[SIGCIS-Members] CfP: Workshop on the History of Expressive Systems at ICIDS 2017

[Mark J. Nelson]

Call for Papers: First Workshop on the History of Expressive Systems
===

Website: http://www.expressive-systems.org/hex/01/

Held November 14, 2017, in conjunction with the International Conference
on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) in Funchal, Madeira,
Portugal.

We invite researchers interested in the history of expressive systems to
participate in the first Workshop on the History of Expressive Systems
(HEX1), to be held at ICIDS 2017 in beautiful Funchal, Madeira, on
November 14, 2017. The purpose of this workshop is to improve the
historical understanding of our field, both to ensure an accurate
historical record for its own sake, but also to bring the history 'into
the present' by understanding lines of research and their implications
for current work in this rapidly expanding area.

By 'expressive systems', we broadly mean computer systems (or predigital
procedural methods) that were developed with expressive or creative
aims; this is meant to be a superset of the areas called creative AI,
expressive AI, videogame AI, computational creativity, interactive
storytelling, computational narrative, procedural music, computer
poetry, generative art, and more.

Important Dates
===

* September 15, 2017: All submissions due.
* September 29, 2017: Submission notifications sent.
* November 1, 2017: Camera-ready copies due.
* November 14, 2017: Workshop held. 

Submission Types
===

HEX1 will be accepting submissions of the following kinds:

* Abstracts: Papers up to two pages in length, with unlimited additional
space for references and appendices (e.g., supporting visual
materials). Accepted abstracts will be invited for oral presentation at
the workshop.

* Papers: Papers of any length. Accepted papers will be invited for oral
presentation at the workshop. Additionally, accepted papers will be
invited for publication in the workshop proceedings, which will be made
freely available online.

Scope
===

For this first iteration of the workshop held at ICIDS, we prefer a
focus on systems within the usual scope of ICIDS, i.e. historical
computational narrative systems, videogame narrative, story generation,
expressive natural language generation, text bots, e-literature, story
understanding, computational narratology, etc. Additionally, histories
of the field itself (or specific eras, approaches, etc.) would be a
great fit for HEX.

Here are some examples of potential contributions:

* Portraits of forgotten or relatively unknown expressive systems.
* Histories of specific research labs, such as the Yale AI Project led
  by Roger Schank in the 1970s.
* Overviews of the careers of unheralded researchers or practitioners.
* Reimplementations of early expressive systems, such as Montfort's
  reimplementation of Strachey's 1952 love-letter generator.
* Rational reconstructions and rethinkings of historical expressive
  systems, such as Skald or Wide Ruled.
* Reappraisals of conventionally disregarded systems, such as
  Wardrip-Fruin's extensive overview of Tale-Spin's underlying
  processes.
* Reframings of known historical systems as expressive systems, or
  specifically as narrative systems — for example, mainframe war
  simulations of the 1950s.
* Discussion of obscure computer games as early examples of interactive
  storytelling, such as Don Daglow's 1973 Star Trek game that
  extensively featured character dialogue.
* Bringing history into the present: borrowing old techniques for new
  settings and architectures.
* Bringing the present into history: applying new techniques to old
  settings and architectures.
* Many more. Not sure if your project is a good fit? Reach out and ask us! 

-- 
Mark J. Nelson
The MetaMakers Institute
Falmouth University
http://www.kmjn.org