HCI International News, Number 6, October 2004

In this Issue

HCII 2005 Final Call for Papers – Extended Deadline for Paper Submission

You are cordially invited to participate in HCI International 2005 and the affiliated conferences, which are jointly held under one management and one registration. The Conference aims to provide an international forum for the dissemination and exchange of scientific information on theoretical, generic, and applied areas of HCI, usability, internationalization, virtual reality, universal access and cognitive ergonomics. This will be accomplished through the following six modes of communication: plenary presentation, parallel sessions, demonstration and poster sessions, tutorials, exhibitions and meetings of Special Interest Groups.

Paper Submission (Extended Abstract of 800 words)
Extended Deadline:15 October 2004

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Nobel laureate, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman - keynote speaker at HCII 2005

"From Brain Dynamics to Consciousness: A Prelude to the Future of Brain-Based Devices"
Gerald M. Edelman
The Neurosciences Institute,
San Diego, California

Prevalent views of higher brain functions are based on the notions of computation and information processing. These views suggest that the brain is a Turing machine. Various lines of evidence appear to be incompatible with this position and suggest instead that the brain operates according to a set of selectional principles. A theory addressing these principles, called Neural Darwinism, will be discussed. Neural Darwinism has a direct bearing on the search for neural correlates of consciousness. Most approaches to the understanding of consciousness are concerned with the contributions of specific brain areas or groups of neurons. By contrast, I will consider what kinds of neural processes can account for key properties of conscious experience such as its unity and its diversity, and I will present supporting evidence on the neural correlates of consciousness obtained from MEG studies of human subjects.

Devices based on Neural Darwinism have been constructed in order to study detailed neural dynamics during behavior in a real world environment. The performance of these brain-based devices (BBDs) will be briefly described. Refinement of their design and behavior points to the possibility of constructing a conscious artifact.

Dr. Edelman is Director of The Neurosciences Institute and President of Neurosciences Research Foundation, a publicly supported not-for-profit organization that is the Institute's parent. Separately, he is Professor at The Scripps Research Institute and Chairman of the Department of Neurobiology at that institution. His early studies focused on the structure and diversity of antibodies. His subsequent work led to the discovery of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), which have been found to guide the fundamental processes by which an animal achieves its shape and form, and by which nervous systems are built. Dr.Edelman has formulated a detailed theory to explain the development and organization of higher brain functions. This theory was presented in his 1987 volume Neural Darwinism. In 1972, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the structure and function of antibodies.

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Book Review: "Handbook of Virtual Environments: Design, Implementation, and Applications"

Handbook of Virtual Environments begins appropriately with this quotation from the Greek philosopher Plato: "You see, then, that a doubt about the reality of sense is easily raised, since there may even be a doubt whether we are awake or in a dream."

In a Matrix-like world, where everything is gradually becoming more virtual, "reality" sometimes seems to be just in our minds and real "experience" just in our dreams. a lot must be done to help build the interfaces for the systems. This book -seven major chapters and 1232 pages- covers almost all aspects of virtual environments. The topics include system requirement gathering (chapter II), design approaches and implementation strategies (chapter III), health and safety (chapter IV), evaluation (chapter V), and selected applications of virtual environments (chapter VI). Though chapter IV briefly reviews health and safety issues, one would like to see a discussion of the influence of virtual environments on social interaction and on the social structure of the societies. In a concluding chapter, Balde et al provide an interesting brief history of virtual environments that puts them in better perspective.

Parts III and IV take on the difficult task of categorizing a range of diverse topics into two groups: human perspectives and computing perspectives. Even though, as the editors admit, this classification is not ideal, these two parts still provide readers with a good understanding of different perspectives on creating, implementing, and elaborating task analysis in human-computer interaction.

Without question, the study of virtual environment is an evolving area. What is feasible today might be totally different from what we will be able to achieve tomorrow, but despite this evolution and fast growing area, this book is a precious resource for all researchers, practitioners, and academics working in this discipline.A.M.

Handbook of Virtual Environments: Design, Implementation, and Applications,edited by Kay M. Stanney, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum AssociatesPublisher, 2002. 1232 pages. ISBN 0-8058-43270-X

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Abstract submission for HCII 2005

Abstract submission for Paper, Tutorial, SIG, and poster/demonstration contributions for HCI International 2005 and the affiliated Conferences is open through the Conference Management System (CMS)

Prospective authors will need to create their individual account by filling-in an Account Signup Form with the CMS in order to proceed with abstract submission. Once they have created their account, they can login into the CMS and submit an abstract, view their submission(s), and update their account and contact information.

Registration to the Conference will also be available through the CMS at a later stage.

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Submission Deadlines

• Paper Presentations (Abstract Length 800 words)
  
  • Deadline for Abstract Receipt: 15 Oct 2004
  • Notification of Review Outcome: 20 Dec 2004
  • Deadline for Receipt of Accepted Proposal: 1 Mar 2005
• Posters/demonstrations (Abstract Length 300 words)
  
  • Deadline for Abstract Receipt: 1 Apr 2005
• Special interest groups (Abstract Length 800 words)
  • Deadline for Abstract Receipt: 20 Oct 2004
  • Notification of Review Outcome: 20 Dec 2004
  • Deadline for Receipt of Accepted Proposal: 1 Mar 2005
• Tutorials (Abstract Length 300 words)
  
  • Deadline for Abstract Receipt: 20 Oct 2004
  • Notification of Review Outcome: 20 Dec 2004
  • Deadline for Receipt of Accepted Proposal: 1 Mar 2005

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Few Exhibition Booths left at HCII 2005

A variety of related product and technology companies will exhibit at HCII2005 (see the list of Exhibitors).

