~~~~~~~ BRITISH HCI GROUP NEWS SERVICE ~~~~~~~~~~
~~         http://www.bcs.org.uk/hci/          ~~
~~ All news to: [log in to unmask]  ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ NOTE: Please reply to article's originator, ~~
~~ not the News Service                        ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CALL FOR PAPERS
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
                                                  
Special Issue on
User Centered Design and Implementation of Virtual Environments
                                                  
Guest Editors:
Michael Harrison and Shamus Smith, University of York, UK

(The call is also available at 
 http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~shamus/specialissue.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. 

The aim of this special issue is to bring together ideas and 
innovations 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. 

The degree of interest in this area was highlighted by the level of 
interest shown in a recent workshop held in York.
(http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~shamus/ve-call.html)

Submissions are sought in areas including (but 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

Authors are encouraged to contact guest editors to discuss the
suitability of their topics to the special issue. 

Important Dates 
---------------

January 14, 2000     Full papers due   
March 1, 2000        Notification of acceptance   
May 1, 2000          Final revisions due   

Perspective authors are encouraged to email guest editors to 
express their intention to submit a paper for this special issue.

Submission  
----------

Papers should be submitted in the IJHCS format, and will be reviewed 
by a review panel according to the usual standards of IJHCS. Authors 
of submitted papers may be invited to take part in the review process. 

Details of the IJHCS format can be found in the journal, and are 
available from http://www.academicpress.com/ijhcs/. Authors should 
submit six hard copies of their paper, or an electronic copy 
(preferably in RTF, Postscript or PDF formats) by email, with full 
contact details, to the address below. 

Shamus Smith 
IJHCS Special Issue 
Department of Computer Science 
University of York 
York, YO10 5DD, UK. 

[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To receive HCI news, send the message:      ~~
~~ "JOIN BCS-HCI your_firstname your_lastname" ~~
~~ to [log in to unmask]                ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
~~ Newsarchives:                               ~~
~~ http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/bcs-hci/    ~~
~~ archive.html                                ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To join the British HCI Group, contact      ~~
~~ [log in to unmask]                              ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%