CALL FOR PAPERS
                               Workshop on

                           INTERACTION AGENTS

                       in conjunction with AVI 98
                       (Advanced Visual Interfaces 98)
                           L'Aquila, Italy
                            May, 24 1998


Today computers are more and more becoming personal instruments used
for different aims, from work to entertainment to communications.
Users require that their machines become part of their
lives, a sort of personal appendix. For this reason,
software agents seem to be one of the most promising technologies for
many application areas. Software agents are also seen as an alternative
(or even an integrated) way to design advanced
interfaces. Differently from direct manipulation methods, software agents
offer exciting scenarios where agents act as autonomous entities able
to support the user in different ways for a wide range of activities;
users may find in agents an alter ego.
The aim of this workshop is to examine specific classes of agents, in
particular agents able to interact with the world through advanced
interfaces that place the user in a new environment where communication
is not only verbal and the interaction is naturally conceived.


Different communities working on agents may contribute to this area; for
example researchers and developers of
synthetic agents, lifelike computer
characters,  pedagogical agents, avatars and interface agents.
Synthetic or believable agents are entities that operate in
artificial environments where they exhibit believable features.
Lifelike computer characters are artificial entities whose prospect
is making computers behave as people.
Animated pedagogical agents work in dynamic environments and
physically collaborate in showing, explaining or evaluating user tasks.
An avatar is a representation of objects functioning in a virtual
world or environment that serve as a stand-in for the person who
controls it.
Interest is also in interface collaborative agents providing
special attention to the type of communication media.


Building these agents requires expertise extending beyond a single
area. Our workshop aims at bringing together people of
different backgrounds working in several areas, e.g.
software agents, visual and animated interfaces, computer vision, and
graphical interfaces, to discuss and compare their approaches,
methodologies and results.

INVITED SPEAKER:
Invited speaker of the workshop will be W. Levis Johnson from the
Information Science Institute & Computer Science Department,
University of Southern California, Marina del Rey.

TOPICS:
    Visual Interaction with Agents
    Visualization of Agents
    Animated and/or Adaptive Interfaces
    Agent-Based WWW Interfaces
    Virtual Agent Environments
    Believable and Synthetic Agents
    Interface Agents
    Avatars, Impersonators
    Pedagogical Agents
    Life-like Computer Characters


DEADLINES:
   Short papers (3 two-column pages): March 16, 1998
   Long papers (6 two-column pages): March 16, 1998
   Notification of acceptance: April 15, 1998
   Final camera-ready version: May 2, 1998

After the workshop, a second round of more extensive reviews is planned which
is to lead to the publication of extended versions of selected
contributions in a special issue of the journal "Applied
Artificial Intelligence: An International Journal", published by Taylor and
Francis, Washington, DC.

Postscript (preferably) or rtf versions of short and long papers can be sent
via ANONYMOUS FTP to the following address:
     ftp://fub.it/pub/AVI-II98/

A Web page can be found at:
     http://www.fub.it/AVI-II98/

The address of AVI 98  Web page is:
     http://www.ing.univaq.it/avi98/

PROGRAM COMMITTEE:
Daniela D'Aloisi (chair) - Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, Roma, Italy
Paolo Bottoni, Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Roma, Italy
Vittorio Giannini, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, Roma, Italy
W. Lewis Johnson, ISI & CS Dept, Un. of Southern California, Marina del Rey
Paola Rizzo, Center for Cognitive Science, Torino, Italy
Robert Trappl, Austrian Research Institute for AI, Wien, Austria
Jean-Yves Vion-Dury, Xerox Research Centre Europe, Grenoble, France
Peter Wavish, Philips Research Lab, Redhill, UK

For additional information about this workshop: avi-ii@fub.it


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Paolo Bottoni
Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Informazione
Universita' La Sapienza di Roma
Via Salaria 113 - 00198 - Roma

phone    +39 6 4991 8428
fax      +39 6 8541842
email    bottoni@dsi.uniroma1.it
WWW      http://dsi.uniroma1.it/dsi/bottoni.html
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