9.354, Calls: ICOLL'98 (Texas A&M), Conversational Characters

The LINGUIST List linguist at linguistlist.org
Tue Mar 10 23:18:43 UTC 1998


LINGUIST List:  Vol-9-354. Tue Mar 10 1998. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 9.354, Calls: ICOLL'98 (Texas A&M), Conversational Characters

Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Review Editor:     Andrew Carnie <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Editors:  	    Brett Churchill <brett at linguistlist.org>
		    Martin Jacobsen <marty at linguistlist.org>
		    Elaine Halleck <elaine at linguistlist.org>
                    Anita Huang <anita at linguistlist.org>
                    Ljuba Veselinova <ljuba at linguistlist.org>
		    Julie Wilson <julie at linguistlist.org>

Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
                      Zhiping Zheng <zzheng at online.emich.edu>

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Editor for this issue: Martin Jacobsen <marty at linguistlist.org>
 ==========================================================================

Please do not use abbreviations or acronyms for your conference unless
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=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Tue, 10 Mar 1998 21:50:19 -0600 (CST)
From:  "Claire Carly" <cic1692 at unix.tamu.edu>
Subject:  ICOLL Conference--Texas A&M University

2)
Date:  Mon, 9 Mar 1998 13:39:42 PST
From:  "Scott A. Prevost" <prevost at pal.xerox.com>
Subject:  Workshop on Embodied Conversational Characters

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Tue, 10 Mar 1998 21:50:19 -0600 (CST)
From:  "Claire Carly" <cic1692 at unix.tamu.edu>
Subject:  ICOLL Conference--Texas A&M University


                        "Negotiating Boundaries"
                         18 & 19 September 1998
                          Texas A&M University


                            CALL FOR PAPERS


The English Graduate Student Association of Texas A&M University
announces its Interdisciplinary Conference on Language and Literature.
You are invited to submit creative writing and abstracts (500 words)
addressing any aspect of the conference's theme, "Negotiating
Boundaries."  Panel proposals are also encouraged and should include
the panel's title, participants' names, and abstracts.  All approaches
in the humanities are welcome.  Possible topics might include but are
certainly not limited to:

* Negotiating Boundaries of Region, Race, Class, Gender, and/or
	Sexuality
* Writing from the Margin; Writing from the Center
* Passing--Race and/or Gender
* Cross-Dressing
* Fin-de-siecle Literature and Culture (any century)
* Constructions of "High," "Middlebrow," and "Low" Culture
* Negotiating Boundaries in the Visual and Performing Arts
* Literary Genres (the Novel, Poetry, Auto/Biography, etc.)
* Mixing Literary Genres/Writing about Literary Genres
* Constructing Authorial Identities
* Children's Literature
* Creative Writing Submissions
* Negotiating Boundaries Between Academic Disciplines
* Literary, Theoretical, Historical, Sociological, Anthropological,
* Philosophical, and/or Psychological Perspectives on Negotiating
	Boundaries


The following topics are being sponsored by the Discourse-Oriented
Student Society (DOSS) of Texas A&M.  If your submission relates to
any of these topics, please write "DOSS" on your abstract or panel
proposal.

* Graduate Student/Teacher--Negotiating Boundaries in Academia and in
	the Classroom
* Boundaries in Functional Linguistics and Discourse Analysis
* Interstices in Classical and Modern Rhetoric
* Boundaries within Technical Writing


Conference Date and Location:

18-19 September 1998
Texas A&M University

Deadline for Submissions:  Postmarked by Friday, 29 May 1998

Please Address Submissions to: Claire Carly
                               Dept. of English
                               Texas A&M University
                               College Station, TX  77843-4227

For more information, please contact Claire Carly at:
cic1692 at unix.tamu.edu

Or visit our website at:  http://www-english.tamu.edu/egsa/icoll/


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 9 Mar 1998 13:39:42 PST
From:  "Scott A. Prevost" <prevost at pal.xerox.com>
Subject:  Workshop on Embodied Conversational Characters

	The First Workshop on Embodied Conversational Characters


        Granlibakken Resort & Conference Center at Lake Tahoe
                     Tahoe City (North Shore)
                        California, USA

                      October 12-15, 1998

                    With the support of AAAI
                   Cooperation of ACM/SIGCHI


Call for Papers

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.  Selected contributors will be invited to expand and
refine their papers for inclusion in a book to be published by
Addison-Wesley.  The aims of this book will be to introduce, define,
and advance the field; to give a snapshot of current work in it; and
to suggest future challenges and opportunities.

Particular topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

* Multi-Modal Interaction               * Autonomy
* Recognition & perception of speech,   * Behavior/dialogue planning
   gesture, facial expressions, etc.
* Distribution of semantic information  * Reactivity and opportunism
  across multiple modalities
* Rendering techniques                  * Representation
* Semantic representations for          * Character individuation
  non-verbal communication
* Dialogue planning                     * Affect and personality
* Turn-taking and back-channel signals  * User Studies
* Spoken Language Processing            * Tools for character
* Discourse structure                     building/authoring
* Intonation
* Architectures & Applications

Papers should address one or more of these topics. Demonstrations and
video presentations of working systems are strongly encouraged.

Format

The two and a half-day workshop will include several paper sessions,
organized around emerging themes, with follow-up panel discussions. In
addition, there will be a demonstration session for authors to present
working systems.

Attendance

Attendance will be limited to 35-40 people. Preference will be given
to authors whose papers have been selected for presentation at the
workshop.

Submission Requirements

Paper submissions are due on June 15, 1998, and should be no longer
than 6 pages (10-12 point font). Upon acceptance, authors will be
given the opportunity to expand their papers to 8-10 pages. Electronic
submissions in Postscript or Microsoft Word formats are preferred, and
should be sent to prevost at pal.xerox.com. Otherwise, send four
hardcopies to:

     Scott Prevost
     ATTN: Embodied Conversational Characters Workshop
     FX Palo Alto Laboratory
     3400 Hillview Avenue, Bldg. 4
     Palo Alto, CA 94304
     Voice: 650/813-7701

Deadlines

Submissions due                 June 15th
Notification of acceptance      August 17th
Final papers due                September 14th
Workshop                        October 12th -15th


Workshop Organizers

Joseph W. Sullivan, FX Palo Alto Lab, USA (sullivan at pal.xerox.com)
Justine Cassell, MIT Media Laboratory, USA (justine at media.mit.edu)

Workshop Program Committee

Committee Co-Chairs:
Scott Prevost, FX Palo Alto Lab, USA (prevost at pal.xerox.com)
Elizabeth Churchill, FX Palo Alto Lab, USA (churchill at pal.xerox.com)

Committee Members:
Elisabeth Andre, DFKI GmbH, Germany (Elisabeth.Andre at dfki.de)
Gene Ball, Microsoft Research, USA (geneb at microsoft.com)
Phil Cohen, Oregon Graduate Institute, USA (pcohen at cse.ogi.edu)
Barbara Hayes-Roth, Stanford Univ., USA (hayes-roth at cs.stanford.edu)
Kenji Mase, ATR International, Japan (mase at mic.atr.co.jp)
Clifford Nass, Stanford University, USA (nass at leland.stanford.edu)
Mark Steedman, University of Pennsylvania, USA
	(steedman at cis.upenn.edu)
Kris Thorisson, Lego A/S, Denmark (kris at digi.lego.com)

Demos Chair:
Timothy Bickmore, ISII Inc., USA (bickmore at pal.xerox.com)

Additional Information

For more information, please consult the workshop web page:
www.fxpal.com/wecc98/

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