[It’s easy to forget that there’s a long history of increasingly effective presence-evoking technologies, and that the illusions of each improved technology impressed the users of its era. This story from the Lewiston Sun Journal in Maine provides a vivid description of an early presence-evoking technology and reactions to using it. See the original story for eight examples of stereographs along with two other images, and follow the links at the end below for more information and examples. –Matthew] [Image: A woman depicted using a handheld stereograph viewer in a 1907 newspaper advertisement. Credit: The National Tribune, Washington, DC] Virtual reality…

[This link-filled story from HealthTech Magazine describes how presence-evoking technologies are being deployed more often and for more applications in the large Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) in the United States. –Matthew] Telehealth and Virtual Reality Expand into Mainstream Care at the VA Federal health agencies find that virtual visits (and VR) make appointments more convenient for patients. By Calvin Hennick, a freelance journalist who specializes in business and technology writing. He is a contributor to the CDW family of technology magazines October 30, 2023 In a pilot physical therapy program run by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in…

[On the spectrum from arbitrary, unnatural mapping of control mechanisms in interactive mediated experiences (e.g., keyboard shortcuts and controller buttons) to natural mapping mechanisms that fully replicate the way humans interact in the nonmediated world, where does “mind control” (e.g., via EEG sensors) fall? When the latter tech is refined and widely available, as predicted in the story below from Kotaku, will it bring us more (or the most) compelling presence experiences? See the original story for a second image and two videos.  –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Vicky Leta] Mind-Control Gaming Isn’t Sci-Fi, It’s Just Science Virtual reality experts talk to…

[Researchers in Northern Ireland are using virtual reality to allow musicians with disabilities to compose and play music in virtual reality. See the original version of the BBC News story below for three different images and a 2:09 minute video report. For more information, visit the website of Drake Music NI, and listen to “Episode 17: Music, Accessibility and Artistic Research” of the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Voices podcast from May 2021 featuring researcher Damian Mills. –Matthew] The musicians with disabilities embracing virtual reality By Niall McCracken, BBC News NI November 1, 2023 “I used to play instruments all the…

[Joe Hunting, the creator of the documentary We Met in Virtual Reality, which was filmed in and is about people who use and form relationships in VRChat, is launching a production studio called Painted Clouds to tell more stories set in (and eventually experienced in) presence-evoking virtual reality. This story from Engadget includes the details and two videos, one a 2:31 minute message from Joe Hunting via his VR avatar and the other a trailer for his documentary (the videos are also available from YouTube here and here). For an extended interview with Hunting, listen to a 28:33 minute edition…

[This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking essay about the potential impacts of a variety of quickly evolving presence-evoking technologies on us as individuals and on society. It’s from Psychology Today’s The Digital Self blog. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: John Collins/Pixabay] The Illusion of the Modern Self Here’s how AI-generated images can craft a precarious synthetic reality. By John Nosta, an innovation theorist and founder of NostaLab Reviewed by Davia Sills October 20, 2023 In the wake of the technological revolution, where digitalization and large language models seem to permeate every aspect of our existence, a curious shift is taking shape—a new…

[A clever developer has created what looks like an effective presence illusion in which a mixed reality user feels like they’re petting a (virtual) cat. The details are in the short story from Mixed below, including the potential implications for more realistic and compelling virtual pets; the short video described and embedded in the original story is available on X/Twitter, and a second one is available there as well. In a related story, a recent article in Nature’s Scientific Reports titled “Phantom touch illusion, an unexpected phenomenological effect of tactile gating in the absence of tactile stimulation” includes this summary:…

[In the essay below, Daniel Orti, the Middle East Director of ACCIONA Cultura (“a cultural production firm that specializes in the creation and delivery of museums, events, and new media experiences”), describes the potential of presence-evoking immersive experiences to not only entertain but motivate and transform users in positive ways. He notes that in addition to the increasingly sophisticated technology that creates these experiences, to be fully successful they require a compelling narrative. See the original version of the essay in Construction Week for five more pictures. –Matthew] Digital immersive experiences are here to stay — if they can tell…

[In an important project led by the University of Chicago and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an interdisciplinary team of researchers is attempting to restore a sense of normalcy to the lives of breast cancer patients who have a mastectomy. As this news release says, the “bionic breast” project follows the refinements being made to other prosthetics technologies to create a (presence) illusion of natural sensation and normal function: “The goal for such devices is to create prosthetic limbs that are fully ‘embodied,’ meaning they feel like a natural part of the body and produce the same…

[Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed and tested a way for users to interact with specialized tools in virtual reality in a more natural and less cognitively distracting way, which should make it easier to evoke presence. The project is described in the story below, where the original includes a 1:56 minute demonstration video (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] Machine learning gives users ‘superhuman’ ability to open and control tools in virtual reality Media enquiries: Sarah Collins, External Affairs and Communications team November 8, 2023 Researchers have developed a virtual reality application where a range of 3D modelling…

[The original version of the story below from STIR (“See. Think. Inspire. Reflect.”) includes seven more images and two videos of the intriguing presence-evoking art of Dennis Rudolph. Find out and see more at the Upstream Gallery website, the artist’s dennisrudolph.art website and his Instagram. –Matthew] [Image: Installation view of Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft at Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam, 2023. Detailed view of Orpheus (1. Gesang), 2020, Oil on canvas and AR app. Credit: Courtesy of Dennis Rudolph] Dennis Rudolph redefines art’s boundaries through the virtual and the tangible The new media artist from Berlin invites viewers to traverse the ever-blurring…

[A new virtual reality project called “Inside Kristallnacht” will help people learn about the pivotal event in the Holocaust through interactions with archival images and videos of some of the places and people involved as well as the personal recollections of a survivor with whom users will be able to interact. This story from AP provides some of the details (and a different image); for more information see a press release via PR Newswire and the project’s website, which features a 2:35 minute preview video that’s also available on YouTube. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Claims Conference “Inside Kristallnacht” website] Holocaust survivor…