[AISWorld] CFP: Frontiers in VR - Special Topic on "Immersive Reality and Personalized User Experiences"

[pgerman]

CFP for the journal "Frontiers in Virtual Reality”, special topic 
"Immersive Reality and Personalized User Experiences"

Full details and submission system:
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/14702/immersive-reality-and-personalized-user-experiences

# SUBMISSION DEADLINES*

- Abstract: 21 February 2021 (optional)**
- Manuscript: 31 May 2021

* Submissions will be reviewed and processed as soon as they are 
submitted
** We would highly encourage authors to consider submitting an abstract 
helping Editors to provide feedback early regarding the fit of the 
expected manuscript within the Research Topic

Keywords: Immersive Reality, Immersive Spaces, Virtual Reality, 
Augmented Reality, Personalization, User Experience, Gamification, 
Artificial Intelligence


# ABOUT THIS RESEARCH TOPIC

The everlasting convergence of digital innovation and user experience 
has upgraded the Immersive Reality (IR) technologies to a new 
multidimensional communication medium that provides new opportunities, 
activities, processes, and services. Researchers, designers and 
practitioners employ various approaches and methodologies that may 
regard the technology or the human more prominently in the creation 
process of high-fidelity IR simulations that aim to achieve a 
sustainable state of presence for the end-user. The big challenge is to 
build immersive spaces that consider collectively intangible aspects 
influenced by the individual differences and technology-related 
concepts; generating personalized experiences and ensuring the expected 
engagement and satisfaction.

Immersive Reality (IR) technologies provide an unprecedented potential 
of integrating the users’ physical reality with virtuality, when they 
execute tasks and actions towards accomplishing specific goals. This 
reality-virtuality continuum aims at enriching the users’ experience, 
view and understanding by offering the opportunity to (a) visualize 
different concepts in real time and interact intuitively with them in a 
simulation or “hybrid” world, and (b) make information and knowledge 
more accessible through experiential learning methods and techniques. 
During the years it is evident that embracing a standard viewpoint on 
given users’ activities in immersive spaces may not always facilitate 
ultimately the successful attainment of presence and engagement, or even 
worse, there is a high risk of overwhelming the users, creating 
confusion and frustration during interaction. Hence, it is of paramount 
importance to appreciate the added value of human-centered adaptation 
and personalization empowered by artificial intelligence techniques 
and/or game-based/gamification mechanics and methods that is also highly 
recognized in regard to more traditional environments of interaction, as 
is the Web. Related applications and systems use the human individual 
differences in their core models, track and analyze user behavior, 
preferences, feedback, and characteristics to make predictions or 
adjustments, delivering unique, personalized experiences regarding the 
content presentation and navigation increasing the users’ engagement, 
effectiveness and efficiency during tasks execution.

The main focus of this Research Topic lies in the cross-borders of the 
aforementioned disciplines for designing and developing solutions that 
adhere to:

(a) human-centered models and personalization mechanisms that will be 
able to regulate information processing factors, perception and 
engagement of users when interacting with substantial amount of 
information as well as to create best-fit immersive experiences to the 
benefit of the unique user;

(b) persuasive strategies and technologies for behavior change that can 
automatically adapt the content and interaction process on the users’ 
goals and tasks;

(c) game-based or gamified elements, such as scoring, badges, timed 
activities and rewards, helping improve motivation, concentration, 
learning and positive attitude of users while accomplishing their goals; 
and

(d) artificial intelligence algorithms and interaction principles 
through the IR technologies that can handle the increasing complexity of 
data structures by facilitating access to the right data at the right 
time, intelligent support during exploration and analytics for 
predictive and proactive actions; while at the same time reducing 
cognitive-load errors or runtime experience problems.


# CONTRIBUTIONS

This Research Topic aims at original work in the area of human-centered 
immersive spaces, IR technologies and simulations of interaction with a 
focus on human behavior at the individual or group level. It showcases 
empirical, basic and applied research on the human behavior and IR 
dynamics of the intuitive interaction between humans and technology, 
covering a broad spectrum of domains like Education, Journalism and 
Communication, Healthcare, Commerce, etc. Literature reviews that 
summarize the current state of research scientific works on a relevant 
topic will also be accepted.


# TOPICS OF INTEREST

Include, but are not limited to:

- Human Behavior Modeling and Artificial Intelligence for 
Personalization, Persuasion, and Gamification in Immersive Spaces
- Novel Human-centered IR Interaction Concepts and User Interfaces
- Human-centered Intelligent Algorithms for IR Content Recommendation 
and Delivery
- Persuasive Strategies and Technologies for Behavior Change in IR 
Technologies
- Gamification Concepts and Techniques in Human-centered IR Technologies
- Security, Privacy and Ethical Issues in AI-enabled Human-centred IR 
Technologies
- Simulation, Evaluation and Validation of Human-centred IR technologies 
and Immersive Spaces
- Assessment of Attention, Distraction, Engagement, Immersion, and 
Presence in Immersive Spaces
- Design and implementation of Human-centred IR technologies in domains 
like Education, Journalism, Healthcare, Commerce, etc.


# PUBLISHING WITH FRONTIERS

Manuscripts will be peer reviewed, and if accepted for publication, are 
subject to publishing fees 
(https://www.frontiersin.org/about/publishing-fees ), which vary 
depending on the article type. A discount or waiver can be applied for 
(https://frontiers.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_51IljifwFBXUzY1) and all 
applications are considered.

Frontiers collaborate with many leading universities making the Open 
Access publishing process even more accessible for authors. For more 
details here: 
https://www.frontiersin.org/about/institutional-membership.

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within 
the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as 
defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to 
guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal 
at any stage of peer review.


# RESEARCH TOPIC EDITORS

Panagiotis Germanakos, SAP SE, Germany -- panagiotis.germanakos at sap.com
Constantinos Mourlas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 
Greece -- mourlas at media.uoa.gr
Catherine Sotirakou, University of Vienna, Austria -- 
cathrinesot at gmail.com
Hajo Boomgaarden, University of Vienna, Austria -- 
hajo.boomgaarden at univie.ac.at
Simon Richir, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Angers, France -- 
simon.richir at ensam.eu