Personal and Ubiquitous Computing - Call for Papers: Human AI Conversational Systems: When Humans and Machines Start to Chat
A Special Issue in Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
Open for submissions until March 1, 2024
We invite submissions for a special issue on the future of chatbots, conversational agents, Generative AI text-based systems and corresponding responding speech and language-based systems.
In recent years, chatbots, such as ChatGPT and conversational agents have gained significant attention, and enabling natural language communication between humans and machines. These systems have the potential to revolutionize how we interact with computers, AI-based systems, and services by offering a more intuitive, human-like way of getting information, using products, and accessing services.
The goal of this special issue is to explore the current state of the art and to further understand the future ways in which chatbots and conversational agents, and the ways in which we interact with them might develop, and how the quality of interactions with these systems can be ensured and assessed.
We are particularly interested in papers that address the following topics, but not confined to:
- Techniques for designing, implementing, and evaluating chatbots and conversational agents' interaction with humans
- Natural language processing and multi-modal interaction with chatbots and conversational agents.
- Personalization and adaptation of chatbots and conversational agents
- The societal implications of chatbots and conversational agents
- AI conversations as sites of emotional and affective interactions
- Ethical case studies that go beyond theoretical positions and offer ‘in the wild’ and applied ethical understandings of chatbots and conversational agents
- Chatbots, Trust and Responsible Research and Innovation
- The use of chatbots and conversational agents in the Arts, Humanities and Creative Industries
We welcome both theoretical and applied papers, from any domain that may benefit from (AI and algorithmic) conversational interaction between humans and systems to simplify tasks and improve efficiency, effectiveness, and safety including, for instance, new or enhanced ways to search for information, assist patients during rehabilitation, or in performing in complex socio-technical environments. Studies that focus on AI conversational interaction as emotional/experiential or affective sites, for example as sites of joy, frustration, or rage, are also encouraged.
The length of typical submissions is expected to be approximately 7,000–8,000 words excluding references, figure/table captions, and appendices. We can accept longer articles (about 10,000 words) upon discussion with the editorial team. Short articles (below 4.000 words) are going to be desk rejected
Submissions
Submissions should be original papers and should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Extended versions of high-quality conference papers that are already published at relevant venues may also be considered as long as the additional contribution is substantial (at least 30% new content).
Authors should follow the formatting and submission instructions for Personal and Ubiquitous Computing at https://www.springer.com/journal/779/submission-guidelines (this opens in a new tab).
For more information visit the Springer Nature Information for journal Article Authors pages at https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author (this opens in a new tab)
During the first submission step in Editorial Manager select 'Original article' as the article type. In further steps you should confirm that your submission belongs to this special issue by choosing the special issue title from the drop-down menu.
All papers will be peer-reviewed. Before any special issue is given final approval to be put into production, additional rigorous integrity checks are carried out by the editor-in-chief, editorial team, production office and by Springer Nature.
GUEST EDITORS
Simone Borsci (Lead Guest Editor) - s.borsci@utwente.nl (this opens in a new tab)
Simone Borsci holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology. He is an assistant professor in Human Factors and Cognitive Ergonomics at the University of Twente. Simone is specialized in the health and transport domains with a focus on human and complex system interaction. His recent work on conversational agents resulted in the first standardized scale to assess interaction quality with chatbots. He published numerous papers of human computer interaction and human factors methods.
Alan Chamberlain - Alan.Chamberlain@nottingham.ac.uk (this opens in a new tab)
Dr Alan Chamberlain is a Senior Research Fellow in the Mixed Reality Lab, University of Nottingham. He is the Principal Investigator on the EXIoT Project - Experimental IoT: Explorations in Sound Art and Technology. He is the Creative Sector Theme Lead on the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous System Hub and a Co-Director of the AHRC nTAIL Network - Theatre, AI and Ludic Technologies. He has published numerous papers on many aspects of Human Computer Interaction and has successfully obtained funding for a wide range of research projects.
Elena Nichele - ENichele@lincoln.ac.uk (this opens in a new tab)
Dr Elena Nichele is a Lecturer in International Business Management at the Lincoln University Business School. Previously, she was a Research Fellow in the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous System Hub and the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute, University of Nottingham. Her expertise is cross-disciplinary and combines computer/technology-mediated linguistics and marketing. Elena is contributing and co-leading multiple projects on perceptions, often expressed with the aid of technology and AI. Her academic publications and research have also been focusing on the impact of identity and culture, with particular regard to the concept of authenticity.
Mads Bødker - mb.digi@cbs.dk (this opens in a new tab)
Dr. Mads Bødker is Associate Professor at the Department of Digitalization at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. With a background in media studies as well as Human-Computer Interaction, his current research is concerned with sensory and embodied consequences of ubiquitous digitalization and new forms of interaction. Recent publications focus on feelings, affect and broadly “experiential” aspects of living with digital technology. His research engages with theories and conceptual work from a wide range of scholarly fields such as human geography, anthropology, media- and affect studies, as well as design-oriented research. He has been co-developer of mobile apps for ‘mobilizing’ research practices and data collection and is also a recording musician working with sound design and electro-acoustic improvisation in a number of different contexts.
Tommaso Turchi - tommaso.turchi@unipi.it (this opens in a new tab)
Dr Tommaso Turchi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pisa in Italy. He holds a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction. His research focuses on Human-Centered AI and End-User Development. He has worked on various research projects related to the interaction with AI systems and is currently investigating the use of Design Fiction for AI-as-a-service applications in the medical field. His most recent work includes the development of a co-design toolkit to identify and address bias in AI-based collaborative decision-making domains.