Now available: Five Years Later, an immersive media production about migrationAn outcome of the Immersive Prosocial Audiovisual Narratives (NAPI) research projectAt the Universitat Politècnica de València, SpainFive Years Later: https://casoaquarius.webs.upv.es/en/NAPI project: https://napiproject.webs.upv.es/en/ We are pleased to share the publication of an immersive media production about migration on the Meta Store. Five Years Later (2024) is an immersive documentary that offers a six degrees of freedom (6DoF) experience. It is also a hybrid media production that combines computer generated imagery with real images filmed in 360º video and volumetric video. It addresses the social issues of migration through the case of…

[This essay from SB Nations’s Royals Review (“A Kansas City Royals community”) considers the appeal of a new indoor, simulator-based golf league with teams that plays matches presented on the ESPN cable and streaming platforms. The author speculates on the potential appeal of transforming other professional sports into presence-evoking simulator-based competitions for professional and amateur players. To learn more about TGL Golf, see a primer from ESPN. For a report on reactions to the recent debut match, see Yahoo! Sports. One writer in Slate argues convincingly that while the simulator technology is impressive, the players’ attitude toward the competition is…

[This Forbes report from the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) describes a, expensive new humanoid robot named Aria designed to evoke rich medium-as-social-actor presence. See the original version for a second image and the mentioned 43 second video (also on YouTube). Coverage from NDTV notes that the “Internet [is] fascinated and spooked”: “A video of Aria and her facial expressions went viral on social media, triggering a sea of comments, ranging from fascination to abject horror as to what technology had transformed into. ‘I thought that was real at first. And she looks like somebody I just can’t think who,’…

[The author of this post from Storebrands’ Viewpoints blog describes how private brands (also known as store brands – see Investopedia for more information) are using virtual reality and the presence it evokes in consumer research and other contexts that help them more effectively compete against established brands. –Matthew] Using Virtual Reality To Create Real-World Solutions Caroline Kim of SGK and Equator explores how virtual reality technology is revolutionizing private brand research and enabling retailers to create more impactful packaging designs and shopping experiences. By Caroline Kim, a Strategy & Consumer Insights Specialist at SGK and EquatorJanuary 28, 2025 Virtual…

[This story from the University of Waterloo describes the Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation (DOHR) project, “an educational virtual reality (VR) curriculum rooted in restorative justice.” Quoting Oliver Schneider, one of the interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Games Institute there, the story provides this notable detail: “’We’re trying to disrupt the sense of presence at key moments. We’re trying to help people to remind themselves that they are sitting and listening to this experience.’ The experience is crafted to allow listeners to engage with the tragic history, think about their own positionality, and carry the learnings forward into social…

[ELIZA, Joseph Weizenbaum’s early example of an AI chatbot that evoked medium-as-social-actor presence, has been “brought back to life.” As this story from IFLScience notes, the contrast with today’s AI bots is instructive and refreshing. See the original version of the story for a 1:40 minute video (also on YouTube) and visit the Elizagen website for more details. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Jesus Sanz/Shutterstock.com] ELIZA, The World’s First Chatbot, Brought Back From The Dead Definitely what the world needs now is a zombie chatbot. By Stephen Luntz, Freelance WriterEdited by Francesca BensonJanuary 22, 2025 As the world grapples with a flood…

[This piece from Harvard Magazine summarizes some of the observations from an interview with Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker on the topics of virtual reality and presence. See the original version (or YouTube), for the 14:12 minute video interview. A related video, “Harvard Professor Steven Pinker on Apple Vision Pro,“ is also on YouTube. –Matthew] [Image: Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family professor of psychology at Harvard University, wearing a Meta Quest headset outside William James Hall, home to Harvard’s psychology, sociology, and social studies departments. Credit: Jason Nemirow, courtesy of Steven Pinker] The Psychology of Virtual Reality Harvard’s Steven Pinker on…

[This story from Anglia Ruskin University describes an ambitious project using presence-evoking and other technologies to preserve the endangered Cornish language and the culture of Cornwall, England, and Griko, a second endangered European language. –Matthew] New project aims to REVIVE the Cornish language Digital technologies will help to preserve and promote Cornwall’s unique heritage By ARU Press officeJanuary 16, 2025 A major seven-nation project has been launched to help preserve and promote the Cornish language, as well as Cornwall’s wider cultural heritage, by combining immersive technologies with participatory storytelling. Called REVIVE, the £2.5 million project is being led by Anglia…

[Researchers at the University of Montreal are testing the effectiveness of personally relevant virtual reality experiences and the presence they evoke, combined with hypnosis, to reduce the pain and anxiety of cancer patients. Details are reported in this story from the University, where the original includes three more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Super Splendide] Virtual reality and hypnosis bring relief UdeM scientists are combining immersive imagery and hypnotic techniques to reduce pain and anxiety in patients who have cancer of the blood. By Virginie SofferJanuary 21, 2025 In a room at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, a patient puts on a…

[A virtual reality presentation that uses presence to build empathy and understanding around the events of October 7, 2023 is described in this story from The Times of Israel. The experience is being provided around the world, including on college campuses in the U.S., to depoliticize the issues and counter antisemitism. See the original version of the story for four more images. More details are provided in coverage in the Pasadena Weekly and LA Downtown News; the latter includes this: “Produced by Stephen D. Smith, the former USC Shoah Foundation executive director, the project uses cutting-edge technology to ‘give survivors…

[Today’s posts are both news stories about new presence-evoking techniques being used in sports coverage. The story below from DesignTAXI describes how the Australian Open tennis tournament is using animated avatars of players to recreate match coverage in near-real-time on its YouTube channel. See the original version of the story for four embedded social media posts containing video examples. For more information, see coverage from AP via ABC News. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Australian Open] The Australian Open reinvents tennis coverage with Wii Sports-style animated livestreams By KeyboardKittyJanuary 16, 2025 The Australian Open 2025 has taken an unexpected yet wildly entertaining…

[Today’s posts are both news stories about new presence-evoking techniques being used in sports coverage. The story below from Sports Business Journal describes how ESPN is using virtual reality to provide television viewers with the first-person perspective of National Football League players during critical moments of play. For more information, see coverage in Sports Illustrated. –Matthew] How ESPN uses StatusPro Visualizer on ‘NFL Live’ By Joe LemireDecember 16, 2024 Telestration has long been the tool of choice for football analysts to explain actions on the field, but sometimes overhead annotation can’t match in-studio visualization. For the past three weeks, ESPN…