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The 4th COGAIN Annual Conference on COGAIN 2008:
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OverviewThe 4th international COGAIN conference on eye gaze interaction has communication, environmental control and mobility control as its main themes. These three aspects together constitute the means to give people with severe motor disabilities independence in their daily lives. Eye gaze is often the most effective means of interacting with devices associated with these. Much progress has been made in developing eyetracking systems with a high degree of usability, and in developing systems for text entry using gaze. There are now new approaches to text entry and communication which offer higher input rates than have been previously possible. It is also important to consider enabling communication with mobile devices as well as conventional screen based applications, and to consider also how low cost, less accurate gaze systems can best be utilised. There are also now research questions about how to best to extend the use of gaze and enable users to interact with the local environment to control mobility devices such as scooters and wheelchairs. A Danish person with motor neuron disease and an experienced user of gaze communication devices said recently "One of the future challenges should be to make a computer so that you can drive the wheelchair (safely!) using only an eye tracker". Gaze control has the potential to make really significant improvements to the quality of life of people with severe motor impairments. The COGAIN conferences are the major international events with focus particularly on gaze communication for people with disabilities. Now in its 4th year, COGAIN (COmmunication by GAze INteraction) is a European Union funded research Network of Excellence, which comprises 25 universities, manufacturers and end-user organizations from across the European Union together with partners from across the globe. More information about the COGAIN network can be found at www.cogain.org. ThemesThe theme of the conference is Communication, Environment and Mobility Control by Gaze. The conference committee invites the submission of short papers particularly in the following areas, although submissions in any area related to gaze-based interaction will be considered.
Papers which deal with the use of eye gaze to study the usability of mainstream applications and websites are not normally considered for inclusion in the conference. Program
Day 2 (Wednesday, 3 September 2008): End-User and Industry Sessions
ExhibitionOn Day 2 (Wednesday, 3 September 2008), eye tracking device manufacturers and developers are welcome to demonstrate their products. Each attendant will be granted a space to present and demonstrate free of charge, but the project will not reimburse the attendants for travel costs or accommodation and will not make any hotel reservations. If you are interested in demonstrating your product at the COGAIN 2008, and have questions, please contact stina.boedeker@cogain.org.
List of COGAIN 2008 exhibitors Important datesThe following deadlines are necessary to ensure timely production of the conference deliverables.
Submission of papers
Authors are requested to submit their short papers using the COGAIN conference format: The submitted short papers will be blind reviewed. A condition of acceptance is that at least one of the authors will attend the conference. As a guide a short paper should be taken to mean about three pages of text (c. 1000 - 1500 words), plus supporting images/diagrams/tables. The text should be clear enough to allow reviewers to judge the potential of the paper’s suitability for COGAIN 2008. The official language of the conference will be English. The suitability of the paper will be judged by the reviewers on the following criteria:
The short paper should include in addition a cover page with: Title; All authors’ names (underline surname), affiliations, and addresses; Name of author to contact for correspondence; Email address and fax number of contact; Up to 5 keywords to describe the paper; Requirements for video presentation equipment. Authors are requested to email their paper to the conference chair: Howell Istance, COGAIN 2008, School of Computing, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)116 2506103 ProceedingsThis year's conference will be the subject of a special issue of Psychnology Journal and a selection of authors will be invited to submit extended versions of their papers for review. VenueThe Conference will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, organized by The Czech Technical University.
Hotel Diplomat
COGAIN 2008 conference will be held in the Hotel Diplomat.
Prague Hotel Diplomat is luxury 4-star Prague hotel located on the very edge of historic Prague centre - it takes only 10 minutes to get to hotel from the Prague Airport Ruzyne. Prague Hotel Diplomat is situated close to the Prague Castle and is surrounded mainly by diplomatic residences. There are 398 standard/superior rooms and suites. A specially equipped room for disabled people is also available.
The spacious Conference Centre is located on the 2nd floor and has a total surface of 1 600 m² conference space.
There are 22 different rooms for up to 1050 people. All conference premises are fully air-conditioned and
offer high speed internet access, flexible room-size, latest technical devices, electronic navigation system and
handicap access.
Note: change in the place for the second day:
also the end-user sessions and the exhibition will be organized at Hotel Diplomat!
About PraguePrague is the capital city of the Czech Republic which lies in the heart of Europe, neighbouring with Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. There is a number of non-stop border crossings available with an excellent connection by car, bus, train or plane. In 1992 the historical centre of Prague covering an area of 866 hectares was listed in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Register. Prague was one of the nine cities awarded by the European Community the title of European City of Culture for the year 2000. "Praga caput regni" has been inscribed in Prague's coat of arms. And rightly so. Since the very beginning, Prague has always played an important role in the history of both the nation, country and Europe. Since the Middle Ages, Prague has been known as one of the most beautiful cities of the world, and has been attributed adjectives such as "golden", "city of hundred spires", "the crown of the world", "a stone dream". Prague represents a unique collection of historical monuments dominated by Prague Castle which towers high above the city. It merges all artistic and architectonic styles and movements. The historical core of the city is situated on both banks of the Vltava river and consists of 6 parts - formerly independent urban units unified in the 18th century. They are as follows: Stare Mesto (Old Town), Josefov (the preserved part of the former Jewish Town - today part of the Old Town), Nove Mesto (New Town), Mala Strana (Lesser Town), Hradcany and Vysehrad. Naturally, most of the historical monuments, museums and galleries are concentrated there.
COGAIN 2008 is held in the beautiful city of Prague.
Registration
AccommodationRecommended hotels near the conference venue are listed below: The DIPLOMAT Hotel ****
Evropska 15, Prague 6
Jeleni 197, Praha 1
Thakurova 1, Praha 6 - Dejvice
Conference committee
Chairs: We hope to see you in Prague! Previous conferencesCOGAIN 2005 COGAIN 2006 COGAIN 2007 |
Last updated on 12 November 2008. Contact webmaster@cogain.org