IWEC-10 2010 - The 1st International Workshop on Empathic Computing IWEC 2010

Technology has matured sufficiently to tackle problems providing emotional
and social intelligence to
computing systems. Right now, there is a need for innovative interaction
modalities with computing
systems given the available novel devices and sensors. Providing such
modalities increases the
demographics of users of computing systems, from the very young to the
elderly, as well as the
physically-challenged. Empathic systems are a response to such calls.

Empathic computing systems are software or physical context-aware computing
systems capable of
building user models and provide richer, naturalistic, system-initiated
empathic responses with the
objective of providing intelligent assistance and support. We view empathy
as a cognitive act that
involves the perception of the user’s thought, affect (i.e., emotional
feeling or mood), intention or goal,
activity, and/or situation and a response due to this perception that is
supportive of the user. An
empathic computing system is ambient intelligent, i.e., it consists of
seamlessly integrated ubiquitous
networked sensors, microprocessors and software for it to perceive the
various user behavioral patterns
from multimodal inputs.

Empathic computing systems may be applied to various areas such as e-health,
geriatric domestic
support, empathic home/space, productivity systems, entertainment and
e-learning. Lastly, this approach
shall draw upon the expertise in, and theories of, ubiquitous sensor-rich
computing, embedded systems,
affective computing, user adaptive interfaces, image processing, digital
signal processing and machine
learning in artificial intelligence.

The Workshop will be held in conjunction with the 3rd International
Conference on Human-centric
Computing (HumanCom-10) to be held on August 11-13, 2010 at Cebu,
Philippines
(http://www.ftrai.org/humancom2010/). The HumanCom-10 Conference is
sponsored by IEEE, and
organized by Future Technology Research Association and KITCS.

On its first year, IWEC is a gathering of researchers working on embedded
systems and sensor networks,
digital signal processing, affective computing and adaptive user interfaces
as applied to the problem of
developing empathic computing systems. Likewise, IWEC serves as a venue to
disseminate forefront
research results on the areas of empathic computing. Through the workshop,
interest in development of
real-world novel application areas utilizing concepts of empathic computing
may be generated.

*TOPICS*

We are inviting new and unpublished papers on, but not limited to, the
following topics:

*Emotion and mood recognition in an Ambient Spaces
Intention Recognition
Behavior/Activity Recognition
Motion/Gesture Detection
Multimodal Communication
Sensor Networks for Human Tracking
Social Signal Processing
Wearable or Implantable Sensor Integration
Sensor Networks for Intelligent Interfaces
Data fusion in Intelligent Ambient Spaces
Multimodal Approaches for Improved Decision-making
Motivational Aids in Intelligent Education Systems
Advanced Home Automation Systems
e-Health and Geriatrics Care
Social Agents*

*IMPORTANT DATES*

Paper Submission Deadline: *March 15, 2010*
Acceptance Notification: *April 10, 2010*
Submission of Final Paper: *May 1, 2010*
Conference: *August 11-13, 2010*

*PAPER SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS*

All are enjoined to submit papers for presentation to the workshops. Each
should be 6 to 8
page long using the IEEE Conference Proceedings format (MS-WORD or LaTeX).
All
papers will undergo a double-blind review procedure. Please submit all
papers through the
EasyChair Conference System (
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iwec10).
All accepted papers will be published by IEEE.

If you have any question about the CFP and paper submission, please email
Dr. Merlin Teodosia Suarez
(merlin.suarez-AT-delasalle.ph) and Dr. Roberto Legaspi (
roberto-AT-ai.sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp).

*WORKSHOP CO-CHAIRS*

Merlin Teodosia Suarez
Center for Empathic Human-Computer Interactions
De La Salle University
Room G402 Gokongwei Building
2401 Taft Avenue, 1004, Manila Philippines
+63 2 524-4611 local 342
merlin.suarez-AT-delasalle.ph

Masayuki Numao
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research
Osaka University
8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan
+81 6 6879 8426
numao-AT-sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp

*PROGRAM COMMITTEE (More to be added)*
Arnulfo Azcarraga
College of Computer Studies
De La Salle University, Philippines

George Baciu
Department of Computing
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

The Duy Bui
College of Technology
Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam

Boonserm Kijsirikul
Department of Computer Engineering
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Satoshi Kurihara
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research
Osaka University, Japan

Cholwich Nattee
School of Information, Computer and Communication Technology
Thammasat University, Thailand

Proadpran P. Punyabukkana
Computer Engineering
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Mercedes Rodrigo
Department of Information Systems and Computer Science
Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Toshiharu Sugawara
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Waseda University, Japan

Surapa Thiemjarus
School of Information, Computer and Communication Technology
Thammasat University, Thailand