Positive Technology Journal

Via the Presence-Listserv 

(the following excerpt is from the original article published in the Observer)

Inspired by Star Trek's holodeck, a virtual reality theatre will be built for treatment and therapy purposes at the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center. The theatre is titled, "Immersive Virtual Reality Cave Simulator" (IVR-Cave).
Under the guidance of Stacy Willams, an assistant professor in communication services at Case, the construction on the theater will be complete by April 2006. Williams formulated the concept of the room with inspiration from Star Trek while she was working on her master's degree.

"I was intrigued by the whole holodeck concept, and at the time [when working on a masters degree], I was learning the importance of carry-over techniques, or generalizing what you learn in therapy to a natural environment," Williams said.

With this new simulator, therapists will get a chance to show patients real-life scenarios in a controlled environment, before they are out on their own in the real world...

Read full article 

Via the LLuna2 website

LLuna2 is designed to enable virtual presence on Web sites with animated avatars, video, bubble chat, private chat, and personal profiles through the Jabber[tm] protocol, integrated with Jabber based Instant Messaging and operable without additional server components.

Via Smart Mobs

The goal of the EU-funded SenseMaker project is to develop electronic architectures that embody the features of living perceptual systems and are able to merge sensory information obtained through different sensory modalities, into a unified perceptual representation of the environment. The architectural design of the SenseMaker machine will be based on biological principles of sensory receptor and nervous system function, inspired by experimental studies of several different sensory modalities.

The system will include higher cognitive levels modelled on psychophysical research paradigms, whose function will be to implement dynamic rules of cross-modal integration, activity and time-dependent algorithms for internal prediction, goal directed attention, and transitions between dominant or convergent sensory modalities according to changing environmental parameters.

Nicholas (Pasta and Vinegar) has announced that two postdoc positions are available at CRAFT (EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne):

Via Pasta and Vinegar 

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) presented a chip that is implanted in a user’s forearm to function as an audio signal transmission wire that links to an iPod. Many of the presentations featured devices that conserved power, though this chip goes a step further, harnessing the human body’s natural conductive properties to create personal-area networks. It is not practical to wire together the numerous devices that people carry with them, and Bluetooth connections fall prey to interference, leading scientists to explore the application of the human body as a networking cable. The Korean scientists augmented an iPod nano with their wideband signaling chip. When a user kept his finger pressed to the device, it transmitted data at 2 Mbps, at a consumption rate lower than 10 microwatts. Researchers from the University of Utah also presented a chip that scans brainwave activity by wirelessly streaming data through monitors in the hopes of creating prosthetics that quadriplegics could operate with their brain waves, though both projects are still in the preliminary research stages.
(…)
These chips are not something that will be included in one of Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynotes anytime soon.

ACM Technology News

 

Via Networked Performance

PerfectlyNormal is an interactive web-based video project that offers fourteen short video-based therapies. Depending on the "patients'" auto-description of their mental state, the web site automatically delivers one therapeutic video. According to the website disclaimer, the video-therapies were developed following principles of actual healing techniques derived from several different practices.

PerfectlyNormal is a web-based project commissioned by Soil Digital Media Suite, Neutral Ground Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The project's author is composer and new media artist Michael Stecky (read short bio).

From the project's website:

Bringing a unique healing experience, PerfectlyNormal, provides you and your family with the best integrated mental health care model the internet has to offer. Receive a personalized video therapy from our collection, a virtual one-stop shop of the best conventional and alternative practices from a diverse and interesting range of modalities.

PerfectlyNormal is an easy to use healing site made to work with you in mind. Visit when you like, PerfectlyNormal is available to you 24 hours a day, everyday. Now, feeling normal is only a mouse click away. PerfectlyNormal, have a perfect day everyday. PerfectlyNormal comes to you courtesy of the PerfectlyNormal Therapeutic Cooperative Alliance (PNTCA), a prestigious international group of like-minded therapists who share an inclusive spiritual philosophy.

Thanks Regine 

MIXER 2006: International Workshop on the Design and Engineering of Mixed Reality Systems

5 June 2006, Bucharest, Romania

MIXER is an international workshop dedicated to the design and engineering of Mixed Reality Systems. Following on from the first work-shop, MIXER´2004, jointly organized with ACM-IUI´2004 and CADUI´2004, the primary  goal of MIXER´2006 is to bring together researchers in the area of Mixed  Reality (MR) systems (including augmented reality, augmented virtuality,  augmented video, and tangible systems) to identify and articulate key  research challenges for the design and engineering of MR systems. Also, in order to develop reliable theoretical foundations for MR systems, there is a need to gather the results of MR research and development to create a body of reusable knowledge for the design and construction of future systems. This body of knowledge may include: - MR design and engineering issues; - Research challenges for design methods and tools; - A corpus of applicable usability knowledge (e.g., guidelines, design heuristics).

MIXER´2006 solicits contributions that discuss: theoretical, methodological, technical or application-oriented considerations, relevant for: MR system design, MR system engineering / implementation, MR systems evaluation   - and application-oriented issues, especially arising from new devices, techniques or environments.