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CALL FOR PAPERS

*** WORKSHOP ***
Evaluating Player Experiences in Location Aware Games

HCI 2008: Culture, Creativity, Interaction
1-5 Sept. 2008, Liverpool, John Moores University, UK
http://www.hci2008.org

Submission Deadline: June 15, 2008
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Location aware technologies such as widespread mobile computers and varying location sensors open up a massive range of possibilities for extending game playing into streets, buildings and even the rural landscape. New and extended forms of location-aware games including mobile or pervasive phone games, smart toys, role-playing games as well as Mixed Reality (MR) games all demonstrate promising new forms of game play. Substantial work has also gone into new game concepts, sophisticated technology and viable business models. However, research on the methodological issues of studying mobile player experiences, pervasive game activity and ubiquitous interaction has become necessary. Furthermore, there is also a need to explore the methodological issues in the evaluation of the intertwined, mutually dependent dimensions related to the usability and playability of location-based games.

This workshop will bring together researchers, practitioners, and students with the objective of sharing knowledge, experience and ideas so that the many user experience issues of location aware games can be more thoroughly addressed.

We would like to invite papers to be submitted to this workshop that focus on one or several issues of measuring player experience in location-aware games including but not limited to:
• User interface design issues on multiple device types: from ideas to guidelines and principals
• Devices and modalities, including tangible computing
• Appropriateness of existing HCI work to game interfaces e.g. task analysis, heuristics, interviews and other methods
• Social dimensions of location gaming technologies, from non-player participation to between player communication
• Theoretical issues related space, place and presence
• Contextual issues when designing and evaluating location aware games
• Using participatory design and probes in design and evaluation
• Game design patterns

*** SUBMISSIONS ***

Authors are invited to submit position or research papers of not more than 4 pages, including tables, figures and references. Submissions will be accepted to be presented in a talk or as a poster. Papers should present original research or summarize experiences related to the above mentioned workshop topics. All submissions should be made via the online workshop paper submission system.

Paper submissions should adhere to the HCI 2008 style guidelines. The respective templates may be found at:
http://www.cms.livjm.ac.uk/hci2008/documents/HCI_2008_Paper_Template.doc
Please include all author and contact information in your submission.

Unless clearly indicated otherwise, submission of a workshop contribution implies permission for a publication on the workshop website.

*** IMPORTANT DEADLINES ***

Paper Submission: June 15, 2008
Notification of Acceptance: July 1, 2008
Camera-ready Paper Submission: August 1, 2008

*** Organising and Programme Committee ***

Rod McCall, Fraunhofer FIT, Germany (co-chair)
Barbara Grüter, Hochschule Bremen, University of Applied Sciences, Germany (co-chair)
Anne-Kathrin Braun, Fraunhofer FIT, Germany (co-chair)
Lynne Baillie, Glasgow Caledonian University (UK) and FTW, Austria
Andrew Wilson, Blink, UK
Richard Wetzel, Fraunhofer FIT, Germany
Zachary O Toups, Texas A&M University, USA
Joerg Niesenhaus, University of Duisberg-Essen, Germany

** Further Information ****
For more information contact Rod McCall (rod.mccall@fit.fraunhofer.de) or visit www.ipcity.eu

The workshop is being held in association with the EC funded IPCity and PEACH projects.

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PRESENCE 2008

11th Annual International Workshop on Presence, Padova, Italy, October 16-18, 2008

Second Call for Papers

Submission deadline (extended): May 23, 2008

Academics and practitioners with an interest in the concept of (tele)presence are invited to submit their work for presentation at the 11th Annual International Workshop on Presence, to be held in Padova, Italy, on October 16-18, 2008.

Often described as a sense of “being there” in a mediated environment, telepresence is broadly defined as a psychological state or subjective perception in which a person fails to accurately and completely acknowledge the role of technology in an experience. It is a rich, fascinating subject of scientific investigation, artistic exploration and diverse application, with increasingly important implications for the ways in which people interact and technologies are developed. Designing technologies and imagining practices to modify, prolong and reconfigure the possibilities of being present has been a continuous endeavor of the human species, from early attempts at constructing communication and transportation devices, to the many current technologies we continue to develop to reach other places and people. Originally focused on bringing “presence” from the real world to a simulated one, the phenomenon is today analyzed and investigated in the context of diverse environments and involves questioning simple distinctions between “‘real” and “artificial”. This opening to a wide range of mediated environments is accompanied by a growing involvement of different research fields that are continuously updating and modifying the contours of presence scholarship. The phenomenon of presence is challenging from a scientific point of view as much as it is viable in everyday life, where people participate in simultaneous mediated experiences, feeling present or co-present in digital locations without any need for explicit instructions and orchestrating technical and cognitive resources to control and enhance presence. What it means to be present in mediated environments is then an extremely relevant and enticing question, bearing all sorts of implications for the design and application of diverse technologies.

More at www.presence2008.org

Read Rod McCall’s feature on the CHI08 workshop on Urban mixed realities at the Usability news portal.

It seems like only a few short years since virtual reality, or rather Second Life, exploded onto almost every single news outlet on the planet. However, the as-yet relatively under-explored field of urban mixed realities perhaps presents some of the most interesting areas for research and development. With this in mind CHI 08 played host to the “Urban Mixed Realities Workshop” which explored, in common with CHI, art, science and perhaps how to balance the two.

http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article4685.asp