Workshop 1: IEEE VR 2012 Workshop on Off-The-Shelf Virtual Reality

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Abstract:

The Workshop on Off-The-Shelf Virtual Reality is intended bring together researchers, professionals, and hobbyists to share ideas that leverage off-the-shelf technology to realize the vision of low-cost virtual reality. Spurred by the video game industry, inexpensive motion sensing devices such as the Microsoft Kinect, Nintendo Wiimote, and Playstation Move are now commonly found in people's living rooms, and have been embraced by researchers and hobbyists alike. Additionally, advances in mobile technology have now made it possible to deploy virtual/augmented reality applications on readily available devices such as smartphones and tablets. The workshop objective is to provide a venue for sharing hardware prototypes, software techniques and toolkits, or other innovative designs that other members of the community can replicate using off-the-shelf components or through “hacking” existing commercial devices.

Organizers

• Evan A. Suma, Institute for Creative Technologies, USA
• David M. Krum, Institute for Creative Technologies, USA
• Mark Bolas, Institute for Creative Technologies, USC School of Cinematic Arts, USA

Contact: Evan Suma

Workshop 2: Immersive Visualization Revisited: Challenges and Opportunities

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Abstract:

Immersive visualization, i.e. the use of Virtual Reality display and 3D interaction technology for visual data exploration and analysis, has long been deemed one of the killer applications of VR technology. However, VR research is nowadays mostly focused on training, simulation, and psychological experiments. Inspiring cross-community work on immersive visualization is largely going on behind the scenes, only to be revealed by anecdotal evidence, e.g. in informal discussions among colleagues. The major goal of this workshop is to establish a forum for the presentation and discussion of contemporary cross-community work in immersive visualization. We hope to revive the contact between the nowadays largely separate communities of visualization and Virtual Reality. The workshop will be structured into two parts, presentations of technical papers, position papers, and experience reports, and a panel discussion with experts who have worked in both fields. We encourage researchers and (prospective and former) practitioners of immersive visualization to submit short technical papers and position statements, and to discuss challenges and opportunities in this half-day workshop.

Organizers

• Gerwin de Haan, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
• Bernd Hentschel, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
• Daniel Keefe, University of Minnesota, USA
• Oliver Kreylos, University of California Davis, USA

Contact: Gerwin de Haan

Workshop 3: SEARIS 2012
5th Workshop on Software Engineering and Architectures for Realtime Interactive Systems

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Abstract:

SEARIS provides a forum for researchers and practitioners working on the design, development, and support of realtime interactive systems (RIS). These systems span from Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) environments to novel Human-Computer Interaction systems (such as multimodal or multitouch architectures) and entertainment applications in general. Their common principle is a strong user centric orientation which requires real-time processing of simulation aspects as well as input/output events according to perceptual constraints. Therefore, we encourage researchers and developers of real-time human computer interaction systems of all flavors to share their experiences and learn from each other during this workshop.

Organizers

• Marc Erich Latoschik, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany
• Dirk Reiners, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, USA
• Roland Blach, CC Virtual Environments Fraunhofer IAO Stuttgart, Germany
• Pablo Figueroa, Universidad de los Andes Bogota, Colombia

Contact: searis@isg.cs.uni-magdeburg.de

Workshop 4: AMBIT 2012 (The First International Workshop on Ambient InformationTechnologies)

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Abstract:

The first workshop on Ambient Information Technologies (AMBIT 2012) is aimed at bringing together researchers who develop devices (sensors, displays, actuators, etc.) used in VR environments and applications that utilize these cultivated devices to integrate acquired data with displayed information. Ambient information technologies have attempted to allow users to unconsciously access useful information with various kinds of displays according to users’ situation, which is determined by sensors. With ambient information technologies, the VR community will have the opportunity to improve their systems. For example, 3D user interfaces based on VR technologies will become more effective by using various user intention recognition mechanisms developed for ambient information technologies.

Organizers
From Osaka University, Japan:

• Yuichi Itoh
• Hideyuki Ando
• Kiyoshi Kiyokawa
• Satoshi Kurihara
• Hiroyuki Ohsaki
• Tatsuhiro Tsuchiya
• Naoki Wakamiya

Contact: ambit2012@hi-mail.ise.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp

Workshop 5: PIVE 2012: Workshop on Perceptual Illusions in Virtual Environments (PIVE)

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Abstract:

Virtual environments (VEs) provide humans with synthetic worlds in which they can interact with their virtual surrounding. However, while interacting in a VE system, humans are still located in the physical setup: they move through a laboratory space or may touch real-world objects. This duality of being in the real world while receiving visual, haptic, or aural information from the virtual world places users in a unique situation, forcing them to integrate (or separate) stimuli from potentially different sources simultaneously. The fact that a person's perception of a virtual reality environment can vary enormously from the perception of real world environments opens up a broad field of potential applications that take advantage of perceptual illusions.
The objective of the PIVE workshop is to foster discussions among participants and to provide an intensive exchange between industrial and academic researchers. The workshop will provide a venue for understanding perceptual thresholds in VEs and will facilitate exploratory discussion for how the related perceptual deviations can be further increased or where these concepts can be successfully applied.

Organizers

• Frank Steinicke,University of Würzburg, GER
• Pete Willemsen, University of Minnesota Duluth, USA

Contact: Frank Steinicke or Pete Willemsen