CFP Intelligent Virtual Agents 2005

SYMPOSIUM DESCRIPTION:

Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs) are autonomous, graphically embodied

agents in an interactive, 2D or 3D virtual environment. They are able

to interact intelligently with the environment, other IVAs, and especially

with human users. Previous IVA workshops brought together people studying

computer graphics, animation and virtual environments on the one hand, and

on the other hand people working in AI, NLP, cognitive modelling and A-life.

 Since the first IVA back in 1999, firm lines of research have been established

 but there is much that the graphics and AI communities have to learn from

each other. Moreover, the domain of Intelligent Virtual Agents has become

much more diverse and now encompasses a wide range of disciplines including

in particular psychology (emotion modelling, non-verbal communication),

 sociology (modelling human / IVA societies), HCI (intelligent user interfaces,

gesture/body tracking interfaces), design and arts (e.g., interactive

installations with IVAs), and all kinds of application fields. While initial

 research often focused on the use of IVAs in virtual environments, they are

now increasingly used across many media such as the web, wireless devices

and interactive television. IVAs can provide appealing characters for games

and entertainment. They can be novel user interfaces for software or guides

in factual and e-commerce web sites. They can be tools of psychological

research. Some see them as the key to engaging educational software or

as an exciting new way for us to communicate with each other on the web.

The rapid advances in the field have enabled it to be applied in practice

to these areas both in research and industrial contexts.

 The target audience for IVA'05 includes people from multiple disciplines,

coming from academia or industry with an interest in the design,

implementation, and evaluation of IVAs and IVA applications. We aim for a

lively programme of timely, high-quality presentations and demonstrations

 to discuss the state of the art and future of Intelligent Virtual Agents.

TOPICS OF INTEREST:

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* IVA design and modelling

  - design criteria and methodologies

   - nature inspired IVAs/A-life for IVAs

  - models of affect and personality for IVAs

  - models for IVAs with awareness of their social context

  - modelling conversational skills and multi-modal interaction

   - non-verbal expressiveness in IVAs - gesture, facial expression, posture

  - media-specific design considerations, e.g., IVAs for VR, AR, web, and

    mobile applications

   - deployment of novel interaction modalities (e.g., vision, touch, phycons etc.)

  - IVAs with physical embodiment: lessons from and for robotics

  - ethical considerations, e.g., what human-qualities can / should IVAs have / never have

 * Conceptual architectures, e.g. for

  - learning IVAs

   - improvisational IVAs

  - multi-user /multi-IVA interaction

   - crowd simulations with IVAs

 * IVA application fields, pilot systems, and experience reports

  - education and training with IVAs

  - psychological modelling and experimentation

  - games

  - interactive narrative with IVAs

  - telepresence

   - case studies and evaluation reports on IVA pilots etc.

 * Evaluation of IVAs and IVA applications

  - evaluation methodologies / evaluation frameworks

  - reports on user studies and their outcomes

  - evaluation and data collection tools for IVAs

* Software engineering issues

  - standards and measures to support interoperability, portability, and reuse

  - tools and toolkits for building IVAs and IVA applications

   - advanced 3D modelling and animation technologies for IVAs

SUBMISSION FORMAT:

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Maximum length for contributions is 12 pages (formatted according to Springer guidelines).

Shorter contributions (in any case no less than 6 pages) may be considered for publication

as a short paper. Demo submissions, not exceeding six pages, are for authors who wish to

 demonstrate their system. The submission should provide a description of their system,

 installation, or demo.Poster submissions should consist of either a one-page description

of the poster content, or a one-page sketch of the poster.  Springer guidlines can be found at:

http://www.springeronline.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,10735,5-164-2-72376-0,00.html

Final versions of papers (long, short, demo/system) will be published by Springer Verlag as

 a volume of the "Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence" series.

TIMELINE:

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May  2: Deadline for submissions of contributions

May 30: Reviews complete

June 6: Authors notification

July 1: Submission of camera ready contribution for the workshop notes

 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

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Ruth Aylett, Heriot-Watt University

e-mail: ruth@macs.hw.ac.uk

Daniel Ballin, Chief Technology Office, BT Group

e-mail: daniel.ballin@bt.com

Jonathan Gratch, University of Southern California

e-mail: gratch@ict.usc.edu

Patrick Olivier, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne

e-mail: P.L.Olivier@ncl.ac.uk

Themis Panayiotopoulos, University of Piraeus (Local Chair)

email: themisp@unipi.gr

Thomas Rist, University of Applied Sciences Augsburg and DFKI

e-mail: tr@rz.fh-augsburg.de

PROGRAM COMMITTEE:

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Themis Panayiotopoulos, Conference Chair - University of Piraeus

George Anastassakis - University of Piraeus

Nikos Avradinis - University of Piraeus

Spyros Vosinakis - University of Piraeus

Aris Belesiotis - University of Piraeus

 Aris Koutsiamanis - University of Piraeus

John Giannakas - University of Piraeus

Kostas Tilelis - University of Piraeus

PROGRAM COMMITTEE:

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Jan Allbeck

Elisabeth André

Norman Badler

Josep Blat

Joanna Bryson

Lola Cañamero

Justine Cassell

Marc Cavazza

Elizabeth Churchill

Kerstin Dautenhahn

Patrick Doyle

Angélica de Antonio

Fiorella de Rosis

Patrick Gebhard

Marco Gillies

Barbara Hayes-Roth

Randy Hill

Adrian Hilton

Kristina Höök

Katherine Isbister

Mitsuru Ishizuka

Ido Iurgel

Lewis Johnson

Martin Klesen

Stefan Kopp

John Laird

James Lester

Brian Loyall

Craig Lindley

Nadia Magenat-Thalmann

Andrew Marriot

Stacy Marsella

Michael Mateus

Alexander Nareyek

Anton Nijholt

Gregory O'Hare

Sharon Oviatt

Ana Paiva

Catherine Pelachaud

Paolo Petta

Tony Polichroniadis

Helmut Prendinger

Matthias Rehm

Daniela Romano

Anthony Steed

Matthew Stone

Daniel Thalmann

Kris Thórisson

Demetri Terzopoulos

David Traum

Hannes Vilhjalmsson

John Vince

Spyros Vosinakis

Michael Young