Exhibitors who have committed to exhibit early will have a better opportunity in booth location selection and very attractive pricing, plus the opportunity to be listed in the Advance Program that the will be distributed worldwide.

Out of the 50 Exhibition booths, 40 are already committed to a variety of state-of-the-art HCI technologies.

For more information, please contact Dr. Abbas Moallem, Communication and Exhibition Chair

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Sponsorship of HCI International 2005

Sponsorship is now open. Organizations wishing to sponsor a special event or to be a general sponsor of the Conference are welcome to contact the Conference Chair.

For questions about the sponsorship program at HCII 2005, please contact Dr. Abbas Moallem, Communication and Exhibition Chair.

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Interesting Recent Articles

• "An Interview with Mark Ominsky, the Managing Principal of IBM Global Services Usability Engineering", Ease of Use Journal, July 2004.
• "Deceivingly Strong Information Scent Costs Sales", Alertbox, August 2, 2004.
• "Adaptive Menu Design", UI Design Update Newsletter, July, 2004.
• "When Search Engines Become Answer Engines", Alertbox, August 16, 2004.
• "Reflections on Dick Dillon by Dr. Jo Wood", HOT Topics, August 2004.
• "How eight pixels cost Redmond millions", Silicon.com, August 19, 2004.
• "Informational Articles Must Ask For the Order", Alertbox, August 23, 2004
• "Holistic Design: PalmOne Tungsten T3 Case Study", AskTog, July 2004.
• "Creating a centered page layout with CSS", Builder.Com, August 11, 2004.
• "Location and Presence in Mobile Data Services", boxesandarrows.com, August 16, 2004.
• "HCII 2005, the largest HCI International Conference ever", HCI International NEWS, August 2004.
• "Understanding disability issues when designing Web sites", Ease of Use, August 2004.
• "Mastery, Mystery, and Misery: The Ideologies of Web Design", Alertbox, August 30, 2004.
• "Preparing for the Holiday Shopping Season", Alertbox, September 6, 2004.
• "On the Meta-Usability of User Interface Standards", UI Design Update Newsletter - August, 2004.
• "The Need for Web Design Standards", Alertbox, September 13, 2004.

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Upcoming Conferences and Events in the HCI Area

• 4-6 October:: ABIS04, Annual workshop of the SIG Adaptivity and User Modeling in Interactive Systems of the German Informatics Society (GI), Berlin, Germany.
• 10-13 October: SIGDOC 2004, The 22nd annual international conference on Design of Communication, Memphis, TN, USA.
• 10-15 October: ACM Multimedia 2004, NY, USA.
• 10-13 October: IEEE SMC 2004, International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics The Hague, The Netherlands.
• 13-15 October: Presence 2004, 7th annual international workshop on Presence, Valencia, Spain.
• 13-15 October: ICMI 2004, Sixth International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces, State College, PA, USA.
• 18-20 October: Assets 2004, The sixth international ACM SIGCAPH conference on Assistive Technologies, Atlanta, GA, USA.
• 22 October: Human Factors and the Digital Home, ETSI workshop, Sophia Antipolis, France.
• 23-27 October: NordiCHI 2004, The Third Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Tampere, Finland.
• 24-27 October: UIST 2004, 17th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, Santa Fe, NM, USA.
• 27-28 October: EG Multimedia 2004, 7th Eurographics Workshop on Multimedia, Nanjing, China.
• 3 November: Web Design for Usability, Workshop, London, UK.
• 5-7 November: Accelerating Change 2004, Physical space, Virtual space, and Interface, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
• 6-10 November: CSCW 2004, ACM conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Chicago, IL, USA.
• 8-10 November: EUSAI 2004, Second European Symposium on Ambient Intelligence, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

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Previous Issues of the HCI International NEWS

• August 04: "HCII 2005, the largest HCI International Conference ever "
• June 04: "HCI in the People's Republic of China"
• April 04: "Invitation to participate in the inaugural International Conference on Augmented Cognition in conjunction with HCI International 2005"
• January 04: "Breadth, Depth, and the Future of HCI"
• November 03: "Usability and Internationalization" - HCII 2005 Program

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Contribute to HCI International NEWS

We welcome your contribution to the HCI International News. Please send us interesting news, short articles, interesting websites, etc. We will consider your comments and contribution for upcoming issues.

Please send your contribution to the Editor, Dr. Abbas Moallem.

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About HCI International NEWS

The HCI International NEWS is a newsletter about Human - Computer Interaction topics, the HCI International 2005 Conference deadlines and activities, the HCI International 2005 Exhibition, news in the area of HCI, tips and techniques in preparing effective presentation for publication and more.

If you have any questions or comments, or if you want to contribute, please contact the Editor, Dr. Abbas Moallem. The opinions that are expressed in this newsletter are sole responsibility of their authors and do not represent any institution or company.

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