Affective Computing for Mobile Technologies

Workshop

Key Dates

• Workshop date & time: September 30th, 2024, Start 9:00 a.m. half day

Workshop Location

M01 + M02, Level M (Melbourne Connect)

Registration

Registration is open to everyone. Please register here. The workshop fee is $100 USD.

Workshop Timeline

• 09:00–09:15 Opening & Welcome
• 09:15–09:30 1-Minute Introductions
• 09:30–10:00 Activity 1: Ice breaker & Artefact
• 10.00–10:30 Keynote by Prof. Akane Sano
• 10:30–11:00 Coffee Break
• 11.00–11:30 Activity 2: Ideation
• 11:30–12:00 Activity 3: Collaborative Storytelling
• 12:00–12:30 Group Presentations
• 12:30–13:00 Morning Summary
• 13:00–14:00 Lunch together
• 14:00–15:30 Open discussion and writing
• 15:30–16:00 Coffee break
• 16:00–16:30 Summary and closing

About the Workshop

Mobile technologies have become integral to daily life, and understanding users' emotional states during interactions is crucial for enhancing user experience. However, the integration of affective perception, behavior analysis, and affective computing for mobile technologies presents multifaceted challenges, ranging from technological limitations to ethical considerations.

This workshop proposes a collaborative exploration of cutting-edge solutions for affective computing for mobile technologies. We aim to bring together experts to explore topics such as: user behavior analytics, user experience design, affective computing applications, cultural and contextual considerations, and the ethical implementation of affective computing.

This workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry to identify and explore: 1) innovative solutions, 2) novel applications, and 3) key challenges in this area to drive research in the coming decade.

The long-term goal is to create a strong interdisciplinary research community that includes researchers and practitioners from HCI, HRI, Ubiquitous Computing, Cognitive Psychology, Mobile Technology, Interaction Techniques, User Privacy, and Design. We envision ongoing research collaborations and the acceleration of innovations in affective computing for mobile technologies.

In our workshop discussions, we will reflect on:

• Emotion Recognition for Mobile Technologies: Investigating techniques and algorithms for recognizing and understanding emotions based on user interactions, such as facial expressions or behavioral patterns.
• User Behavior and Emotional Responses: Analyzing how users' emotional states influence their behavior while interacting with mobile technologies, such as app usage patterns, response times, or engagement levels.
• Affective Computing Applications: Discussing practical applications of affective computing in mobile technologies, including personalized user interfaces, adaptive content delivery, or emotion-aware mobile apps.
• User Experience Design: Exploring how the integration of affective computing can enhance the overall user experience in mobile technologies by tailoring interfaces and interactions to users' emotional states.
• Privacy and Ethical Considerations: Addressing the ethical implications, including privacy concerns related to emotion data collection and potential misuse of emotional insights such as profiling.
• Technological Challenges and Solutions: Highlighting challenges associated with implementing affective computing on resource-constrained mobile technologies and proposing solutions or advancements in technology.
• Human-Robot Interaction (HRI): Investigating the impact of affective computing, particularly in the context of mobile robots, and discussing how emotional understanding can improve interaction with humans.
• Cultural and Contextual Considerations: Examining how cultural differences and contextual factors influence the effectiveness of affective computing algorithms and applications in diverse mobile user populations.

Keynote

Akane Sano

Akane Sano is an Assistant Professor at Rice University, Department of Electrical Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Bioengineering. She directs Computational Wellbeing Group. Her research focuses on human sensing, data analysis and modeling, and intelligent system development for health, wellbeing, and performance. She is a also member of Rice Digital Health Initiative.

Her research focuses on multimodal machine learning and human centered AI and computing. Her research targets (1) the analysis and modeling of human multimodal data including physiological, biological and behavioral data and surveys for measuring, predicting, improving, and understanding human physiology and behavior and human factors such as health, wellbeing, and performance and (2) development of human centered computing technologies for health, wellbeing, and performance. She has been working on developing tools, algorithms, and systems to measure, forecast, understand and improve health and wellbeing using mobile and wearable sensors and devices in daily life settings, especially for measuring, predicting, and intervening/improving health, sleep and performance. She works in the field of machine learning for health, affective, ubiquitous and wearable computing, and biobehavioral sensing and analysis/modeling. Her research projects include NIH funded multimodal machine learning for characterizing and measuring affect and craving profiles for patients with substance use disorders, NSF future of work project: embodied cognitive assistant for shift workers, NIH funded SNAPSHOT study project, Eureka project (symptom prediction and digital phenotyping in schizophrenia using phone data) and IARPA mPerf project (Using mobile sensors to support productivity and employee well-being).

