[Reading an analysis of an issue or description of an experience is fundamentally different than the VR-evoked sense of having the experience. This first-person report of a VR simulation of harassment at a Planned Parenthood clinic is from Broadly; a link to a 7:12 minute navigable video version is provided at the end below. For an interview with Dawn Laguens, executive producer of Across the Line and executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Nonny de la Peña, co-creator of Across the Line, see coverage from Democracy Now. –Matthew] Planned Parenthood’s New Virtual Reality Video Simulates Clinic…

[The evolution of AI and related technologies is raising new and interesting challenges for the designers of virtual assistants – to evoke the most effective presence responses, should the assistants be just functional or emotionally connect with users? How closely should they mimic human behavior? This story is from The Washington Post, where it features an additional image. –Matthew] [Image: Redmond, WASH. – A meeting of Microsoft Cortana’s writing team – which includes a poet, a novelist, a playwright, and a former tv writer. Leading the meeting is Deborah Harrison, Senior Content Developer, who talks with Chris O’Connor, also a…

[The idea, and the last sentence here, are unsettling, but this story from Scientific American considers the fascinating prospect that we and everything and everyone we know is a simulation designed as a presence illusion. For more on this topic, see (Tele)Presence and Simulation: Questions of Epistemology, Religion, Morality, and Mortality (pdf) by Jones, Lombard and Jasak. –Matthew] [Image: A scene from the film The Thirteenth Floor (IMDb entry). Source: The Ghost Diaries.] Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? High-profile physicists and philosophers gathered to debate whether we are real or virtual—and what it means either way By Clara…

[This story from MIT Technology Review raises interesting questions about the role of olfaction in perception and presence, and about how to test the effectiveness of artificially-generated odors. Follow the link at the end for the new article by David Harel. –Matthew] Turing Tests and the Problem of Artificial Olfaction Unlike sight and sound, smells have never been accurately reproduced. Now one researcher has begun to think seriously about how artificial olfaction might work. by Emerging Technology from the arXiv April 7, 2016 Here’s an interesting problem. When it comes to human senses, we’ve found ways to reproduce the look…

[Another potential application area for VR and presence; this story is from Inhabitat, where it features four more images. –Matthew]   IKEA’s new app lets you try out furniture in virtual reality by Julie M. Rodriguez April 6, 2016 Have you ever wanted to see how a new piece of furniture might look in your home before buying it? If IKEA has a say, that may soon be a normal part of your home shopping experience. The Swedish furniture giant just released a virtual reality app that will allow users to explore and customize their kitchen in a whole new…

[The results of this study by our colleagues at Stanford University support the argument of the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm and of (tele)presence generally, that humans haven’t evolved (yet?) to respond in unique ways to technology. The story is from IEEE Spectrum’s Automaton blog where it includes a 1:33 minute video. Join us in Japan in June to see the paper presented at the International Communication Association (ICA) conference and for the ISPR preconference, “The Power of Presence: Using Telepresence Theory, Research and Applications to Enhance Mediated Communication Experiences in the 21st Century.” –Matthew] Touching a Robot’s ‘Intimate…

[This story from The Creators Project (where it includes more images and the mentioned video) describes a telepresence system that lets users transition easily between first and third person views with the goal – as noted in the Rekimoto Lab headline – of allowing “more effective telepresence collaborations.” –Matthew] [Image: A “ghost” user experiences the JackIn Space’s immersive remote point of view. Courtesy of Rekimoto Lab.] Take a Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes with POV-Altering Headgear Alyssa Buffenstein — March 26 2016 There’s a whole new meaning to the term “ghosting,” thanks to a new project called JackIn Space. A…

[The story of a Hong Kong man who has created a DIY robot that looks like a famous actress has received a lot of press – the piece below from Wired examines some of the many implications. For more, see the Mirror’s 1:17 minute report and creator Ricky Ma’s 1:33 minute ‘making of’ video on YouTube. –Matthew] The Scarlett Johansson Bot Is the Robotic Future of Objectifying Women April Glaser April 4, 2016 As robotics and 3-D printing technologies become more accessible to home tinkerers, men are (of course) building robots of beautiful women. Anyone who’s turned on a TV…

[Dr. Tom Kwasnitschka has sent along information about a fascinating and important application of presence. The coverage below is from the Schmidt Ocean Institute website (which features more information including a press release) and Tom writes that “we sent live VR video from a black smoker field on the bottom of the ocean last week using a 4k VR camera, and uploaded a 4k version later. Another aspect was telepresence live calls, to museums, plus the entire cruise was broadcast live to youtube.” –Matthew] Virtual Vents: The Changing Face of Hydrothermalism Revealed Exploring and visualizing remote underwater environments in new…

[This is an interesting and thoughtful first-person report on the experience of using social presence in VR today, and speculation about how it may evolve. It’s from The Guardian, where the story includes two more images. –Matthew] [Image: The human avatars are clearly meant to be unthreatening, but when you’re surrounded by them, their strange dead eyes staring at you, it can be … strange. Photograph: AltSpace] Alone together: My weird morning in a virtual reality chatroom Mark Zuckerberg says virtual social worlds could be the future. But what’s it actually like in one? Keith Stuart visits AltSpace and finds…

[This Wired story is a first-person description of the latest presence-evoking tech for movie-going; as the author notes, it’ll be interesting to see how well it works when it accommodates the film rather than the reverse. –Matthew] What It’s Like to See Batman v Superman in Butt-Punishing 4DX Brian Raftery March 29, 2016 The sign outside of the just-installed 4DX theater in New York City warns of “motion enabled chairs” with “strong vibrations”; some “lightning, rain, [and] flashing (strobe) lights”; and a dash of “fog and strong scents.” But after sitting through a recent screening of Batman v Superman: Dawn…

[Here’s an interesting take on the kinds of presence experiences we will want; the story is from The Verge, where it includes an additional image. –Matthew] First Click: Life as a bear would be sweet in virtual reality By James Vincent on March 29, 2016 I have a theory. A pet theory, you might say. I think that if and when virtual reality finally takes off (and I realize this still isn’t a given), some of the most popular games will be animal simulators. Bear simulators. Bird simulators. Bug simulators. Games where you don’t have to think too hard or…