ICMI 2012 chairs' welcome

Welcome to Santa Monica and to the 14th edition of the International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, ICMI 2012. ICMI is the premier international forum for multidisciplinary research on multimodal human-human and human-computer interaction, interfaces, and system development. We had a record number of submissions this year: 147 (74 long papers, 49 short papers, 5 special session papers and 19 demo papers). From these submissions, we accepted 15 papers for long oral presentation (20.3% acceptance rate), 10 papers for short oral presentation (20.4% acceptance rate) and 19 papers presented as posters. We have a total acceptance rate of 35.8% for all short and long papers. 12 of the 19 demo papers were accepted. All 5 special session papers were directly invited by the organizers and the papers were all accepted. In addition, the program includes three invited Keynote talks. One of the two novelties introduced at ICMI this year is the Multimodal Grand Challenges. Developing systems that can robustly understand human-human communication or respond to human input requires identifying the best algorithms and their failure modes. In fields such as computer vision, speech recognition, and computational linguistics, the availability of datasets and common tasks have led to great progress. This year, we accepted four challenge workshops: the Audio-Visual Emotion Challenge (AVEC), the Haptic Voice Recognition challenge, the D-META challenge and Brain-Computer Interface challenge. Stefanie Telex and Daniel Gatica-Perez are co-chairing the grand challenge this year. All four Grand Challenges will be presented on Monday, October 22nd, and a summary session will be happening on Wednesday, October 24th, afternoon during the main conference. The second novelty at ICMI this year is the Doctoral Consortium—a separate, one-day event to take place on Monday, October 22nd, co-chaired by Bilge Mutlu and Carlos Busso. The goal of the Doctoral Consortium is to provide Ph.D. students with an opportunity to present their work to a group of mentors and peers from a diverse set of academic and industrial backgrounds and institutions, to receive feedback on their doctoral research plan and progress, and to build a cohort of young researchers interested in designing multimodal interfaces. All accepted students receive a travel grant to attend the conference. From among 25 applications, 14 students were accepted for participation and to receive travel funding. The organizers thank the National Science Foundation (award IIS-1249319) and conference sponsors for financial support

Basic Course Strength through Clear Learning Outcomes and Assessment

Former NCA President Richard West, writing in Spectra during his presidential year, lamented that the basic course in communication lacked national cohesion, especially compared to other disciplines like psychology, political science, or sociology (West, 2012). Some, including myself, may quibble with the comparison to other disciplines, arguing that History 101, Political Science 101 or Sociology 101 do not necessarily look the same at all institutions around the nation. However, West’s call for examination of the basic course was a welcome one: I believe it is time for our organization to undertake a thoughtful examination of the basic course and ascertain its value for a generation of students whose career opportunities, now more than ever, will necessitate some sort of understanding of the power of communication. An examination of the BCC and all its vectors is long overdue (West, 2012, p. 1). Various groups took up that call, and a national conversation about the basic course and the communication major as a whole began. The results of that conversation produced the strength that I will argue for in this essay

Foreword: MOOC Studies Well Past the Year of the MOOC

As we move nearly a half-decade beyond The New York Times’ declaring 2012 the Year of the MOOC, the range of discussants involved in discourse on MOOCs has narrowed, yet the sophistication of scholarship produced continues to deepen. This second in a two-part series of special issues of Current Issues in Emerging eLearning celebrates this rich, new scholarship on MOOC theory and practice. Volume 3, Issue 1: MOOC Design and Delivery: Opportunities and Challenges presents an underlying argument: that the MOOC frontier can inform our decisions regarding all manner of educational approaches, from clickers in the classroom to evolving competency-based models. Given CIEE’s “intentionally eclectic mission to promote “scholarship on the disruptions teaching with technology bring to all segments of the marketplace and to publish critical assessments of eLearning in its many forms, upcoming issues of this journal will provide heterogeneous coverage of eLearning topics, though editorial board members welcome this opportunity to share a second collection of important MOOC research studies in this publication

Roots, Tendrils, Sprouts and Shoots: A Case Study of Parkallen’s Community Garden, a permaculture project

The first growing season of Edmonton’s Parkallen Community Garden began in Spring 2012. We transformed an unused strip of lawn bordering our hockey rink into a loamy, thriving “edible food forest” of corn, beans, squash, kale, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, apple trees, and mammoth sunflowers. It is unlike most community gardens in that individual plots are not tended by individual gardeners; rather, the PCG is tended communally, by the community. The garden is open and accessible to the community, always, and all are welcome there, from the toddler whose only contribution is to chomp on a snowpea and water a dandelion, to the senior who wants to plant a tree in his community that he knows will outlive him. Hundreds of Parkallen residents have planted something, admired something, or munched on something there. In its first year Parkallen’s garden won The City of Edmonton’s top community gardening award from Communities in Bloom. This article is a case study of the Parkallen Community Garden. Through the lenses and observations of the author, it details how Parkallen’s permaculture design came, literally, to fruition and how permaculture has been interpreted and how it informs our garden and our gardening community

