ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: April 2012

Call: IVA 2012 – Twelfth International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents

Call for Papers

IVA 2012
Twelfth International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents
http://iva2012.soe.ucsc.edu/home
September 12-14 Santa Cruz, California, USA

Intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are interactive characters that exhibit human like qualities and communicate with humans or with each other using natural human modalities such as facial expressions, speech and gesture. They are capable of realtime perception, cognition and action that allows them to participate in dynamic social environments.

IVA 2012 is an interdisciplinary annual conference and the main leading scientific forum for presenting research on modeling, developing and evaluating intelligent virtual agents with a focus on communicative abilities and social behavior. In addition to presentations on theoretical issues, the conference encourages the showcasing of working applications. Researchers from the fields of human-human and human-robot interaction are also encouraged to share work with a relevance to intelligent virtual agents.

SPECIAL TOPIC: “Virtual Agents and Narrative”.… read more. “Call: IVA 2012 – Twelfth International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Ray Bradbury on how Disneyland humanized robots

[From io9]

Ray Bradbury on how Disneyland humanized robots

By Lauren Davis
Apr 15, 2012

Ray Bradbury is a self-professed “Disney nut” and, in 1965, found himself dismayed by an article in the Nation decrying Disneyland as vulgar entertainment. In response, he penned a love letter to Disneyland, defending Walt Disney as a man on the cutting edge of making robots seem human.

Bradbury wrote this piece, “The Machine-Tooled Happyland,” for the October 1965 issue of Holiday magazine. It’s a defense of Disneyland, which Bradbury admits he hesitated to visit because it struck him as anti-intellectual. He recalls a fond trip with his good friend, actor Charles Laughton, but the real magic Bradbury gravitates to in Disneyland is its robots, which display to him an emotional warmth absent from the machines that increasingly surround us:… read more. “Ray Bradbury on how Disneyland humanized robots”

Posted in Presence in the News | 1 Comment

Call: Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (JVWR) issue on Asian Perspectives

This call can also be found on the JVWR web site here.

Call for Papers

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (JVWR) Issue on Asian Perspectives

GUEST EDITORS

Kenneth Y T Lim, National Institute of Education, Singapore
Young Hoan Cho, National Institute of Education, Singapore
Michael Vallance, Future University, Hakodate, Japan

DEADLINES

  • Authors submission of abstract: April 15th, 2012 using the Journal publishing system (login at the top right of the journal site, state that you aim at the Asian Perspective issue.) Abstract submission will give authors quick feedback and allow editors to identify reviewers asap.
  • Authors submission of full paper: Jun 1, 2012
  • Editors review report and initial decision to authors: Jul 1, 2012
  • Authors submission of revision: Aug 1, 2012
  • Editors final decision and comments to authors: Aug 15, 2012
  • Authors submission of completed, final version of paper: Sep 01, 2012
  • Staff editor & authors work till Planned Publication Date: Sep 30, 2012

ABOUT

We are interested in topics like socio-cultural framings of virtual worlds, game-based worlds and the communities that emerge within them as well as special technologies that have emerged in the region.… read more. “Call: Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (JVWR) issue on Asian Perspectives”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Titanic 3D: Explaining censorship, recreating the last meal, confusing reality and fiction

[From The Hollywood Reporter; the original story about the reasons for the censorship appeared in Offbeat China; in a related story in The Telegraph, Twitter users ‘thought Titanic disaster was just a film plot’]

Chinese ‘Titanic’ Fans Balk at Cuts to Rerelease

UPDATED: Government regulators edit out nude scenes, but the film is expected to surpass the 2D version’s box-office performance.

4/12/2012 by Patrick Brzeski

Chinese moviegoers turned up en masse for the debut of Titanic 3D on Tuesday, netting 20th Century Fox International $11.6 million, the second-highest opening-day take ever in the country.

The original Titanic earned $44 million in China in 1998, which stood as the highest gross for 10 years, until it was surpassed by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009, with $15.9 million.

The original romance disaster movie screened in just 180 theaters.… read more. “Titanic 3D: Explaining censorship, recreating the last meal, confusing reality and fiction”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (ACM SAP)

The ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (ACM SAP), formerly known as APGV, aims to further the development of inter-disciplinary research that crosses the boundaries between perception and disciplines such as graphics, visualization, vision, haptics and acoustics. These fields can benefit from the exchange of ideas and the scope includes applications and algorithms in any area of research that incorporates elements of perception and computer science.

