The HUMAINE Association now has a management board, nominated by its executive committee:

• President: Roddy Cowie
• President-elect: Jonathan Gratch
• Secretary: Catherine Pelachaud
• Portal Editor: Marc Schröder

The results of the election to the first Executive committee were communicated to all members of the HUMAINE Association by email on the 14 September 2007. For completeness and ease of reference in the future, they are reproduced below.

Results of the election to the HUMAINE Association Executive Committee

Name            Votes    Election period
Roddy Cowie        50    6 years
Catherine Pelachaud    43   
Jonathan Gratch        38   
Paolo Petta        38
    
Nick Campbell        37    4 years
Jean-Claude Martin    37   
Jianhua Tao        36   
Fiorella de Rosis    35   
Helmut Prendinger    34   
Kostas Karpouzis    31
    
Laurence Devillers    30    2 years
Ginevra Castellano    29   
Maja Pantic        26   
James Lester        26   
Björn Schuller        24   

Ian Sneddon        21    (-)
Dirk Reichardt        14   
           
           
Some statistics:           
Electorate:    97    Members of the HUMAINE Association   
Votes        55    (46 paper ballots, 9 e-ballots)   
participation    57%       
invalid ballots    0       
           
           
Comment:           
The candidates on position 5 and 6 have the same number of votes – a draw.  The election procedure (published on the website and printed on the ballots) states: “If there is a draw, both candidates will serve for the smaller number of years.”  For this reason, there are four candidates elected for six years, and six candidates elected for four years.           
           
    
The election supervisor           
Marc Schröder, 14 September 2007           

The online elections for the HUMAINE Association Executive Committee have now started:

• Detailed instructions on the elections
  
• Candidates

It is now possible to register as a member of the HUMAINE Association online, by credit card payment via a secured website:

https://admin.qol.qub.ac.uk/ecommerce/humaine/

The HUMAINE Association was established in June 2007 as a professional organisation for people engaged in affective / emotion-oriented computing. Its constitution is available at http://emotion-research.net/association/constitution.pdf, and a broad summary of its principles is available at http://emotion-research.net/association/blog/what-is-the-humaine-association.

From September 2007 the Association will be managed by an Executive Committee, normally consisting of 15 people elected by the membership. Elections for the first Executive Committee will be held to coincide with ACII in Lisbon 2007. They will involve a combination of online voting before ACII and direct voting at ACII.

The 2007 election will elect 15 members. The number of votes received will determine whether they serve for 6 years, 4 years, or 2 years.

People involved in affective / emotion-oriented computing are invited to put themselves forward as candidates for the first Executive Committee. They must be members of the Association when the election closes (12th September 2007).

Nominations close at noon CET on September 4th 2007.

Candidates should submit their contact details and a short self-description (10-15 lines in total, including a short biographical
sketch describing their work in the area, and their objectives for the Association) to the election supervisor at the following address: schroed@dfki.de. These details will be made available online for the election.

The Association is intended to be open to all relevant interests, not to be an extension of any pre-existing group. To ensure that is open, the groundwork leading up to the election has been supervised by a task force formed from individuals associated with a range of different groups and countries.  They are:

Nick Campbell (Japan)
Roddy Cowie (UK)
Jonathan Gratch (USA)
Jean-Claude Martin (France)
Ana Paiva (Portugal)
Paolo Petta (Austria)
Rosalind Picard (USA)
Fiorella de Rosis (Italy)
Marc Schroeder (Germany)
Jianhua Tao (China)

The constitution is the legal basis of the HUMAINE association. It was signed on 5 June 2007 at the final plenary meeting of the HUMAINE Network of Excellence in Paris, France.

The constitution is now accessible online: http://emotion-research.net/association/constitution.pdf

The HUMAINE Association has already begun. A task force has been working in cooperation with the ACII Conference Committee, and members of a group exploring ways to establish a journal. The constitution was signed at the HUMAINE plenary meeting in Paris, June 2007. It sets out the legal framework of the Association. Basic information is available to read on the HUMAINE portal (http://emotion-research.net/association/blog/constitution-of-the-humaine-association ).

The Executive Committee

The constitution states that the business and affairs of the Association will be managed by the Executive Committee elected by its members. The constitution deliberately doesn’t bind members in great detail. It gives the executive committee power to decide in very broad limits what it will do.

The Election of the Executive Committee (EC) will take place at the ACII conference in Lisbon in September.

According to the constitution, the Executive Committee will consist of 15 elected members. They will manage the business affairs of the Association. Business will be carried out mainly through email, and decisions will be made by majority vote. Vacancies will be filled at a biennial election.

Normally 5 will be elected every 2 years, and each will serve for 6 years. Because the election in Lisbon is the first, it will follow a slightly different pattern:

• 5 members will be elected for a period of 2 years

• 5 members will be elected for a period of 4 years

• 5 members will be elected for a period of 6 years

The EC will also elect the Management Board and the portal editor:

• President (2yrs) – He/she will

  • Be responsible for coordinating the activities of the Management Board (MB)

  • Chair meetings of the EC and MB

  • Represent the Association in dealings with third parties

  • Perform duties prescribed by the EC

  • Assign duties to other EC members.

• President-elect (2yrs) – He/she will

  • Succeed the President

  • Take over the duties of the President when he/she is not able to.

• Secretary (2yrs) – The previous President will normally take on the role of Secretary He/she will

  • Prepare the annual report of activities and finance of the Association, and the budget for the next year

• Portal Editor (6yrs)

  • The Portal editor does not necessarily have to be on the EC but must be a member of the Association.

  • He/she will appoint associate editors, and be responsible for financial report and budget for portal.

Membership

Membership is by subscription: 50€ for full membership; 15€ for student membership.

Membership of the Association will offer access to a continuing and developing portal:

• For Individuals

  • One vote on any vote of the membership;

  • Space on the portal (home page; researcher profile; own references in bibliography);

  • Access to "premium content", e.g., databases, proceedings, etc.; news service by email.

• For public awareness

  • Teaching materials and guidelines

  • Toolboxes

• For "special interest groups”

  • Public or private folders

  • Mailing lists

  • Discussion forum/blog

• For workshops/conferences

  • Hosting web presence

• For research projects

  • Hosting web presence

Membership will offer other services, to be decided by the community. Possibilities that have been discussed include:

• A code of practice

  • Including appropriate ethical guidelines

  • giving a degree of protection

• A channel of communication

  • With industry, press, etc

• A lobby

  • To government, EC, other bodies

• A directory

  • Who’s who ...

• An ‘academy’

  • including assurance of competence

• Summer schools

• Concessions at conferences

• An online archive

• Working papers

• An ongoing handbook