LGBTQ Center 2012 Brochure

This is the LGBTQ Center\u27s 2012 Brochure. LGBTQ Center 2012 Brochure; GLBT Center; Joseph A Santiago; Joe Santiago; Annie Russell; Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) We seek to work with both the GLBTIQQ and straight communities in order to help change the campus climate at URI.; LBTQ Women’s Group This group is designed to provide a space for LBTQ women to be themselves in a safe and welcoming environment, while receiving support from each other and having fun.; Gays, Lesbians, and Allies Advancing Medicine (GLAAM) Group currently forming through two colleges at URI and the LGBTQ Center.; Student Organizations Coming Fall 2012 1. O-STEM (Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) 2. Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and LGBTQ Identities 3. Exploring Spirituality and Social Justice Issues 4. LGBTQ Support in Athletics; Student Staff Specialists; Sam Barrus; Kevin Cruz; Nikki Hartman; Ianna Leshin; Sam Simas; Brian Sit; Justin Willner; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Center; Education; OUTspoken Speakers Bureau; Coming in Fall 2012, the LGBTQ Center will begin offering a program where students can be trained to share their experiences in a panel discussion based format. The OUTspoken Speakers Bureau will be an hour long panel discussion, focused on understanding LGBTQ issues and led by students. The bureau can be utilized in any classroom, meeting, or training.; Safe Zone Project; The purpose of Safe Zone Project is to: (1) Increase awareness, knowledge, and support of LGBTQ people and issues; (2) Build a visible support network of LGBTQ Allies on URI’s campus; and (3) Improve the campus climate for LGBTQ people at URI. We offer a 2 hour Workshop to train on basic issues affecting the LGBTQ community and how to be an ally. Contact our office to schedule a workshop for your office, department, or group.; Classroom and Meeting Presentations; For any class, department, or other event, our LGBTQ Center can tailor a presentation to meet your specific needs. Please contact our office for more details.; Engagement; Large Scale Events; Throughout the year, the LGBTQ Center will offer a variety of opportunities for our community to come together. In the fall, we offer a Welcome Night where we will open the year and discuss all options for engagement throughout the year. October brings Coming Out Month activities. November will host our Transgender Day of Remembrance. March will highlight our annual LGBTIQQ Symposium. Finally, in April, we will offer the Lavender Graduation to celebrate our year together.; Mentoring Program; In Fall 2012, the LGBTQ Center will begin offering its mentoring program for students, faculty, staff, and alumni. First and second year students can apply to have junior and senior mentors. Juniors and seniors can be mentors for younger students and also have graduate student, faculty, staff, or alumni mentors.; Book Club and Family Dinners; In Fall 2012, we will offer a Book Club and Family Dinners for all interested students, faculty, and staff. The Book Club will be themed toward LGBT issues and/or identities and will meet several times during the semester. The Family Dinners will be social in nature and allow the community to come together in a relaxed atmosphere to prepare and enjoy meals together.; Support; President’s Commission on LGBTQ; The President’s Commission on LGBTQ issues focuses on providing support for all URI people, as well as assisting in creating a supportive and inclusive climate.; Coming Out Support Group; In Fall 2012, the Coming Out Support Group will meet weekly to offer students, faculty, and staff the ability to come together around issues related to the lifelong coming out process.; Gender Identity and Expression; Discussion Group; In Fall 2012, the Gender Identity and Expression Discussion Group will be an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to engage in dialogue concerning the many facets of gender identity and expression.; Bi, Pan, and Fluid Sexualities Group; Coming in Fall 2012, the Bi, Pan, and Fluid Sexualities Group will offer discussion and activities surrounding the fluidity of sexuality and sexual expression.; Conversation Group; The LGBTQ Center offers Conversation Group once a week, where students come together to discuss a variety of LGBTQ related issues, from current events to identity concepts

Paying Tribute : Migrant Memorial Walls and the 'Nation of Immigrants'

Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Higher education funding for 2011-12 and beyond

This letter [sent to Tim Melville-Ross CBE, Chairman, Higher Education Funding Council for England] provides details of the allocations that the Coalition Government will make to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for 2011-12 and the priorities set. It also gives indicative funding totals for 2012-13 and the main budget aggregates for the remaining years of the Spending Review, with confirmed allocations for science and research resource funding for four years. The authors are providing these indicative future figures to assist the sector with forward planning, and to show how increased tuition income routed through students will substitute for reduced HEFCE grant funding over the period. Allocations are made subject to the financial delegations and information requirements that will be set out in a Management Letter to the Council in early 2011, and the Secretary of State's approval of HEFCE's Key Performance Targets by spring 2011