[One of the many aspects of interactions with media technologies that can ‘break’ presence is lag, the delay between the user’s action and the technology’s response. In a February 20, 2024 essay in Stratechery, Matthew Ball explains the need for reducing lag in interactions with AI:

“[T]he closer an AI comes to being human, the more grating and ultimately gating are the little inconveniences that get in the way of actually interacting with said AI. It is one thing to have to walk to your desk to use a PC, or even reach into your pocket for a smartphone: you are, at all times, clearly interacting with a device. Having to open an app or wait for text in the context of a human-like AI is far more painful: it breaks the illusion in a much more profound, and ultimately disappointing, way.… read more. “AI platorm Groq reduces presence-breaking lags”

[The story below from the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering reports on the latest efforts to make arguably the ultimate presence-evoking technology, Star Trek’s holodecks, a reality; see the original version of the story for three more pictures and three videos. –Matthew]

[Image: USC researchers led by Shahram Ghandeharizadeh and Heather Culbertson (Center) are inching closer to creating a real-world holodeck, using swarms of tiny drones to create 3D objects. Credit: Cooper Brown.]

International Conference on Holodecks: Five Key Takeaways

Immersive technology researchers at USC and beyond are bringing us one step closer to making Star Trek-like holodecks a reality.

By Anna Hsu and Caitlin Dawson with additional reporting from Bryce Tobiano
February 1, 2024

Shaking hands with a character from the Fortnite video game. Visualizing a patient’s heart in 3D—and “feeling” it beat. Touching the walls of the Roman Coliseum—from your sofa in Los Angeles.… read more. “International Conference on Holodecks: Five key takeaways”

[I’ve read, and posted, several encouraging stories over the years about how individuals have discovered, and formed organizations to utilize, the power of presence-evoking technologies to create new empathy and understanding, and hopefully behavior change, that counters harmful biases. The story below about Equity Commons is from Davidson College in North Carolina; the original version contains three more pictures, and there’s more information on the Equity Commons website. –Matthew]

[Image: Aubrey J. Grant ’10, M.D.]

Radical Empathy Through Virtual Reality: Tech Has Power to Transform the Patient Experience

By Jay Pfeifer
February 19, 2024

You are Tracy. You are a transgender woman. You are a patient at a cardiologist’s office. You know the statistics. You know that transgender persons have a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, but the doctor’s office has never felt comfortable to you. You are sitting in a sterile examination room.… read more. “Radical empathy through virtual reality: Tech has power to transform the patient experience”

[This story from New Atlas makes a detailed and compelling case for the use of robots to serve in the valuable role of seeing eye dogs, with characteristics of the robots likely evoking medium-as-social-actor presence for their blind or sight-limited users. See the original version of the story for eight more images and three videos. –Matthew]

[Image: The University of Glasgow has been working with the Unitree G01 platform for quite some time now, specifically to develop guide dogs for blind and partially sighted people. Credit: Glasgow University]

The Seeing Eye Dog V2.0 is shaping up as a gamechanger

By Mike Hanlon
February 16, 2024

An important new iteration of the robotic seeing eye dog was shown to the world this week, when Glasgow University showed off RoboGuide, an AI-powered quadruped for visually impaired people. The future for robotic canine assistants looks not just commercially huge, but also massively empowering for the world’s one-third of billion visually impaired people.… read more. “The Seeing Eye Dog V2.0 (the robot) is shaping up as a gamechanger”

[The new innovative documentary Ibelin explores the rich relationships formed solely in World of Warcraft by a quadriplegic gamer. The very positive review from Variety below provides a vivid description of the film, which at this writing has a 100% rating from reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes (note that not all reviews are as glowing; Hollywood Reporter’s reviewer writes that “if you’re already aware that the virtual spaces created by networked gaming are, indeed, valid and even valuable ways of forging social relationships, there isn’t much additional insight”). –Matthew]

[Image: Source: The Wrap]

‘Ibelin’ Review: A Shattering Documentary About a Gamer’s Secret Life

Acquired by Netflix at Sundance, Benjamin Ree’s unique documentary blends video games and real life to unearth hidden stories.

