Call for Demos

Important Information:

• Submission deadline: March 27, 2023 Extended to April 7, 2023 (AoE)
• Decision Notification: April 24, 2023
• Camera Ready Submission: May 21, 2023
• Online submission: PCS
• Selection: Curated.

Demos at IMX 2023

Interaction with technologies and contributions in the field of Interactive Media Experiences (IMX) is often more meaningful and valuable than reading an article, or attending a presentation. By showcasing your work in live demos, a wide community of researchers, academics and industry agents will be able to directly interact with your contributions!

The demos, as part of the conference, will be part of the adjunct proceedings, but will also have a dedicated large area in the conference venue where you can present your work and interact with the participants of the conference to receive useful feedback and to network. Some additional rooms, with specific equipment, will also be available:

• A 50 sq.m cine room with a large screen (24 HD screens), Audio 7.1.
• A 50 sq.m XR room with 180° projection on the walls (5m height), audio stereo.
• Several closed 45 sq.m rooms (for large setup demos).

Demos are, indeed, a great chance to start a discussion about the latest developments, challenges and opportunities in the IMX ecosystem.

ACM IMX demos are the perfect way to introduce, to the community, your work on media applications, prototypes, and proof-of-concepts of technologies like emerging media, interactive TV experiences, VR/AR/MR experiences.

The following topics are of interest to the IMX community, nevertheless, IMX is an inclusive, growing, interdisciplinary community, so if you aren’t sure whether the specifics of your research are in scope then (a) they probably are, and (b) please email demo@imx2023.com and the chairs will do their best to advise you.

Audience understanding

This topic focuses on advances in audience engagement with media content as a rapidly evolving activity across diverse platforms, devices, and timeframes. It welcomes contributions that seek to understand audiences using a rich variety of analytic approaches including sensing audiences, sentiment analysis, and measuring and monitoring quality of experience. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, consumption trends and behaviors in young audiences, sharing practices and communication strategies, identifying engagement patterns across diverse genres, platforms and demographics, scheduled versus on-demand content consumption, binge viewing, and multi-platform engagement.

Immersive and interactive content and experiences

This topic is suitable for papers where the primary contribution is the introduction of novel ways of experiencing interactive media content. This includes new forms of media content (e.g. VR, AR, MR, XR, 360°, live-streaming etc.) consumed in diverse ways including across multiple screens, platforms, and in immersive theatres. Application areas include entertainment and information including interactive and generative documentaries, transmedia storytelling, volumetric filmmaking, live performance broadcasts and object-based media productions. Papers in other application areas, such as education, healthcare, wellbeing and governance and decision-making, are also welcome.

Technologies, systems, and interfaces

This topic focuses on technologies, systems, and interfaces that improve and advance our interactions with media content online, at home, or on the move. It encourages submissions describing technical advancements in streaming systems, content synchronisation for multi-platform delivery, and recommendation and companion apps. Additional areas for consideration include games engines for content delivery, location-based and context-aware applications and services and object-based media.

Production tools and workflows

This topic solicits papers describing procedural advances in the preparation, design, and development of media experiences. Areas of interest include new production processes for TV, online video, VR, AR, XR, and 360° formats. Novel tools and workflows using motion capture, volumetric capture and animation are encouraged, as are the presentations of innovative authoring and data-driven tools for interactive or multi-platform content development. In addition to papers describing technical innovations, this topic area is also interested in innovations originating from design and humanities perspectives detailing the authoring process for writing interactive content and the human-centered design methods used to realize these narratives. 

AI and machine learning

This topic focuses on the use of machine learning and/or artificial intelligence techniques to capture, generate, or understand social media experiences and includes areas such as verification and verification scamming, information diffusion, monitoring media bias, misinformation and fake news, predictability of real-world events, and crowd-sourcing and collective intelligence in rich media systems.

Business models and marketing

This topic focuses on the new business, marketing, purchasing, subscription, and monetising strategies encountered in the new media landscape of TV and online video. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, targeted advertisements, freemium products, programmatic media buying, in-programme recommendations and purchases, exploiting consumption data, monetising second screen experiences, and social media influencer strategies.

Cultural and social studies

The impact of the new interactive media and TV landscape on culture and society is powerful and raises many important and challenging topics for consideration. This area welcomes papers from a wide variety of theoretical and analytical perspectives examining structured reality TV, social media manipulation and targeting, media convergence and platform monopolies, intellectual property, remix culture, fan culture, media activism and participation politics, or tactical media practices. In addition, research concerning media violence, social media addiction, or issues of bias and ethics would also be appropriate for this topic.

Interactive Art

This topic focuses on findings about artistic expression through interactive content. It includes ways of inducing viewers to become more immersed in the work through interaction, or creating a new message through the process of interacting with the viewer and the work. This category is also receptive to new experiments and broadened interpretations of interactive art.

Virtual Communication

This topic covers studies to improve the social interaction lacking in virtual communication. It includes research to re-implement the natural relationships formed when networking in real spaces in a virtual communication environment through software or hardware systems.

Disruptive concepts and video-centric art

This topic focuses on disruptive media practises that seek to challenge traditional media consumption patterns and expand spectator experiences. Authors are invited to describe the design, development of (and response to) constructed video-centric work, or speculate about future-oriented media provocations. 

