[Here’s a breezy description and analysis of a recent patent application by Meta for the technologies to enable ‘3D conversation’ – it’s all about creating the illusions of social and spatial presence experiences even though it doesn’t explicitly use the terms. See the original story from TNW for two more images. –Matthew] Meta filed a patent for ‘3D conversations’ — are holographic calls almost here? Meta wants to enable 3D calls for everything from VR headsets to smartphones By Napier Lopez February 23, 2022 Ever since Star Wars first showed space wizards talking to holograms, calling someone and chatting with…

[A new study examines how virtual reality and the presence experiences it provides can reduce vaccine hesitancy. This brief story from Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance provides a summary of the full (open access) report in Nature’s Scientific Reports. –Matthew] [Image: The busy square scene in VR, with feedback graph showing the number of infected, healthy and vaccinated characters.] How virtual reality could help reduce vaccine hesitancy A new study suggests that by engaging people in immersive, gamified experiences, virtual reality could drive home the importance of vaccination. By Priya Joi 22 March 2022 WHAT IS THE RESEARCH ABOUT? Vaccine hesitancy…

[An autonomous robot that performs surgery on humans raises interesting and important questions about the role of medium-as-social-actor presence in the challenges of acceptance by the public. This story from The Baltimore Sun touches on some of them indirectly, noting the progression for current robotically assisted surgical devices and using the analogy of self-driving cars. See the original story for a second picture; for more details see coverage from Johns Hopkins and the paper in Science Robotics. –Matthew] [Image: A team of mechanical engineers from Johns Hopkins University are developing a SMART robot (Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot) that can perform…

[New coverage from SyFy and New Scientist (the latter behind a paywall) describes an interesting approach to adding the sense of touch (and presence) to experiences in virtual reality; the New Scientist story begins with this: “You open a door and it hits you – a flare of warmth on your skin. You brace yourself to go inside, battling smoke and heat. Flames flicker around you as you make your way through a burning building. You find what you came for and escape. Outside, it is so cold you start to shiver, while your hands and feet go numb. But…

[Imperial College London researchers are part of a consortium developing new “technologies and techniques” to create personalized audio experiences that are immersive and mimic our nonmediated experiences. This story from the University is a first-person report about one part of the project; see the original version for two more pictures and a 20 second audio demonstration. A February 2021 story from the University includes this: “Imperial College London researchers have won a €5.7million EU Horizon 2020 grant to develop AI-informed immersive audio techniques. The project, called SONICOM, will see researchers develop immersive 3D sound for virtual and alternative reality situations…

[Without using the term, this Climbing interview with the creators of a new virtual reality film of free solo rock climbing describes how they addressed some of the many challenges in creating an effective presence experience (and how watching their own film still creates that experience for them). I’ve removed some of the conversation not related to presence. For more information, pictures and video excerpts, follow the links in the story. –Matthew] Interview: Alex Honnold and Jonathan Griffith on Free Soloing & Virtual Reality “The Soloist VR” is a two-part series (available on Oculus TV) that chronicles Alex Honnold’s free…

[This Washington Post story highlights important limitations in current voice assistants that lead to frustrating interactions, though arguably more negative rather than fewer medium-as-social-actor presence experiences. See the last two paragraphs for an interesting theory about what’s happening. For a more optimistic perspective on these technologies and how social cues can be used to improve their effects, see the January 2022 MIT News story “’Hey, Alexa! Are you trustworthy?’: The more social behaviors a voice-user interface exhibits, the more likely people are to trust it, engage with it, and consider it to be competent.” –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Washington Post illustration/iStock]…

[We need more, and more institutional support and funding for, projects like the one described in this story from NorthJersey.com about the application of presence-evoking technologies to provide more access to historic (and many other) sites. See the original story and coverage from the County College of Morris for more pictures and details. –Matthew] [Image: CCM Associate Professor Hrvoje Slovec photographing The Willows] Virtual reality unlocks historic North Jersey mansion for people with disabilities By Gene Myers, NorthJersey.com March 14, 2022 There’s a lot of history to see at The Willows, the 1854 Gothic revival mansion in Morris County –…

[The pandemic has enhanced several efforts to market a holographic communication system. The bullet-pointed story below from Axios reports on a new smaller version of the PORTL holographic system (see a September 2020 ISPR Presence News post about the original vending-machine size product). For more details about the new mini hologram unit see the press release via Global Newswire (which notes that the company and product are changing names to Proto). Mashable covers Proto and a competitor and notes that: “Photos and even videos of these 2D holograms (they may look 3D, but the images are still projected onto a…

[In stark and sad contrast to the destruction and loss of life in Ukraine (and elsewhere), humans are working together to build a virtual version of the entire planet in Minecraft. As this widely cited story from Curbed reports, the largest team in the Build the Earth project is constructing a digital New York City. Here’s a key quote: “’Everyone was trapped inside their house, and so people started to meet in-game, in this new real life, where they could create the world they had known outside,’ said [team leader] Minefact in his fluent, German-accented English. ‘So it’s a bit…

[I normally wouldn’t post something as long as this unabridged essay from Wired, but it’s one of the best pieces I’ve read about the ultimate form of presence at the core of the simulation argument. Not only does it provide an overview of both scientific and popular versions and views of the argument, and assess its history and the guidance it may offer for how we choose to see the world and live in it, but it’s written in an extremely entertaining style and voice. Here’s just one key quote from the near the end: “Nobody knows—most likely, nobody ever…

[This essay from IAI (Institute of Art and Ideas) News argues that an important consequence of the medium-as-social-actor presence induced by artificial intelligence systems that can’t fully mimic the range of human expression is that we adapt to the AI’s limitations both in interacting with it and with each other. Aside from suggesting a series of research projects that test this idea, it elevates the questions of how far and how quickly AI might advance toward fully human capabilities so that it adapts to us rather than the reverse. –Matthew] AI is turning us into machines The imitation game By…