Subject: workshop on embodied conversational characters

call for participation the first workshop on embodied conversational characters with support of aaai cooperation of acm / sigchi granlibakken resort & conference center at lake tahoe tahoe city ( north shore ) california , usa october 12-15 , 1998 recent advances in several core software technologies have made possible a new type of human-computer interface : the conversational character . conversational characters are autonomous , anthropomorphic , animated figures that have the ability to communicate through multiple modalities , including spoken language , facial expressions , and gestures . unlike textual natural language interfaces , conversational characters have the ability to perceive and produce the verbal and non-verbal signals that identify discourse structure and regulate the flow of information between interlocutors . such signals include intonational patterns , gestures , back-channel feedback signals , and turn-taking protocols . these capabilities enable them to engage in complex interactions with human users via natural speech rather than complex command languages , menus or graphical manipulations . research on conversational characters has emerged from a number of disciplines , including , among others , artificial intelligence , computational linguistics , computer animation , computer vision , psychology , cognitive science , virtual reality , cscw , and hci . this diversity is naturally reflected in the broad range of active research areas in conversational character interfaces . the primary goal of this workshop is to advance the state of conversational character research and development by identifying novel approaches to the topics and issues listed below , and integrating them into a framework for embodied , conversational human-computer interaction . a provisional program can be found at http : / / www . fxpal . com / wecc98 / . attendance attendance will be limited to 40 people . there will be space for a few attendees who did not submit papers . non - presenters wishing to attend the workshop should submit a one page description of their current research interests and their relation to the workshop themes . research descriptions should be emailed to prevost @ pal . xerox . com no later than september 14 , 1998 . the list of attendees will be finalized by september 18 . workshop organizers joseph w . sullivan , fx palo alto lab , usa ( sullivan @ pal . xerox . com ) justine cassell , mit media laboratory , usa ( justine @ media . mit . edu ) workshop program committee committee co - chairs : scott prevost , fx palo alto lab , usa ( prevost @ pal . xerox . com ) elizabeth churchill , fx palo alto lab , usa ( churchill @ pal . xerox . com ) committee members : elisabeth andr , dfki gmbh , germany ( elisabeth . andre @ dfki . de ) gene ball , microsoft research , usa ( geneb @ microsoft . com ) phil cohen , oregon graduate institute , usa ( pcohen @ cse . ogi . edu ) barbara hayes - roth , stanford univ . , usa ( hayes-roth @ cs . stanford . edu ) kenji mase , atr international , japan ( mase @ mic . atr . co . jp ) clifford nass , stanford university , usa ( nass @ leland . stanford . edu ) mark steedman , university of pennsylvania , usa ( steedman @ cis . upenn . edu ) kris thorisson , lego a / s , denmark ( kris @ digi . lego . com ) demos chair : timothy bickmore , isii inc . , usa ( bickmore @ pal . xerox . com ) additional information for more information , please consult the workshop web page : www . fxpal . com / wecc98 /
