CALL FOR PAPERS
                       for the
 Workshop on User Centered Design and Implementation of
                 Virtual Environments

             on 30th September 1999 at the
   King's Manor, University of York, York, United Kingdom
      http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~shamus/ve-call.html

Much of the work concerned with virtual environments (VEs) 
has addressed the development of new rendering technologies 
or interaction techniques. As VE technology matures and 
becomes adopted in a wider range of applications, there is, 
however, a need to better understand how this technology can
be accommodated in software engineering practice.

This process is being enabled in part by the development of 
"generic" virtual environment toolkits such as dVise and 
SuperScape. It is difficult to find reports that detail the 
process used to develop virtual environments, but given the 
maturity of the technology it would seem reasonable to suggest
that prototyping and exploratory development play a significant
role. However, if or when the technology of virtual environments
becomes adopted in mainstream software systems and products,
exploratory approaches become rather less attractive. Software
developers must be concerned with making use of the most 
appropriate technology in a way that meets the requirements of
the client, including quality criteria such as usability, 
robustness, maintainability, error-tolerance, etc.

Our concern is not so much with the physical devices such as
headsets and data gloves that have come to characterise VEs,
but rather with addressing the highly interactive and dynamic
nature of user-system interaction that this technology supports.

A key aim of the workshop is to provide a platform for the 
presentation of current research describing techniques that
will help virtual environment application designers construct
solutions that are appropriate to users' tasks and requirements,
irrespective of whether they use high-end immersive technology 
or PC-based VE systems.

Submissions
------------
We invite the submission of full papers but three to four page 
abstracts will also be acceptable. Relevant topics include but 
are not limited to:

   + modelling and design of virtual environments
   + toolkit design for effective interaction
   + problems and issues involved in moving from virtual 
     environment design to implementation
   + approaches taken, and proposals for future research

Decisions about acceptance will be made by the review committee
on the basis of the papers submitted. It is hoped that publication
of the full papers will be arranged after the workshop.

Send submissions by electronic mail to [log in to unmask]
(preferably in RTF, Postscript or PDF form) or by post to the 
address below.

Deadlines
----------
  Receipt of submissions   30 June 1999
  Committee decision       31 July 1999
  Workshop                 30 September 1999

Workshop organisation
-----------------------
This workshop is part of a series of one day workshops organised 
by the University of York HCI group, and in association with the
INQUISITIVE project. Previous successful workshops were held in 
September 1998 and March 1999. The first has led to a special 
issue of the International Journal of Human Computer Studies.

Review Committee
-------------------
David Boyd (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
David Duce (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
David Duke (University of York)
Mark Green (University of Alberta)
Roger Hubbold (University of Manchester)
Robert Jacob (Tufts University)
Chris Johnson (University of Glasgow)
Roy Kalawsky (Loughborough University)
Peter Wright (University of York)

For more information.
----------------------
Submissions and requests for further information may be sent 
to the address below.

Shamus Smith & Michael Harrison
Department of Computer Science
University of York
York, Y010 5DD, UK Tel: +44 1904 433376
Fax: +44 1904 432767
Email: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
--
Dr Shamus Smith                    Department of Computer Science
                                   The University of York
fax:   +44 1904 432 767            Heslington, York, YO10 5DD
tel:   +44 1904 433 376            United Kingdom

email: [log in to unmask]
www: http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~shamus/index.html



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