Intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are interactive characters that
exhibit human-like qualities and communicate with humans or with each
other using natural human modalities such as facial expressions,
speech and gesture. They are capable of real-time perception,
cognition and action that allow them to participate in dynamic social
environments.

IVA 2014 is an interdisciplinary annual conference and the main
leading scientific forum for presenting research on modeling,
developing, and evaluating intelligent virtual agents with a focus
on communicative abilities and social behavior. In addition to
presentations on theoretical issues, the conference encourages the
showcasing of working applications. Researchers from the fields of
human-human and human-robot interaction are also encouraged to
share work with a relevance to intelligent virtual agents.

SPECIAL TOPIC: "Virtual Agents in Healthcare".
In 2014, the IVA conference will have a special theme on the use of
Virtual Agents in healthcare. This topic will touch on many aspects
of Intelligent Virtual Agent theory and application. We will encourage
submissions that deal with IVAs and models of health behavior change
counseling; health education; physical rehabilitation and exercise
training; group counseling; eldercare and companionate agents;
and virtual patients.
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TOPICS OF INTEREST

Design, Modeling and Evaluation of IVAs
* design criteria and design methodologies
* evaluation methodologies and user studies
* ethical considerations and social impact
* applicable lessons from other fields (e.g. robotics)
* improvisational or dramatic interaction
* dimensions of intelligence, cognition and behavior
* models of multimodal perception and action
* models of emotionally communicative behavior
* models of conversational behavior
* models of narrative and storytelling used by agents
* design of virtual actors
* theoretical foundations and formal models for virtual agents
* learned, evolved or emergent behavior in agents

Implementation and Applications of IVAs
* software engineering issues
* real-time integrated systems
* portability and reuse
* standards / measures to support interoperability
* specialized tools, toolkits and tool chains
* specialized modeling and animation technologies
* applications in games, education, art, etc.
* delivery platforms: desktop, single vs. multi-user, virtual or
augmented or mixed reality, robots
* future or current experience in various fields, e.g.:
Interactive narrative and story-telling, computer games, art
and entertainment, education and training, simulation and
visualization

Special Topic: IVAs in Healthcare
* modeling the verbal and nonverbal behavior of health behavior
change counselors
* modeling the verbal and nonverbal behavior of health educators
* agents in simulated worlds for therapy (e.g., desensitization,
distraction)
* agents that demonstrate exercise or other physical health behaviors
* agents in mental health counseling and interventions
* virtual patients
* agents for training healthcare professionals
* longitudinal health interventions with virtual agents
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SUBMISSION DETAILS

Prospective authors are invited to submit full papers (12 pages),
short papers (6 pages), or poster papers (1-2 pages). We also welcome
demonstrations (please submit a 2 page description). Submissions
should be anonymous and in Springer LNCS format. See the following
page for details:
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/iva2014/Author-Instructions.html

IMPORTANT DATES
April 7, All submissions due
May 26, Author notification
June 9, Camera ready
August 27-29, Conference

CONFERENCE WEBSITE
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/iva2014/

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Conference Co-Chairs
* Timothy Bickmore, Northeastern University
* Stacy Marsella, Institute for Creative Technologies, University
of Southern California
* Candy Sidner, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Senior Program Committee
* Elisabeth Andre, University of Augsburg
* Ruth Aylett, Harriot Watt University
* Norman Badler, University of Pennsylvania
* Jonathan Gratch, University of Southern California
* Dirk Heylen, University of Twente
* Michael Kipp, Augsburg University of Applied Sciences
* Stephan Kopp, University of Bielefeld
* James Lester, North Carolina State University
* Jean-Claude Martin, Paris South University
* Yukiko Nakano, Seikei University
* Michael Neff, University of California, Davis
* Ana Paiva, Technical University of Lisbon
* Catherine Pelachaud, CNRS, TELECOM ParisTech
* David Traum, Institute for Creative Technologies
* Hannes Vilhjálmsson, Reykjavík University
* Marilyn Walker, University of California, Santa Cruz
* R. Michael Young, North Carolina State University

Doctoral Consortium Chair
* Magalie Ochs, CNRS LTCI Télécom ParisTech

Workshop Chair
* Margot Lhommet, Institute for Creative Technologies, University of
Southern California

Poster Chair
* Dina Utami, Northeastern University

Demonstrations Chair
* Arno Hartholt, Institute for Creative Technologies, University of
Southern California