[It sounds counter-intuitive to have humans make the trip to Mars and not land there, but this story from Aerotech News lays out the convincing arguments for using low-latency telepresence to explore that planet and other space destinations; see the original version of the story for two more pictures. –Matthew] [Image: An artists’ impression of a spacecraft over Deimos. Credit: Lockheed Martin] Exploring the solar system through low-latency telepresence By Peter W. Merlin, special to Aerotech News March 18, 2021 Ever since the Apollo astronauts left their footprints on the lunar surface, humans have focused on Mars as the next…

[This story from The Next Web uses new memory research and vivid hypotheticals to explore the potential psychological manipulations enabled by deepfake videos. –Matthew] How Deepfakes could help implant false memories in our minds It’s startlingly easy By Tristan Greene March 31, 2021 The human brain is a complex, miraculous thing. As best we can tell, it’s the epitome of biological evolution. But it doesn’t come with any security software preinstalled. And that makes it ridiculously easy to hack. We like to imagine the human brain as a giant neural network that speaks its own language. When we talk about…

[While the findings aren’t surprising, this straight-forward description of an ambitious longitudinal in-home audience research study with in depth interviews of a diverse cohort of participants nicely illustrates the potentials – both positive and negative – and the limitations of current virtual reality and the presence responses it evokes. See the original story in Immerse for three more images. –Matthew] [Image: Some of the study participants, photographed at the beginning of the study.] “You feel, in that moment, you are sitting next to them!” Exploring audience responses to virtual reality nonfiction in the home By Mandy Rose & David Green…

[The author of this opinion piece in EdSurge argues for the continuation of larger trends in teaching and learning that emphasize experiential learning. For a related story see “Learning to move to experiential models with tech” in The PIE (Professionals in International Education). Some of these issues will also be the focus of discussion at the panel “Hopefully my students are here: How to build effective presence in virtual classroom settings” at the (virtual) Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) conference on April 8 with our colleagues Stephanie Kelly (North Carolina A&T State University), Jihyun Kim (University of Central Florida), David…

[The idea of reproducing part of a university campus in virtual reality isn’t new, but the one in this story from Berkeley News has some interesting characteristics and its creators intend to use it beyond the pandemic. See the original story for two more images and a 1:50 minute demonstration video (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: Virtual Bauer Wurster’s digital studio desk space will allow students and instructors in the College of Environmental Design to connect and collaborate on projects. Credit: Courtesy of Luisa Caldas] Missing in-person interaction, Berkeley’s design school launches virtual reality building By Ivan Natividad March…

[An interesting new study described in USC News contributes to the Computers/Media Are Social Actors literature by exploring the roles of heuristic thinking and faith in technology in how people behave toward computers in the context of the pandemic; see the iScience article for much more information and a 1:29 minute video of the stimuli. –Matthew] [Image: Screenshot of the stimuli video in which a study participant chooses how many tokens to return to the computer player in one of the experiment trials.] People affected by COVID-19 are being nicer to machines The pandemic has forced many to increasingly rely…

[The University of California San Francisco reports on a program of research investigating the potential benefits of immersive media and presence to improve memory in older adults. See the original story for three different images and a looping video. –Matthew] [Image: Game movement was effected by a participant’s ambulation, which was co-registered into the game map from ankle-mounted tracking sensors. Source: Figure 2B from the Scientific Reports article] Playing Virtual Reality Video Game May Boost Seniors’ Memory By Emily Hayes March 22, 2021 A decline in memory is a harsh reality for some people as they age and may even…

[All of the news stories about William Shatner teaming with the company StoryFile to create a version of himself that future generations can interact with are based on the company’s press release below via GlobeNewswire (which for some reason doesn’t mention its work with astronauts, Civil Rights leaders and Holocaust survivors – see the StoryFile website for more details). Here’s how the company promotes their service: “StoryFile uses a mobile native cloud-based AI-driven conversational video technology. THIS is what differentiates StoryFile from everything else! Have you ever interacted with a life-sized hologram of an astronaut and asked him what it’s…

[As all the coverage including this Scientific American story makes clear, IBM’s newest AI isn’t as persuasive as the best human debaters, but it’s getting close (and represents a big step toward effective medium-as-social-actor presence). ExtremeTech notes that “The question of who wins a debate will always be subjective, and humans still clearly outperform IBM’s Project Debater. For now, we’re still a long way from Data — but we’ve come a long way from Eliza, too.” See the original Scientific American story for a different image and watch the nearly one hour debate video on YouTube. The Jerusalem Post provides…

[This and the two related Brain Awareness Week stories from Cleveland.com it mentions describe the evolution of technologies that together enhance presence and help neurosurgeons obtain greater success in locating the source of brain conditions and practicing for and performing surgeries that help improve and save patients’ lives. See the original version of the story for a second image. –Matthew] [Image: MetroHealth neurosurgeon Dr. Deven Reddy uses a virtual reality system developed by the Chicago company ImmersiveTouch to view and work on a virtual model of a patient’s brain to prepare for a complex surgery. Credit: Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com] Virtual…

[I’ve always been particularly interested in the ‘big questions’ presence raises; this story from Inverse describes an intriguing new study that suggests even today’s immersive media can be used to evoke a sense or emotion philosophers and other scholars have labelled the sublime, and that presence plays a role. See the original story for a third image and see coverage in The Academic Times for more details and comments from the first author, including this: “’Nature and art are equally god at evoking or bringing about the experience of the sublime,’” [first author] Clewis told The Academic Times. ‘But [in…

[This BBC News story describes how and why many contemporary artists are using augmented reality to let viewers experience their creations in their own homes (and elsewhere) during the pandemic; see the original story for 10 more images of the virtual works and a video. –Matthew] Augmented reality art: Where your home becomes the gallery By Anna Bailey, Reporter, The Cultural Frontline, BBC World Service 23 February 2021 Ever dreamed of hanging artworks by leading artists around your home? Well now you can for free, thanks to augmented reality or AR as it is known. Images such as Olafur Eliasson’s…