[Ltg] HAIL Seminar *Reminder* (12th August): Dr Nicolas Szilas, University of Geneva, Switzerland

[Andrew Lampert]

                      H.A.I.L. Seminar series
                          CSIRO ICT Centre
                   http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/


Title:          Authoring Interactive Drama

Speaker:        Dr Nicolas Szilas
                TECFA Lab - FPSA
                University of Geneva
                Switzerland

Date:           Tuesday 12th August 2008 at 11am

Location:       CSIRO ICT Centre,
                Building E6B, Macquarie University.

                See <http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/location.htm> for details.

Video:          We usually stream live video of seminars.

                At the seminar time (see above), point your browser at:
                  <http://webcast.nsw.csiro.au/httpfs/ICT/HailSeminar/live.asx>


Abstract

Interactive Drama is often considered as the Graal of the new media. It aims at creating a new dramatic art/entertainment form where the user acts as a main character in a story. S/he is able to perform a large range of actions in the story, interact with other characters in order to influence the story. In this talk, we will review the various existing approaches to reach that challenging goal. A prototype developed by the author will be demonstrated.

We will discuss authoring, a specific issue emerging in the field. Very few works in Interactive Drama have been produced so far, because prototypes are technically quite difficult to handle by authors. What is the point of developing sophisticated technology if it cannot be used by the creative authors? Is it just a temporary problem of a lack authoring tools, or shouldn't we design our systems differently, by thinking in authoring terms first?  Finally, this specific debate around Interactive Drama might also be relevant in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in general. The future of AI might be neither designer-centred nor user-centred but author-centred.


Short resume

Nicolas Szilas has been working in the field of Cognitive Science for fifteen years till now. From research to industry, and from industry to research, he has been aiming at being at the heart of innovation, in the various domains he works in.

After the completion of his Ph.D in 1995, and two postdoctoral positions in Montreal, he entered a video game studio in 1997, in order to manage the newly created R&D program on AI for video games. Between 1999 and 2001, he was Chief Scientist at the Innovation Department of Unilog, a European software integration company. He developed new ideas and business in the field of search engines, web personalisation, linguistics based applications and ergonomics.

In parallel, he conducted his own research program on Interactive Drama called IDtension. Since 2003, he has been working on his project in French, Australian and Swiss Universities. He is now associate professor at TECFA, University of Geneva, working at the intersection of games, narrative, learning and technology.


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The HAIL Seminars' URL:
http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/

Contacts:       Andrew Lampert
Address:        CSIRO HAIL Seminars,
                c/o Andrew Lampert,
                Locked Bag 17,
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Phone:  (02) 9325 3100
Email:  Andrew.Lampert at csiro.au


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