Instructions

Demo submissions take the form of 4-page papers (not including references) written in the New SIGCHI Proceedings Format. All submissions should follow the ACM guidelines. There is a single column submission paper format.

• • Please ensure that you use the right templates available from the ACM; a single column format must be used for the reviewing phase. Word authors should use the single column Word Submission Format. In the LaTeX format, use \documentclass[manuscript,review]{acmart}. Use of different templates or formats may result in a desk reject.

This must describe the research and what will be shown during the demonstration; all submissions will be peer-reviewed and selection will be based on the novelty of the research and interestingness of the demonstration. Since the conference is going virtual/online, please let us know how you might be able to demonstrate your idea in a form best suited to an online format.

Demo submissions do not need to be anonymised. Please ensure that your submission answers the following questions:

• • What is the scientific or engineering concept behind the work?

• • What is the novelty of the work and how is the work different from existing systems or techniques?

• • What will be actually shown during the demo?

For the past couple of years we have encouraged authors to provide a video alongside their paper submission. This has proven invaluable – the video not only helps to support the submission, but will also be included in the digital version of the adjunct proceedings, and thus act as a lasting record of what was shown at the conference. The following video demonstrates what a submission video could look like, and gives some practical information on how to create one: instruction video on Vimeo.

After acceptance, the details of the technical requirements of the demo should be provided to the demo chairs at demo@imx2023.com.

If you require any support in the preparation of your contribution due to accessibility reasons, please get in touch with our Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility Chairs at diversity@imx2023.com.

Submission Materials

1. 1.  The form of 4-page papers (not including references) written in the New SIGCHI Proceedings Format. It should standalone as a piece of written work and must coherently describe your demo.

1. 1. At least one “representative image” : 1500 x 1200 (at least 300 dpi at 5 inches wide, with depth proportional) or the highest possible screen grab. Images must be submitted in a 24-bit (RGB, 8-bits per channel) uncompressed, highest-detail JPEG format file possible. 

1. 1. A Two-minute demo of captured video : This video can include multiple non-continuous edits (like a trailer), but do not use any post-production tools to enhance the images or speed. Files must be QuickTime, MP4, Windows Media, or AVI files no larger than 250 MB. All videos must be uploaded to the PCS submission system. No discs or drives will be accepted.

Review Process

Your submissions will be reviewed by chairs based on impact, and the quality of work. The review process will strive to recognize the potential of the submitted work for its future scientific, societal, economical or industrial impact.

At the Conference

Once accepted, demonstrators will be provided with a table, poster board, power outlet and wireless (shared) Internet. Demo presenters are expected to bring with themselves everything else needed for their demo, such as hardware, laptops, sensors, PCs, etc. However if you have special requests such as a larger space, special lighting conditions, large displays and so on, we will do our best to arrange them, or to provide you with suitable rental services for free.

The Hall 6 West, interdisciplinary university centre dedicated to digital cultures: the university at the heart of the Creation District. This place of experimentation for “the university of tomorrow” proposes a new pedagogy based on digital technology and aims to boost creative ideas in Nantes. It is composed of several spaces, including the Experience Lab, the Manufacturing Lab, and the Digital Learning Lab, further described below.

The Experience Lab (XP-LAB) is a userlab dedicated to the evaluation of experience and the study of the behaviour of users of products, services, or even spaces. It combines research concerns of academic partners (research laboratories, etc), with the needs of public or private organisations wishing to understand, evaluate, and anticipate the behaviour of their customers or users.

Equipment includes eye-tracking devices, instruments for measuring physiological indicators and body motion, as well as AR and VR headsets.

Spaces include…

• XP-Lab XS: three controlled-environment experimentation boxes.
• XP-Lab M: one experimentation room (meeting room type).
• XP-Lab L: one reception area.
• XP-Lab XL: one large double-height experimentation room (5m high), 180 and 360 degree screens, 4.1 and 7.1 sound.

As part of the Experience Lab, one can also find the Cube, which is a fifty square metre room with spatialised sound, as well as with a whole stretch of wall composed of 24 high resolution screens. It can be used for many experiments and experiences related to digital immersion, like artistic exhibitions or virtual reality testing.

The Manufacturing Lab (M-Lab) is a prototyping space, a kind of “fablab” at an industrial level, with software and industrial machines. It facilitates the transition from an idea to the materialisation or industrialisation of objects, products, and systems thanks to a complete industrial design and manufacturing chain. The M-Lab is open to companies, local authorities, research partners, clusters, universities, schools… and all those who want to contribute to the world of tomorrow!

Equipment includes cutting machines, 3D printers, robots, cobots, and exoskeletons.

The Digital Learning Lab (D-Lab) is a place equipped to design digital training courses, and to produce content or any other educational media.

The D-Lab responds to the need for innovation and experimentation in continuing education, by enabling them to adopt new practices, as well as by creating courses and digital content. Beyond training through digital technology, the D-Lab is a support for tailor-made solutions to accompany companies and local authorities in their digital transition.

Equipment includes virtual classrooms, video editing bench, virtual reality kit…

After the Conference

Accepted IMX demo submissions will be published in the conference proceedings, indexed by the ACM Digital Library.

Contacts

For further details on scope, submission route or any other issues, please get in touch with the Demo Chairs at: demo@imx2023.com
We look forward to reviewing your submission. Good Luck!
Philippe Guillotel, InterDigital, France
Rahul Kumar, Amazon, USA