Preface

These are the proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment (INTETAIN 09). The first edition of this conference, organised in Madonna di Campiglio, saw the gathering of a diverse audience with broad and varied interests. With presentations on topics ranging from underlying technology to intelligent interaction and entertainment applications, several inspiring invited lectures, a demonstration session and a hands-on design garage, that first edition of INTETAIN generated a lot of interaction between participants in a lively atmosphere. We hope that we have managed to continue this direction with the third edition, which will take place in Amsterdam, following the second edition held in Cancun. The submissions for short and long papers this year show a certain focus on topics such as emergent games, exertion interfaces and embodied interaction, but also cover important topics of the previous editions, such as, affective user interfaces, story telling, sensors, tele-presence in entertainment, animation, edutainment, and (interactive) art. The presentation of the accepted papers, together with the many interactive demonstrations of entertainment and art installations, and other participative activities to be held during the conference, should go some way towards recreating the open and interactive atmosphere that has been the goal of INTETAIN since its beginning. In addition to the aforementioned papers and demonstrations, we are happy to present contributions from three excellent invited speakers for INTETAIN 09. Matthias Rauterberg of Eindhoven University, in his contribution titled “Entertainment Computing, Social Transformation and the Quantum Field��?, takes a broad view as he discusses positive aspects of entertainment computing regarding its capacity for social transformation. Michael Mateas, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, talks about his work in interactive art and storytelling. Antonio Camurri, of InfoMus Lab, Genova, discusses an approach to Human Music Interaction that assigns a more active role to users listening to and interacting with music, in his contribution titled “Non-verbal full body emotional and social interaction: a case study on multimedia systems for active music listening��?

Audio-tactile stimuli to improve health and well-being : a preliminary position paper

From literature and through common experience it is known that stimulation of the tactile (touch) sense or auditory (hearing) sense can be used to improve people's health and well-being. For example, to make people relax, feel better, sleep better or feel comforted. In this position paper we propose the concept of combined auditory-tactile stimulation and argue that it potentially has positive effects on human health and well-being through influencing a user's body and mental state. Such effects have, to date, not yet been fully explored in scientific research. The current relevant state of the art is briefly addressed and its limitations are indicated. Based on this, a vision is presented of how auditory-tactile stimulation could be used in healthcare and various other application domains. Three interesting research challenges in this field are identified: 1) identifying relevant mechanisms of human perception of combined auditory-tactile stimuli; 2) finding methods for automatic conversions between audio and tactile content; 3) using measurement and analysis of human bio-signals and behavior to adapt the stimulation in an optimal way to the user. Ideas and possible routes to address these challenges are presented

Interim research assessment 2003-2005 - Computer Science

This report primarily serves as a source of information for the 2007 Interim Research Assessment Committee for Computer Science at the three technical universities in the Netherlands. The report also provides information for others interested in our research activities

Gesture Interaction at a Distance

The aim of this work is to explore, from a perspective of human behavior, which\ud gestures are suited to control large display surfaces from a short distance away; why that is so; and, equally important, how such an interface can be made a reality. A well-known example of the type of interface that is the focus in this thesis is portrayed in the science fiction movie ‘Minority Report’. The lead character of this movie uses hand gestures such as pointing, picking-up and throwing-away to interact with a wall-sized display in a believable way. Believable, because the gestures are familiar from everyday life and because the interface responds predictably. Although only fictional in this movie, such gesture-based interfaces can, when realized, be applied in any environment that is equipped with large display surfaces. For example, in a laboratory for analyzing and interpreting large data sets; in interactive shopping windows to casually browse a product list; and in the operating room to easily access a patient’s MRI scans. The common denominator is that the user cannot or may not touch the display: the interaction occurs at arms-length and larger distances