Expressive/Sensitive

Abstract

Our interactions form an intricate 'dance' - a dance requiring a fluent integration of both expressivity (e.g. to approach someone) and sensitivity (e.g. detect if you 'should' approach someone). Work on behaving artefacts has focused mostly on the social, emotional and aesthetic qualities that can be evoked - expressed - through interactions involving such artefacts. Meanwhile, novel methods from social signal processing and affective computing are beginning to imbue artefacts with a reflective awareness - a sensitivity - to the emergent social aspects of the interaction. Can we empower the expressivity of behaving artefacts by integrating it with such sensitivity? With this workshop we aim to bring together a range of perspectives, on the performative and technological opportunities for such artefacts, as well as on their potential (adverse) social and societal implications; to jointly establish what will be necessary to achieve Expressive\Sensitive artefacts that positively enrich and participate in the 'dance' of social interaction.