IVA 2006 deadline extended to Apr 14th

Conference Scope:
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.
While initial research often focused on the use of IVAs in virtual
environments, they are now increasingly used in web-based interfaces, personal
computing devices and  interactive television. IVAs can provide appealing
characters for games and entertainment. They can also be used in novel user interfaces
or even as tools of psychological research.

The conference is an interdisciplinary forum for researchers and
practitioners in computer graphics, animation, computer games, virtual environments,
artificial intelligence, natural language processing, cognitive
modeling, human-computer interaction and A-life. We aim for a lively program of timely,
high-quality presentations and demonstrations to discuss the state of the art
and future of Intelligent Virtual Agents. Papers will be published in the
Springer-Verlag LNAI (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence) series.

IVA'06 will also host GALA - the Gathering of Life-like Agents - see
http://hmi.ewi.utwente.nl/gala/ for details.

Invited Speakers:
Brian Parkinson, Department of Social Psychology, University of
Manchester
Rod Humble, Electronic Arts

Important Dates:
14 April 2006: *EXTENDED* Deadline for submissions of contributions
12 May 2006: Authors notification
26 May 2006: Submission of camera ready contribution

Topics of Interest:
* IVA design and modeling
 - 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  
 - modeling 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 modeling 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

Organizing Committee:
Ruth Aylett, Heriot-Watt University: ruth@macs.hw.ac.uk
Daniel Ballin, Chief Technology Office, BT Group: daniel.ballin@bt.com
Jonathan Gratch, University of Southern California: gratch@ict.usc.edu
Patrick Olivier, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne:
P.L.Olivier@ncl.ac.uk
Michael Young, North Carolina State University: young@csc.ncsu.edu