The Sinulog Festival is held on the 3rd Sunday of January commemorating the vision of the Santo Nino. Cebuana beauty parading in the Sinulog Festival. Cebu Beach Club, Boyong Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu Cebu is famous for its musical stringed instruments like the banduria, guitar and piccolo. Magellan's Cross was planted by the order of Ferdinand Magellan upon arriving in Cebu on April 21, 1521. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, Mactan, Cebu City Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines Cebu Cathedral, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines Cebu Capitol, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
IWEC-10
1st International Workshop on Empathic Computing


August 13, 2010
Cebu, Philippines
UPDATES
OVERVIEW

Technology has matured sufficiently to tackle problems providing emotional and social intelligence to computing systems. Right now, there is a need for human-centered systems, i.e. systems that are seamlessly integrated into everyday life, easy to use, multimodal, and anticipatory. These systems widen the breadth of users of computing systems, from the very young to the elderly, as well as to the physically-challenged. Empathic systems are human-centered systems.

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 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 focuses on the ambient intelligent, socio-affective context of empathic computing. Empathic systems are relevant essentially because of their capability to infer not only user behavioral states, but also about the context in which the user is involved. Appropriate responses are heavily influenced by the context of its occurrence.

Objectives
  1. To be 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;
  2. To be a venue to disseminate forefront research results on the area of empathic computing; and
  3. To generate further interest in the area and its real-world novel application areas.
TOPICS
View Call for Papers Back to top
ORGANIZATION
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@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@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp
Workshop Organizers
Roberto Legaspi
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research
Osaka University, Japan
Rafael Cabredo
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research
Osaka University, Japan
Judith Jumig-Azcarraga
Center for Empathic Human-Computer Interactions
De La Salle University, Philippines
Jocelynn Cu
Center for Empathic Human-Computer Interactions
De La Salle University, Philippines
Gregory Cu
Center for Empathic Human-Computer Interactions
De La Salle University, Philippines
Paul Salvador Inventado
Center for Empathic Human-Computer Interactions
De La Salle University, Philippines
Rhia Trogo
Center for Empathic Human-Computer Interactions
De La Salle University, Philippines
Program Committee
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
Bob Hardian
Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
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
Handri Santoso
Top-Runner Incubation Center for Acadermia-Industry Fusion
Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Sukree Sinthupinyo
Department of Computer Engineering
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Toshiharu Sugawara
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Waseda University, Japan
Surapa Thiemjarus
School of Information, Computer and Communication Technology
Thammasat University, Thailand
M. Rahmat Widyanto
The Faculty of Computer Science
University of Indonesia, Indonesia
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IMPORTANT DATES
Paper Submission Deadline:March 22, 2010 (Extended)
Acceptance Notification:April 19, 2010
Submission of Final Paper: May 24, 2010 (Extended)
International Workshop on Empathic Computing: August 13, 2010
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PAPER SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS

All are enjoined to submit papers for presentation to the workshops. Each should be 6 to 8 pages long using the IEEE Conference Proceedings format (MS-WORD or LaTeX). Submitted papers will be subject to a double-blind review process. Please submit all papers through the EasyChair Conference System. 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@delasalle.ph) and Dr. Roberto Legaspi (roberto@ai.sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp).

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PROGRAM
Presentation Schedule (August 13, 2010)
13:40-14:40Invited Talk 1 - "Social interaction": What does it mean and how can we fake it?
Prof. Dirk Heylen, Human Media Interaction, University of Twente, The Netherlands
14:50-15:50Invited Talk 2 - Human-Computer Interactions from a Psychological Perspective
Prof. Madelene Sta. Maria, Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
16:10-16:40Discovering Emotions in Filipino Laughter Using Audio Features: A Comparative Study of the Algorithms
Miguel Miranda, Julie Ann Alonzo, Janelle Campita, Stephanie Lucila and Merlin Suarez. De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
16:40-17:10Multimodal Emotion Recognition Using a Spontaneous Filipino Emotion Database
Marc Lanze Ivan Dy, Ivan Vener Espinosa, Paul Patrick Go, Charles Martin Mendez and Jocelynn Cu. De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
17:10-17:40Automated Posture Segmentation in Continuous Finger Spelling Recognition
Nhat Thanh Nguyen and The Duy Bui. Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam
17:40-18:10Centralized Data Acquisition Unit for the Empathic Space
Andrew Stephen Estrada, Rey Angleo Magdaong, Darell Bennett Manalo, Paulo Oblepias and Gregory Cu. De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
18:10-18:40Panel Discussion

Invited Speakers
"Social interaction" what does it mean and how can we fake it?

Prof. Dirk Heylen
Human Media Interaction
University of Twente, The Netherlands


Involved in research on embodied conversational agents and face-to-face interactions between human agents, he is primarily interested in modelling the way conversations influence and are influenced by the emotions of the participants. This involves building richer dialogue management models that take into account the mental state of speaker and hearer when planning and executing a multi-modal conversational act (linguistic and nonverbal) and in interpreting multi-modal acts.

His researches include Multimodal Interactions, Intelligent Agents, Speech and Language Technology, Human factors and Brain Computer Interaction.

He is also involved in a number of projects including AMI, HUMAINE, MediaCampaign, SEMAINE, SERA and SSPnet.




Human-Computer Interactions from a Psychological Perspective

Prof. Madelene Sta. Maria
Department of Psychology
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines


She is currently an associate professor at the Department of Psychology of De La Salle University in Manila handling the courses on human development, culture and psychology, applied social psychology, and approaches in psychological research. She obtained her undergraduate (cum laude) and masteral degrees in Psychology from the University of the Philippines. She completed her doctorate degree (magna cum laude) at the University of Cologne in Germany, where she focused her studies on ethnopsychology and her research on the indigenization movements in the social sciences. Her researches have focused on the following areas: culture, emotion and the self, culture and conflict, youth development (political socialization and protective factors to development). Her research has also attempted to identify factors that lead to the youth's political engagement.

Her researches in the areas of youth development, and culture and psychology have been published in both local and international publications. She has participated in the conduct of cross-country research on the risk and protective factors to developmental outcomes of street youth. She is now involved in a study investigating Filipino youth values, protection and risk factors in various contexts of their development. She is also presently engaged as a consultant at the Asian Development Bank on their learning programs for communication effectiveness in multicultural work contexts. She is a member of the Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network.

She is also serving as Director of the Zonal Research Center for the Commission of Higher Education's program for research in higher education in National Capital Region and as Director of the University Research Coordination Office of De la Salle University in Manila


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REGISTRATION

Author and non-author registration will allow participants to attend both the HumanCom 2010 conference and the International Workshop on Empathic Computing. It will also include conference materials and food for the duration of the entire conference (August 11-13,2010). You may see the HumanCom 2010 registration page for more details.

Authors
Delegate650 USD
Program Committee and Chairs520 USD
IEEE Members520 USD
IEE Student Members520 USD

Please register through the HumanCom 2010 registration page.

Non-authors
Delegate420 USD
Student350 USD
*Students will be asked to provide proof of their student status.

Please register through the HumanCom 2010 registration page.

Special Visiting Program for Local Students

Philippine students can avail of a one-day visiting program for 3,000 PHP per person. This will include a program booklet, coffee and lunch. There is no pre-registration for the one-day registration program. Registration will be on-site at the workshop venue.

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