[The pandemic has caused many more of people to think about how to use technology and configure spaces to create a sense of being together, i.e., spatial and social presence. This Fast Company story examines some of the considerations that will be important in the new post-pandemic world of remote and hybrid meetings. See Diginomica for an interview with the author Phil Simon who is quoted here. –Matthew] [Image: Meeting room illustration by Marc_Osborne/iStock] We still need conference rooms. Here’s what they should look like post-pandemic A big table, a bunch of chairs, and a speakerphone are no longer enough.…

[Road to VR reports on the Sense Arena hockey trainer. The original version of this story includes another image and three 3 videos, and the NHL.com story mentioned includes more videos and images and quotes goalie Antoine Bibeau of the Carolina Hurricanes saying “You put it on and you basically appear in the net in an NHL arena and you look around and it’s really like being in an NHL arena. I’m shocked by how realistic the whole thing is.” –Matthew] ‘Sense Arena’ is a VR Hockey Trainer That’s Being Adopted by NHL Teams By Ben Lang June 9, 2021…

[This Museum Association story uses the VR component of a new V&A exhibition about Alice in Wonderland to comment on the larger shift towards the use of immersive media at museums, which has been accelerated by the pandemic. As FashionUnited UK’s coverage notes, the exhibit also includes other elements to create immersion and presence: “Described as one of the museum’s ‘most ambitious’ exhibitions by its director Dr Tristram Hunt, ‘Alice: Curiouser And Curiouser’ aims to transport visitors into the otherworldly experiences shaped by theatrical sets, immersive environments and playful displays, including the museum’s first virtual reality experience.” The original version…

[Researchers at Columbia University Engineering have created EVA, a blue-faced robot that uses deep learning to mimic the subtle changes in facial expressions of the humans around her and evoke medium-as-social-actor presence, as reported in this news release. See the original version for a different image and a 2:24 minute video (also available on YouTube) and see the project’s website for much more information. –Matthew] The Robot Smiled Back Columbia Engineering researchers use AI to teach robots to make appropriate reactive human facial expressions, an ability that could build trust between humans and their robotic co-workers and care-givers By Holly…

[This story from Forbes earlier this year describes a study that reinforces the ideas that presence-evoking technology amplifies at least some of the impacts of media content (as in early studies of screen size) and that media content and form interact in important ways. Experiencing driver training messages in virtual reality produced increased risk-taking for fear appeal messages and reduced risk-taking for positive messages compared to viewing the messages in 2D film conditions. Here’s an excerpt from the published study: “As VR is designed to provide a more realistic experience of driving collisions (Lin, 2017; Parsons & Rizzo, 2008), it…

[Illustrating the potential of presence experiences to break down many types of barriers, a set of real time audio-video portals now connect people in the cities of Vilnius, Lithuania and Lublin, Poland, as described in this story from The Verge. More details and images are available in a press release and on the Portal website, which also features a 1:32 minute video. The project is reminiscent of the Cisco Town Hall ad available on YouTube.  –Matthew] Vilnius, Lithuania built a ‘portal’ to another city to help keep people connected The project is meant to prompt people to “rethink the idea…

[The Village Voice describes a recent event that arguably evoked several forms and levels of presence in recreating a two-decade-old performance and art installation. See the original story for two more images and watch the 27:33 minute video of the event on the Hauser & Wirth website. –Matthew] [Image: Performance at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles in collaboration with Monday Evening Concerts. Credit: Elon Schoenholz Photography] David Hammons’ Faxes From The Future The performance has now reached 21 years into the future to be recreated in a technology-assisted homage and reboot that pushes those same interdisciplinary boundaries even further By…

[This story about the possible roles of presence-evoking technologies in virtual travel is unusual in advocating the replication of complete vacation trips (and indirectly raises ethical questions about virtual travel to locations that are dangerous due to terrorism and other human misbehavior). See the original version from the World Economic Forum for two more images and a video. –Matthew] [Image: The Faroe Islands is just one destination using new technologies to create a virtual tourism experience. Credit: Knud Erik Vinding/Pixabay] How virtual tourism can rebuild travel for a post-pandemic world By Anu Pillai, Digital Transformation Leader, Engineering, Construction, Operations and…

[Virgin Media and Musion conducted an interesting experiment to demonstrate how presence-evoking technology can bring people together. This short story from AV Magazine provides the basics of what was done and the original version includes a 2:42 minute video (also available via YouTube) with more details. SWNS Digital reports on the experiences of two pairs of participants and includes videos for each (also available via YouTube here and here). Commentary from a “futurologist and tech forecaster” from coverage in E&T follows below. –Matthew] ‘World-first hologram dining’ reunites loved ones Technology company Musion 3D brought together loved ones located 400 miles…

[This story from Good Times Santa Cruz describes an ambitious project applying presence-evoking technology to make some of the effects of climate change real for people. See the original story for three different pictures and the Virtual Planet website for much more information; a guided, interactive 2D simulation and a two minute video are available on the Santa Cruz Sea Level Rise Explorer website. –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot from Santa Cruz Sea Level Rise Explorer] Researchers Use Virtual Reality to Show Dangers of Sea Level Rise Team uses virtual reality to show a Santa Cruz affected by sea level rise By…

[This story from Yale News describes many of the ways presence-evoking technologies are being used to help both patients and medical students. The original story includes two more images. –Matthew] [Image: A screenshot from the anti-vaping virtual reality game, Invite Only VR.] A safe space: Medical researchers use virtual reality to reach youth By Brita Belli May 7, 2021 For years, Dr. Asher Marks, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program at Yale New Haven Hospital, has urged his young patients to attend support groups. Meeting…

[A new study from University College London (UCL) explores how we adapt to technological augmentation of our body, in this case via a mechanical ‘third thumb.’ Perhaps not surprisingly we adjust quite well, with the augmentation coming to feel like it’s part of our own body and with corresponding changes in the brain, a phenomenon that represents an interesting type of presence illusion. This story from UCL includes many of the details along with a 2:50 minute video (also available via Vimeo). Coverage in HealthDay adds this perspective: “Since the extra thumb forced people to alter the way they moved…