[Note the references to various forms of presence in this short press release from the Church of England (including the Church’s tagline “A Christian Presence in Every Community”). You can watch the 7:17 minute 4K 360-degree video on YouTube. –Matthew] Ancient Blessing of the Light service in Virtual Reality first October 31, 2021 People from around the world will be able to ‘join’ in traditional worship at a church in London through Virtual Reality for the first time. The Blessing of the Light, which draws on one of the ancient evening rituals of early Christianity, has been filmed in 3D…

[Microsoft has announced new features that move us closer to its vision for the much-discussed concept of a metaverse; the story below from The Verge offers some of the details and is followed by excerpts of other coverage that highlight presence-related aspects of the news. –Matthew] Microsoft Teams enters the metaverse race with 3D avatars and immersive meetings Microsoft and Meta are on a collision course for metaverse competition By Tom Warren November 2, 2021 Microsoft is entering the race to build a metaverse inside Teams, just days after Facebook rebranded to Meta in a push to build virtual spaces…

[Our colleague Skip Rizzo, his mother, and his latest valuable work that involves multiple forms of presence are the topics in this story from USC News; see the original for a 54 second video (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Skip Rizzo’s mother takes a virtual tour of Rome. Credit: Skip Rizzo. Source: YouTube (screenshot)] USC researcher envisions Siri-like assistants and VR travel for older people and their caregivers Professor Skip Rizzo’s 89-year-old mother test-drives his innovations. By Leigh Hopper November 1, 2021 USC Research Professor Skip Rizzo thought his mother might like a trip to Rome. She put on…

[An interesting new study of the potential of virtual reality and presence to create a sense of awe and connection is described in this researcher-authored, link-filled story in The Conversation; see the original version for two more images and a 4:48 minute video. –Matthew] Virtual reality can combat isolation with awe and empathy — on Earth and in space By Katerina Stepanova, PhD Candidate and Lecturer in Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University October 31, 2021 It takes seven months to get to Mars in an efficiently engineered spaceship, covering the distance of 480 million kilometres. On this journey,…

[Frontiers reports on a new effort to expand opportunities for the public to use presence-evoking technologies to learn about and enable them to contribute to scientific discoveries. The free, open-access virtual reality visualization tool for single cell data requires only very inexpensive equipment and no advanced training. In addition to the Frontiers in Genetics article cited, see a story in Medium for more details and a video trailer (also available on YouTube along with a video tutorial). –Matthew] For less than $10, anyone can now get up close and explore single cells in VR A team of scientists has developed…

[KARE11 TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul reports on a documentary series that uses 360-degree footage of the protests following the death of George Floyd to create a unique experience of the events. See the original story for a 1:55 minute video and follow links in the story to related resources including videos about the In Protest series and a variety of other virtual reality experiences. Here’s an excerpt from the Oculus blog description (the first link below): “IN PROTEST examines the current state of social activism and reform through 360° interviews, spatial audio, and other immersive technologies. Volume 1 in the…

[In this interview from News Medical, a pediatric surgeon describes new research that demonstrates the effectiveness of a social companion telepresence robot for providing emotional support to young patients. See the original version for two more images and a 2:35 minute video; for more information see the links at the end of the story below. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: UCLA Health] Improving children’s hospital experiences using a social robot Dr. Justin Wagner, Pediatric Surgeon, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital Interview conducted by Emily Henderson, B.Sc. October 20, 2021 In this interview, News-Medical speaks to Dr. Justin Wagner about Robin, the social companion…

[Here’s a short first-person report from Inc. in which an experienced public speaker describes their first experience (including elements of presence) giving a keynote talk in virtual reality. –Matthew] I Gave a Keynote in Virtual Reality. Here’s What I Learned Live, onstage is the best, but this is better than a regular videoconference. For sure. By Suzanne Lucas, Freelance Writer October 25, 2021 Public speaking is my favorite part of my job, and the pandemic basically destroyed that, so when JobCon 2021 asked me to keynote its virtual event, I jumped at the chance. I figured it would be via…

[The New York Times Magazine interviewed seven people involved in different aspects of remote teaching during the pandemic. Many of them note the drawbacks of not being with students in person, but indirectly suggesting the power (and risks) of presence, the second person featured in the story describes how she was able to teach her young students about literature via Zoom by sharing with them the “rawness and vulnerability” of a very difficult personal experience in a way that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.  –Matthew] [Image: Illustration by Sam Kerr] 7 True Stories From Virtual School Teachers, administrators and service providers…

[Based on this Los Angeles Times story the Velaslavasay Panorama has expanded and prospered since a July 2015 ISPR Presence News post during the 10th anniversary of the “strange and immersive” attraction, when the artic painting “Effulgence of the North” was on display. I hope to have the presence experiences it offers on my first post-pandemic trip home to L.A. this January. See the original version of the story below for seven more images. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Madeleine Hordinski / Los Angeles Times] Exploring weird L.A.: The strange, immersive art of the Velaslavasay Panorama By Deborah Netburn October 4, 2021…

[In this Wired story Lucy Sparrow, a PhD student in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, Australia, suggests ways to use policies, practices and design techniques from gaming and the real (nonmediated) world to help make social interactions and experiences in virtual reality and other virtual environments more safe and accessible for everyone. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Photo-Illustration by Sam Whitney; Getty Images] How to Govern the Metaverse To build healthy communities in virtual reality, we must move beyond automated penalties toward proactive forms of governance. Games can show us how. By Lucy Sparrow October 19.2021 IT WAS…

[This short piece from Axios suggests that the pandemic motivated many media companies to offer new technology features designed to add a social component (and implicitly social presence) to what previously had been isolated media experiences, and that these changes are becoming permanent. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Sarah Grillo/Axios] The living room is now a virtual hub By Sara Fischer, author of Media Trends October 18, 2021 Internet companies are leaning into new services that add a social component to the otherwise isolated experience of staying home in front of a screen. Why it matters: These options for virtual watch parties,…