CALL FOR PAPERS
What’s Entertainment? From Diversion to Psychagogy
Workshop
in conjunction with the
12th
International Conference on Entertainment Computing
October 16-18,
2013, Sao Paulo, Brazil
SCOPE & AIM
Entertainment
is a multi-faceted concept as evidenced by the range of definitions seeking to
pin down its essence. According to various popular dictionaries, entertainment
is defined as “something diverting and exciting” (Merriam-Webster) or as “the
act of providing amusement and enjoyment” (Oxford). While both these
definitions capture the typical view of entertainment as something joyful that
creates diversion, it is interesting to note that there exist alternative
meanings for it. For example, in Hellenic, entertainment is described with the
word ψυχαγωγία (Psychagogy) that literally
means `to lead/educate the psyche (soul)’. In our view it is this second
definition of the word that can motivate the development of entertainment
systems capable of moving a step further from providing diversion and towards
higher levels of awareness and fulfillment.
But what can be the defining features and
capabilities of systems seeking to provide Psychagogy rather than simple
diversion? In trying to provide an answer, it could be interesting to note that
entertainment is a fundamental component of the human condition as it provides
an experiential setting for the expression of the psyche (soul). This
materializes mainly through the elicitation of affective reactions and
behaviors that usually emphasize or reaffirm common beliefs or
cultural/political ties (e.g. in the case of various performance-related forms
like theater, sports, festivals etc), or through the re-enactment and/or
interpretation of significant events that shape individual or social identities
(e.g., in the case of ceremonies or rituals). Exposure of the psyche to these
experiences educates it to recognize and internalize behavioral patterns that
enrich individual and social life. This workshop seeks to provide an open forum
for investigating the mechanisms by which digital entertainment forms can create
psychagogical experiences.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
Development of novel forms of digital psychagogy (e.g. digital rituals,
festivals, games, computer theater etc.)
Means of expression and interaction in digital psychagogy
Evaluation of entertainment systems in terms of their motivational and
affective content
Aspects of the psychagogy concept (e.g. psychagogy as
state/process/activity/experience) and their implications for digital
entertainment
SUBMISSIONS
Submissions to the workshop may include position papers, descriptions of ongoing research work or surveys of fields relevant to digital psychagogy, etc. We accept e-mail submissions of paper abstracts not more than two (2) pages long at psychagogy@gmail.com. They should be in the required format (http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0) and submitted as PDF files..Workshop participants will be required to register for the ICEC-13 conference. Other than that there will be no participation fee for this workshop. We would like this workshop to be an interactive event consisting of short presentations by the participants and extensive panel discussions. To this end, we are investigating the additional option of remote participation (e.g. via Skype) for those participants that wish to take part in this fashion. Finally, various publication options for the workshop results will be presented and discussed during this event.
IMPORTANT DATES
Deadline for submissions: 31 July 2013
Notification
of accepted papers: 8 August 2013
Workshop Date: 15 October 2013
Workshop Date: 15 October 2013
ORGANIZERS
Nikitas M.
Sgouros, Dept. of Digital Systems, Univ. of Piraeus, Greece (sgouros@unipi.gr)
Ryohei
Nakatsu, Interactive and Digital Media
Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, (elenr@nus.edu.sg)
Matthias Rauterberg, Industrial
Design Department, Technical University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands, (G.W.M.Rauterberg@tue.nl)
INFORMATION
For more information visit our web site (http://psychagogy.blogspot.com) or write
us at: psychagogy@gmail.com
