Attention Management in Pervasive Computing
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Submission deadline: 1 March 2013
Notification: 26 April 2013
Publication: Jan.–Mar. 2014

Finely-woven, globe-spanning digital networks, together with the radical miniaturization
and embedding of information, communication, and sensor electronics into almost
everything, have made human-to-computer bonds truely ubiquitous and pervasive.
Accordingly, our approach to human-computer interaction is reversing: while HCI previously
addressed issues related to how humans initiate interaction with ICT systems, we now
increasingly observe ICT system designs that also approach humans. Within this "human
computer confluence", human attention—more than processor speed, communication bandwidth,
and storage resources—becomes the single most critical (yet least understood) resource in
pervasive system design today.

While previously considered a mental variable that could not be quantified and measured,
attention now constitutes a fundamental element of psychological research. Today, everyone
has an intuitive understanding of what attention is, how it can be assessed, and how it
impacts perception, memory, expectation, awareness, relevance, decision-making, and other
behaviours. This special issue focusses on novel approaches to attention modelling,
attention representation, attention sensing, recognition or estimation, together with
attention management as a theoretical and practical principle for designing Pervasive and
Ubiquitous Computing systems.

We welcome multi-disciplinary articles not only from the core Pervasive and Ubiquitous
Computing community, but also from Behavioural Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain
Research linked to attention management system design principles.


Potential topics include:
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- Theories and formal models of attention, theory driven modelling, evidencing theories
Attention sensing and data-driven attention modelling (including recognition chains,
mining Big Data)
- Attention estimation from behaviour (gaze, speech, pose, effort, somatic indicators) and
from mental effort (memorizing, response time)
- Attention recognition (pattern recognition, machine learning) and management
architectures (goals, plans, decision making)
- Individual attention (perceptual load, cognitive load, recall performance,
consciousness, overt vs. covert attention, focus and periphery of attention) and sensors
(EEG, FOVA, SC, BVP, ...)
- Collective attention (information diffusion, novelty propagation, sharing, consesus
finding) and sensors (social networks, microblogs, tweets, web/phone, exploiting
patterns ...)
- ICT design based on the economics of attention: design principles, interaction
principles, interface designs, attractors
- Attention management system architectures, tools and development frameworks
- Attention management showcases, success stories, and user studies in application domains
of societal significance—for example, health care systems, intense care and control
centers, electronic workplaces and electronic trading systems, mission-critical
construction and engineering, avionic and automotive systems, energy and environmental
protection systems, safety and security systems, monitoring and surveillance systems,
crisis observatories, sales and digital signage systems, art installations, public
advertising, public opinion building, etc.


Questions?
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For more information about the focus, contact the Guest Editors

Alois Ferscha (ferscha@pervasive.jku.at), Johannes Kepler Universität Linz
Joe Paradiso (joep@media.mit.edu), MIT Media Laboratory
Roger Whitaker (r.m.whitaker@cs.cardiff.ac.uk), Cardiff University


Submission Information
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Submissions should be 4,000 to 6,000 words long and should follow the magazine's
guidelines on style and presentation. All submissions will be peer-reviewed in accordance
with normal practice for scientific publications, and all accepted articles will be edited
according to Computer Society guidelines. Submissions should be received by 1 March 2013
to receive full consideration.

For general author guidelines or submission details: www.computer.org/pervasive/author.htm
or pervasive@computer.org.

To submit your article go directly to our online peer-review system, Manuscript Central
(https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pc-cs).