By Siddhant Adlakha

Between fascist propaganda, harassment campaigns, AI-generated Google results, and the collapse of digital publishing, it’s hard not to think of the internet as a wasteland.… read more. “‘Ibelin’ is a unique documentary that illustrates the power of presence via World of Warcraft”

[This is the second of two related stories being posted today about the use of presence by people whose lives have been upended by tragedy and who are seeking action from leaders and legislators. The story is from The Times of Israel, where the original includes a second image and two videos.  –Matthew]

[Image: A screenshot from a virtual reality scene called ‘Shlomi’s Glasses,’ created by the family of hostage Shlomi Ziv to portray the experience of hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023]

Hoping to jar world leaders, hostage’s cousin rebuilds captivity in virtual reality

‘Shlomi’s Glasses,’ a six-minute experience created by family of Supernova security guard Shlomi Ziv, is meant to add emotional heft to campaign for hostages’ release

By Jessica Steinberg
February 15, 2024

It’s been more than four months since security guard Shlomi Ziv was taken hostage from the Supernova desert rave by Hamas terrorists, who also murdered his wife’s cousin, Aviv Eliyahu, the party’s security director, along with another friend and security guard, Jake (Kobi) Marlow.… read more. “Hoping to jar world leaders, hostage’s cousin rebuilds captivity in virtual reality”

[This is the first of two related stories being posted today about the use of presence by people whose lives have been upended by tragedy and who are seeking action from leaders and legislators. The story is from NPR, where the original includes two more images and an embedded Change The Ref post from X that contains a 1:15 minute video.  –Matthew]

[Image: Flowers, candles and mementos sit outside one of the makeshift memorials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida just days after the deadly shooting in 2018. Credit: Rhona Wise/AFP via Getty Images]

Gun violence killed them. Now, their voices will lobby Congress to do more using AI

By Elena Moore
February 14, 2024
Heard on All Things Considered

“It’s been six years, and you’ve done nothing,” Joaquin Oliver’s voice echoed across the U.S. Capitol grounds Wednesday.… read more. “Gun violence killed them. Now, their voices will lobby Congress to do more using AI”

[Exploring what she and others say will become a common phenomenon, Spanish artist Alicia Framis will become the first woman to marry an artificially intelligent hologram, as reported in this story from Euronews. See the original version for two more images and a 2:06 minute video (also on YouTube), and for more details and images visit the artist’s website. For related stories, see El Pais and a 2019 ISPR Presence News post. –Matthew]

Meet Spanish artist Alicia Framis: The first woman to marry a hologram

The multidisciplinary artist from Barcelona Alicia Framis will be the first woman to marry a hologram generated by artificial intelligence in a ceremony that will take place this summer at the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam.

By Jaime Velázque & Theo Farrant
January 3, 2024

Imagine a partner who is always there when you need them, but who never gives you a kiss, a hug, or any form of affection involving the slightest physical contact.… read more. “Spanish artist Alicia Framis to be first woman to marry a hologram”

[As mass shootings and other tragedies become depressingly more common, training simulations for first responders in law enforcement and emergency medicine have become more sophisticated, realistic, and effective. The story below from the Louisiana Illuminator provides vivid details; see the original version for two more images and a video. –Matthew]

[Image: Deputies in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department carry an actor playing a gunshot victim to an ambulance during a January mass casualty simulation. Credit: Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline]

Gunfire, screams, carnage: As mass shootings proliferate, training gets more realistic

Law enforcement and medical workers experience the sights, smells and sounds of gun violence to prepare for tragedy.

By Matt Vasilogambros
February 6, 2024

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The pop-pop-pop of gunfire cracked just as the rain started to fall in grisly synchronicity. Then the screams began.

Within moments, civilians lay strewn across the ground, some lifeless, others writhing in pain.… read more. “Gunfire, screams, carnage: As mass shootings proliferate, training gets more realistic”

[This breezy read from Business Insider uses research and comments by our colleague Jeremy Bailenson to explain how the increasing and prolonged use of virtual and mixed reality headsets is likely to lead to both familiar negative impacts on perception (e.g., simulator sickness, and distortions in apparent distances to and shapes of objects), as well as some less familiar impacts on how we perceive each other (e.g., as more uncanny) and on the magnitude of differences in our understandings of physical and social reality. See the original story for two more pictures. –Matthew]

[Image: Still from animated graphic. Credit: Apple; Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI]

The Vision Pro’s scary side effect

Apple’s new VR goggles may rewire our brains in some unexpected ways.

By Adam Rogers
February 11, 2024

The reviews are in, and the tech press is lauding the Apple Vision Pro headset for delivering on the company’s promises.… read more. “Scary side effects: How VR and video passthrough may rewire our brains”