LOCATION: USC Institute for Creative Technologies. Co-located with Siggraph 2012 in Los Angeles

DATES: 3-4 August 2012.… read more. “Call: ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (ACM SAP)”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Robot hand communicates grip force, body temperature and touch

[From DigInfo TV, where the story includes a 2:13 minute video]

Robot Hand Communicates Grip Force, Body Temperature and Touch

27 March 2012

A research group at Osaka University is developing a robot hand for tele-handshaking. It communicates a person’s grip force, body temperature, and touch.

“In ordinary video-conferencing systems, it’s difficult even to see life-sized pictures of other people. But by attaching this robot hand, you can shake hands with people at a distance. Shaking hands like this gives a greater sense of other people’s presence than you get with regular video-conferencing systems.”… read more. “Robot hand communicates grip force, body temperature and touch”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: ICUIMC 2013 – 7th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication

CALL FOR PAPERS

I C U I M C 2013
The 7th International Conference
on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication

January 17-19, 2013, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

http://www.icuimc.org
http://www.imcom.org

International cosponsored by SIGAPP

GENERAL INFORMATION:

This conference explores emerging interests and novel ideas in the area of information management, communication technologies and their implication of social interaction. The aim of the Seventh International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication is to provide a forum promoting new visionary approaches and interdisciplinary researches. The conference brings researchers together from academia and industry, encourages the exchanges of ideas and information, and provides a unique opportunity in which both technology and social science meet. Two main tracks for information processing management and communication will be held, covering both research and application works of information management, intelligent information processing, interaction management, networking/telecommunications, and social interaction.… read more. “Call: ICUIMC 2013 – 7th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Israelis, Iranians meet to ‘share love’ on Facebook

[From The Jerusalem Post]

Israelis, Iranians meet to ‘share love’ on Facebook

Few Iranians make it past the censors in the unique people-to-people dialogue forum

By Niv Elis
03/26/2012

Israelis may not be allowed to travel to Iran in person, but virtual reality may be the next best thing. In the most recent grassroots attempt to build civil society ties between the two peoples, Israelis and Iranians met Monday in a Facebook forum dubbed “ISRAEL ? IRAN PEACE & LOVE World gathering.”

Having created an online sensation with their online forum called “Israel-Loves-Iran” in recent weeks, 41-year-old Ronny Edri and his 35-year-old partner Michal Tamir organized the event to provide everyday Iranians and Israelis who oppose a war between the two countries a space to interact.

Over six thousand users were invited to join the forum on the “Shaker” software platform, in which participants received avatars that could meet, buy one another “drinks,” and chat with one another.… read more. “Israelis, Iranians meet to ‘share love’ on Facebook”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment

Call: International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI 2012)

2012 International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI 2012)
October 22nd-26th, 2012
Doubletree Suites, Santa Monica, California, USA
http://www.acm.org/icmi/2012

  • SUBMISSIONS WEBSITE IS OPEN
  • KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
  • MULTIMODAL GRAND CHALLENGES ANNOUNCED

The International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, ICMI 2012, will take place in Santa Monica, California (USA), October 22nd-26th, 2012. ICMI is the premier international forum for multidisciplinary research on multimodal human-human, human-robot, and human-computer interaction, interfaces, and system development. The conference focuses on theoretical and empirical foundations, component technologies, and combined multimodal processing techniques that define the field of multimodal interaction analysis, interface design, and system development. ICMI 2012 will feature a single-track main conference which includes: keynote speakers, technical full and short papers (including oral and poster presentations), special sessions, demonstrations, exhibits and doctoral spotlight papers. The conference will be followed by workshops. The proceedings of ICMI 2012 will be published by ACM as part of their series of International Conference Proceedings.… read more. “Call: International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI 2012)”

Posted in Calls | Leave a comment

Google+ Virtual Photo Walks let the homebound explore the world

[From PetaPixel; more information, including a 23 minute video, is available at The Next Web]

Virtual Photo Walks Make Photography Accessible to People with Disabilities

Jessica Lum -·Mar 05, 2012

The last time C. Corey Fisk walked was in 1992. She has multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease that affects the central nervous system and gradually took her ability to walk and leave her bed.

But early February, she went on a photo walk with photographer John Butterill in the woods behind his house in Ontario, Canada — all from her own home in northern California.

The two met only virtually through Google+ when they happened to connect in a Hangout. Butterill said he was impressed by her energy and he invited her on a photo walk.… read more. “Google+ Virtual Photo Walks let the homebound explore the world”

Posted in Presence in the News | Leave a comment
  • Find Researchers

    Use the links below to find researchers listed alphabetically by the first letter of their last name.

    A | B | C | D | E | F| G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z