[EDLING:1336] CFP: Real and Virtual Women in a Male World

[Francis M Hult]

> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>                           CALL FOR WORKSHOP PAPERS
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Gender and Interaction: Real and Virtual women in a male world"
> 1 day workshop at AVI 2006
> ====================================================================
> Date: 23 May 2006
> Location: Venice, Italy
> Submission Deadline: 19 March 2006 - Extended deadline
>  
> Web-site: http://www.informatics.manchester.ac.uk/~antonella/gender/
> ====================================================================
> 
> AIMS AND SCOPE OF THE WORKSHOP
> ==============================
> Gender differences in computer adoption have been investigated since the
> '80s. Back then, research described computers as a male world and warned
> of a serious digital divide attributed to different attitudes towards
> mathematics and to sex-role stereotypes. Nowadays, the gap has decreased
> with respect to selected applications (such as the Internet and e-mail)
> but women are still severely underrepresented among computer scientists,
> software developers, and video-games players 
> 
> As HCI moves towards an experiential vision, the understanding of
> gender-related differences assumes greater importance. The metaphor of
> computers as social actors and the anthropomorphisation of the interface
> (often embodied by attractive young females) are important triggers of
> research on gender and interaction. Sexism, sexual harassment and a
> tendency of misreporting sexual identity are well known aspects of
> on-line communication which deserve further attention from the design
> community. 
> 
> Some of the larger questions we aim to address during the workshop are:
> 
> * What is the current status of the digital divide in computer adoption
> and usage between male and female users?
> * How do different interface metaphors (embodied conversational
> characters, windows, desktops) affect gender related differences? 
> * What is the effect of gender on the perception and usage of
> educational software? 
> * Does gender affect navigational knowledge and strategies (e.g. in VR
> or Web-browsing)? 
> * Does gender affect the acquisition of sensory-motor tasks in the use
> of multi-modal interfaces?
> * Should machines (embodied characters and robots) have gender? How
> should 'artificial' gender be designed and how would it affect the
> interaction?
> * Do sex-role stereotypes apply to embodied characters?
> * Does gender affect the way human empathize with embodied characters
> and robots?
> 
> INTENDED AUDIENCE AND WORKSHOP FORMAT
> =====================================
> The goal of this workshop is to address the relevance of gender for
> interaction design, the sexualisation of embodied conversational agents
> and the effect of emotional computing on male and female users.  The
> workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary group of researchers
> and practitioners in interaction design, human-computer interaction,
> computer mediated communication, intelligent virtual agents, game
> design, social psychology, and cultural studies. The program will
> feature the presentation of refereed papers followed by interactive
> sessions drawn on a number of design scenarios which will be distributed
> prior to the workshop.  A part of the discussion will concentrate on the
> definition of a roadmap for future research. 
> 
> SUBMISSIONS AND DISSEMINATION
> ================================
> 
> Prospective participants should send a 2/4 position paper to 
> Antonella.de-angeli at manchester.ac.uk 
> 
> following the ACM format. Please e-mail your submission in PDF. 
> 
> Accepted papers will appear in the workshop proceedings and will be
> posted on the web. According to the quality of the submissions we will
> explore alternatives such as a special journal issue or a book
> collection. 
> 
> IMPORTANT DATES
> ===============
>    March : contact co-chair
>    March : Notification of acceptance
>    May 23: Workshop
> 
> 
> ORGANISING COMMITTEE
> ===================
> Co-Chairs: 
>   Antonella De Angeli (University of Manchester UK)
>   Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze (UCL, UK)
> 
> Programme Committee:
> Sheryl Brahnam (Missouri University, US)
> Fiorella De Cindio (University of Milano, IT)
> Claude Draude (Humboldt University Berlin, DE)
> Alan Dix (University of Lancaster, UK)
> Kathy Keeling (University of Manchester, UK)
> Sri Kurniawan (University of Manchester, UK)
> Piero Mussio (University of Milano, IT)
> Mihoko Otake (University of Tokyo, Japan)
> Catherine Pelachaud (Universite de Paris 8, FR)
> Frank Pollick (University of Glasgow, UK)
> Massimo Zancanaro (IRST, IT)
> Sean Zdenek (Texas Tech University, USA)
> 
> 
> CONTACTS
> ===================
> For information, expressions of interest and/or submission contact 
> 
> Antonella De Angeli
> Centre for Human-Computer Interaction Design
> School of Informatics - the University of Manchester 
> Antonella.de-angeli at manchester.ac.uk