W3C Emotion Incubator Group started

As emotion-oriented computing is maturing, the challenge arises how to combine components from different backgrounds. Complex systems capable of detecting emotions, emotional reasoning and expression of emotions will need a way for these different components to communicate -- in particular, to communicate information about emotions. As of today, no agreed way to represent emotions in technological environments exists.

This challenge is addressed by a new "Incubator" group on Emotions at the World Wide Web consortium (W3C). Incubator groups address " innovative ideas for specifications, guidelines, and applications that are not (or not yet) clear candidates as Web standards".

The Emotion Incubator Group will discuss and propose scientifically valid representations of those aspects of emotional states that appear to be relevant for a number of use cases. One important basis for this discussion is the Emotion Annotation and Representation Language specification proposed by the HUMAINE project.