ACII 2022
1st Workshop on
"Culture-originated Affect"
will be held hybrid (+ real) on the 18th Oct. 2022

BACKGROUND

Emotion is defined as a biological state brought on by “neurophysiological changes variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure” (J. Panksepp, 1982). However, we are interested in another aspect of emotions as a response brought about by objects, similar to “affordance” as first defined by James Gibson and later defined by Donald Norman. “Cool” is a good example of the type of emotion that can be explored in this context. This aspect of emotion is well-known in the Japan Society of Kansei Engineering (JSKE). Japan has had a large research field called Kansei Engineering (KE) for nearly 30 years, with thousands of researchers working in this field.

The central focus of Affective Computing (AC) is, although is not limited to, human emotions per se. On the other hand, KE is more oriented to studying how human reactions that are induced by objects can improve product design. However, they overlap significantly. For example, both try to investigate their target constructs, which are not directly observable, by employing statistics/machine learning techniques with various types of measurements, e.g. behavior, physiological signals and subjective reports. However, there are also some differences in their methodologies. A notable fact is that AC and KE originated in different cultures. This looks natural since emotions are actually affected by culture (Munezero et al. 2014). Kansei, a Japanese term, looks similar to sentiment, a Western term, in the sense that both mean underlying attitude that people hold towards an entity. However, Western culture tends to think about logos and pathos separately, and puts more importance logos than pathos. On the other hand, Asians think about them together and even consider pathos more important. It is therefore meaningful to understand whether these differences influence affective computing studies and how strongly.

We believe it is beneficial for both communities to figure out the commonalities and differences in their methodologies for their mutual development. Therefore, this workshop can make a significant contribution in the AAAC community.

In addition, this workshop focuses on “kawaii” as a typical example of Kansei. Some researchers have been targeting the Japanese adjective “kawaii” which has a positive meaning related to cute, lovable, and charming. Although “kawaii” is an adjective for objects and living things, it is not an emotion such as happy and sad, but rather is a feeling evoked when a person watches a baby, hears a sound of musical box, or hugs a stuffed animal. Because it is a reaction, there are various kinds of individual differences for experiencing kawaii based on personality, cultural background, education, and other social environments. In addition, preference or sympathy for Japanese kawaii culture is rapidly spreading around the world, probably because kawaii culture is strongly related to diversity, sympathy, freedom and peace. For example, Sebastian Masuda is an artist of kawaii culture whose work has been exhibited in various places around the world (https://sebastianmasuda.com/). Therefore, “kawaii” is considered one of the important affective values for mental well-being together with physical well-being.

This workshop can provide:

• Tools and materials related to considering emotions as reactions (Building a bridge between AAAC and JSKE)

• Positioning of “kawaii” in the present and future

• Promoting emotion research to support both mental and physical well-being

FORMAT OF WORKSHOP

• Keynote speech by Prof. Hiroshi NITTONO from Osaka University (hybrid)

• Oral presentations (See SUBMISSION) (hybrid)

• Activity to find the most affectively valuable artifact around where you are (real: If you are near the conference venue, let's walk together.)

• Discussion about the various aspects of “the most affectively valuable” (hybrid)

• Closing remarks (hybrid)

SUBMISSION

We invite submissions of research papers from authors with diverse backgrounds. Submissions can be on completed work, work-in-progress, and position papers. Authors are asked to submit papers up to 6 pages (including references) following the IEEE specification: LaTeX/Word Templates. Submissions are closed (handled via the conference submission system by selecting "ACII 2022 workshop on Culture-originated Affect". All submissions will be reviewed single-blind).

IMPORTANT DATES

• 24th May 2022: Workshop announcement

• (Closed) 24th <-- 21st <- -14th July 2022: Submission Deadline (Extended)

• (Finished) 31st <-- 25th July 2022: Notification (Extended)

• 15th Aug. 2022: Camera Ready Deadline (Firm)

• 18th <-- 17th Oct. 2022: Workshop

ORGANIZERS AND COMMITTEE

• Michiko OHKURA, Shibaura Institute of Technology (contact: ohkura@sic.shibaura-it.ac.jp)

• Dave BERQUE, DePauw University

• Hiroko CHIBA, DePauw University

• Masaaki KUROSU, The Open University of Japan

• Ayako HASHIZUME, Hosei University

• Tipporn LAOHAKANGVALVIT, Shibaura Institute of Technology

• Erik CAMPANO, Umeå University