to overlook the role of technology in a mediated experience, artificial intelligence clearly represents a new source of presence misperceptions. This is the second of two posts today about the purposeful misrepresentation of materials produced by AI as if they were created by human beings, and the likelihood that soon all of us will have great difficulty distinguishing human-made and machine-made media content. The story below is from EL PAÍS and describes a recent significant misrepresentation of AI as human in scholarly publication venues. –Matthew] [Image: Andrea Colamedici, the creator of Jianwei Xun, pictured in…
-
Virtual reality: The widely-quoted media experts who are not what they seem
Published:
Read more: Virtual reality: The widely-quoted media experts who are not what they seem[If presence involves the failure to overlook the role of technology in a mediated experience, artificial intelligence clearly represents a new source of presence misperceptions. This is the first of two posts today about the purposeful misrepresentation of materials produced by AI as if they were created by human beings, and the likelihood that soon all of us will have great difficulty distinguishing human-made and machine-made media content. The story below is from the UK’s Press Gazette, where the original version includes two additional images. While some of the publications in which AI-generated authors and experts have been featured might…
-
I tried the VR headset that puts domestic abusers in victims’ shoes
Published:
Read more: I tried the VR headset that puts domestic abusers in victims’ shoes[Warning: This article from The Times may disturb some readers. It’s about a program that uses spatial and social presence to help convicted, imprisoned domestic abusers in Spain understand what it’s like to be the victim rather than the perpetrator of that crime. See the original story for two more images; related coverage of crime and justice is also available from The Times. For more details about the VRespectMe program, see the April 2023 report “Use of Virtual Reality in Catalan Prisons: Challenges and Opportunities” from Justice Trends. –Matthew] [Image: The psychologist Nicolas Barnes, right, showcases the technology in Catalonia,…
ISPR Presence News
Search ISPR Presence News:
Categories
Archives
- May 2025 (12)
- April 2025 (44)
- March 2025 (42)
- February 2025 (40)
- January 2025 (44)
- December 2024 (42)
- November 2024 (40)
- October 2024 (46)
- September 2024 (42)
- August 2024 (44)
- July 2024 (44)
- June 2024 (40)
- May 2024 (24)
- April 2024 (27)
- March 2024 (42)
- February 2024 (42)
- January 2024 (44)
- December 2023 (40)
- November 2023 (42)
- October 2023 (44)
- September 2023 (39)
- August 2023 (46)
- July 2023 (42)
- June 2023 (44)
- May 2023 (40)
- April 2023 (40)
- March 2023 (46)
- February 2023 (40)
- January 2023 (44)
- December 2022 (24)
- November 2022 (42)
- October 2022 (42)
- September 2022 (42)
- August 2022 (46)
- July 2022 (40)
- June 2022 (44)
- May 2022 (42)
- April 2022 (42)
- March 2022 (46)
- February 2022 (40)
- January 2022 (38)
- December 2021 (46)
- November 2021 (42)
- October 2021 (42)
- September 2021 (42)
- August 2021 (44)
- July 2021 (44)
- June 2021 (42)
- May 2021 (40)
- April 2021 (44)
- March 2021 (46)
- February 2021 (40)
- January 2021 (39)
- December 2020 (44)
- November 2020 (39)
- October 2020 (43)
- September 2020 (44)
- August 2020 (42)
- July 2020 (46)
- June 2020 (43)
- May 2020 (42)
- April 2020 (44)
- March 2020 (44)
- February 2020 (39)
- January 2020 (34)
- December 2019 (42)
- November 2019 (40)
- October 2019 (44)
- September 2019 (40)
- August 2019 (44)
- July 2019 (44)
- June 2019 (38)
- May 2019 (46)
- April 2019 (44)
- March 2019 (42)
- February 2019 (40)
- January 2019 (36)
- December 2018 (40)
- November 2018 (42)
- October 2018 (46)
- September 2018 (38)
- August 2018 (46)
- July 2018 (44)
- June 2018 (42)
- May 2018 (32)
- April 2018 (42)
- March 2018 (44)
- February 2018 (40)
- January 2018 (44)
- December 2017 (40)
- November 2017 (42)
- October 2017 (44)
- September 2017 (26)
- August 2017 (46)
- July 2017 (42)
- June 2017 (44)
- May 2017 (44)
- April 2017 (40)
- March 2017 (46)
- February 2017 (40)
- January 2017 (44)
- December 2016 (44)
- November 2016 (42)
- October 2016 (30)
- September 2016 (42)
- August 2016 (46)
- July 2016 (40)
- June 2016 (24)
- May 2016 (42)
- April 2016 (42)
- March 2016 (46)
- February 2016 (44)
- January 2016 (40)
- December 2015 (44)
- November 2015 (40)
- October 2015 (42)
- September 2015 (42)
- August 2015 (42)
- July 2015 (46)
- June 2015 (44)
- May 2015 (40)
- April 2015 (44)
- March 2015 (44)
- February 2015 (40)
- January 2015 (42)
- December 2014 (44)
- November 2014 (38)
- October 2014 (46)
- September 2014 (42)
- August 2014 (42)
- July 2014 (43)
- June 2014 (42)
- May 2014 (42)
- April 2014 (43)
- March 2014 (42)
- February 2014 (40)
- January 2014 (44)
- December 2013 (42)
- November 2013 (40)
- October 2013 (44)
- September 2013 (40)
- August 2013 (44)
- July 2013 (46)
- June 2013 (40)
- May 2013 (44)
- April 2013 (44)
- March 2013 (42)
- February 2013 (40)
- January 2013 (44)
- December 2012 (40)
- November 2012 (42)
- October 2012 (46)
- September 2012 (37)
- August 2012 (46)
- July 2012 (40)
- June 2012 (42)
- May 2012 (46)
- April 2012 (42)
- March 2012 (44)
- February 2012 (42)
- January 2012 (44)
- December 2011 (44)
- November 2011 (40)
- October 2011 (33)
- September 2011 (42)
- August 2011 (46)
- July 2011 (39)
- June 2011 (45)
- May 2011 (42)
- April 2011 (42)
- March 2011 (44)
- February 2011 (40)
- January 2011 (42)
- December 2010 (42)
- November 2010 (42)
- October 2010 (42)
- September 2010 (42)
- August 2010 (43)
- July 2010 (42)
- June 2010 (43)
- May 2010 (40)
- April 2010 (43)
- March 2010 (46)
- February 2010 (40)
- January 2010 (54)
- December 2009 (18)
- November 2009 (29)
- October 2009 (26)
Recent Posts
- Call: Uppsala-Vienna AI Colloquium – Julian Hauser: “AI am I: Personal Assistants and the Self”
- Surrealist Salvador Dalí gets a phone number you can dial to wish him happy birthday or simply chat
- Call: Chapters for “Gotta Study ‘Em All: 30 Years of Pokémon”
- On the same wavelength: Neural “fingerprints” indicate deep focus flow states in teams
- Call: “The Role of Technology in Relational Communication” issue of Review of Communication