She received her PhD at MIT Media Lab, and her MEng and BEng at Keio University, Japan. Before she joined Rice University, she was a Research Scientist in Affective Computing Group at MIT Media Lab, and a visiting scientist/lecturer at People-Aware Computing Lab, Cornell University.

Before she came to the US, she was a researcher/engineer at Sony Corporation and worked on wearable computing, intelligent systems and human computer interaction.

Participate

In our increasingly digitized world, mobile technologies have become integral to daily life. As we navigate the challenges and opportunities posed by integrating affective computing into mobile technologies, we provide this emerging field with a platform to bring together researchers and practitioners. This workshop provides a unique opportunity to engage in hands-on sessions and group discussions alongside seasoned experts in the field.

The main aim of this workshop is to encourage cooperation among participants from various fields and viewpoints, who are united by their common interest in affective computing for mobile technologies. All participants must register for the workshop and at least one day of the conference, here.

Organizers

Jessica R. Cauchard

Jessica R. Cauchard is a faculty member of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, where she founded and heads the Magic Lab. Her research is rooted in the fields of Human-Computer and Human-Robot Interaction where she focuses on natural interaction techniques with mobile and wearable devices. Some of her latest work has investigated affective computing in drones and on designing novel technologies that can support people in their everyday lives. Dr. Cauchard received her Ph.D. from the University of Bristol and worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University and Cornell Tech.

Julien Epps

Julien Epps was appointed as a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications in 2007, Associate Professor in 2014, and Professor and Head of School in 2019. In 2023 he was appointed Dean of the UNSW Faculty of Engineering. He is also a Co-Director of the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN). He serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, and was a member of the Advisory Board of the ACM Int. Conf. on Multimodal Interaction and the Executive Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Affective Computing. He was a General Chair for the Int. Conf. on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction.

Jorge Goncalves

Jorge Goncalves is an associate professor at the University of Melbourne where he is part of the Human-Computer Interaction Group. Previously, he worked at the University of Oulu in the Center for Ubiquitous Computing. He received a Ph.D. with distinction (2015) in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Oulu. His research interests include Ubiquitous computing, crowdsourcing, social computing, affective computing and human-centred AI.

Jonna Häkkilä

Jonna Häkkilä, the leader of LUX research group, is professor for Industrial Design at the University of Lapland and docent for computer science at University of Oulu. She has earlier ramped up and led research teams at University of Oulu (2012-2014), and Nokia Research Center (2007-2011). She has published 120+ peer reviewed scientific papers on HCI and has received research grants from Horizon 2020, Academy of Finland, Interreg, and Tekes/Business Finland addressing user centric and future oriented research at the cross-section of design and technology. Her research group’s works have been exhibited e.g. in Milan Design Week ’16 & ’17, New York 2018, and awarded at ISWC ‘16 and ‘18.

Viviane Herdel

Viviane Herdel (main contact person for the workshop) is a Ph.D. candidate within the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. She holds a M.Sc. in Neurocognitive Psychology with distinction at the University of Oldenburg, Germany. During her master's studies, Viviane specialized in noninvasive brain imaging and human-computer interaction. In her ongoing Ph.D. research, she explores the role of emotions and their appropriateness in the context of human-drone interaction. Her research interests include emotion research, affective computing, human-computer interaction, social robotics, and user experience research.

Monica Perusquía-Hernández

Monica Perusquía-Hernández is an assistant professor of HCI and Affective Science at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan. She specializes on Affective Computing and User Experience Quantification to improve Human-Computer Interaction. Currently, she is working in affective computing, signal processing, and interoceptive awareness enhancement in cyber-physical systems. Her work relies on Computer Vision, EMG, EEG, ECG, and EDA for congruence estimation between facial expressions and emotions.

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