Computer and communication technologies are progressing at a breakneck speed. These technologies have to be harnessed to serve human needs. Technology should serve human, not human technology. In an ideal human-centered system, technology should be invisible, so that the human can concentrate on the task at hand. The worst scenario is a system where the human is totally distracted by the technology and forgets his/her task. During Feb. 17-19, 1997, an NSF-sponsored Workshop on Human-Centered Systems: Information, Interactivity, and Intelligence, was held in Arlington, VA, where a broad array of issues related to Human-Center Systems were discussed. Information about the Workshop can be obtained at:
http://www.ifp.uiuc.edu/nsfhcs/
The present Panel has a more narrowly focused goal. We are concentrating on Human-Centered Systems where images and video play a key role. Examples include: Multimedia databases, human-computer interface in virtual environments, teleconferencing and telecollaboration, virtual agents, and sensory aids for the handicapped. The Panel shall discuss and ascertain challenging research directions toward making image/video information systems more human centered.
Panel Members:
T. S. Huang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Chair)
R. Picard, MIT
R. Chellappa, University of Maryland
N. Jayant, Lucent Technologies Bell Labs
G. Strong, NSF
Format of Panel:
Each Panelists will make a very short (7 minutes) informal presentation. These presentations will then be followed by a 30-minute general discussion to which all attendees are encouraged to participate.Titles of Informal Presentations by Panelists:
Gary Strong, Human Centered Systems in the Context of National Research Programs
Tom Huang, Content and Similarity Based Image/Video Retrieval
Nikil Jayant, Human Centered Systems: The Role of Image Processing and Understanding
Roz Picard, Personal and Affective Image Processing
Rama Chellappa, Human-Centered Exploitation of Multi-Sensor Data