ITIS: Integrating Technologies for Interactive Stories 

* Call for Participation *

7th January 2008 - Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Interactive Story has the potential to revolutionise entertainment. As a research area, however, it is becoming increasingly disparate; although groundbreaking work is being done, there has thus far been only minimal consideration of integration. To effectively further the field, the exchange of ideas and the consideration of their integration have become necessary. Without such an effort, there may be no way to create a single interactive story system of sufficiently high quality. The ITIS workshop aims to encourage the integration of techniques for interactive stories and further collaboration between research groups. It will bring together researchers from different aspects of interactive stories, and should aid in ultimately leading to interactive story systems which are more complete and entertaining.

A small number of peer-reviewed papers will be presented at the workshop. The workshop will also include discussion sessions designed to encourage researchers to exchange ideas and consider integrating their various methodologies into a single idealised system ( the nature of such a system will also be discussed). The workshop's collaborative nature will also aid in the reduction of repeated work between research groups, helping researchers to recognise how their research fits into the bigger picture rather than viewing it as an isolated component of a far-distant whole.

The following is an overview of the two discussion sessions which will take place as part of ITIS; more details can be found at www.itistory.org.

* Discussion session 1 *

Participants from each particular aspect of interactive story will meet in small groups to discuss the current state-of-the-art in that aspect, considering how the discussed techniques might be applied to a "James Bond"-themed story. Researchers from all aspects will then form mixed groups to discuss ways of combining methods from each aspect. Consideration will also be given to well known existing systems of those unable to be present at the workshop. This discussion session should lead to a greater understanding of similar work and encourage future collaborations.

* Discussion session 2 *

Participants will discuss what exactly is meant by "the ideal interactive story system" and also the need for a common vocabulary in interactive story. By drawing participants from the many sub-areas of interactive story, we hope to effectively distribute this common vocabulary across the field and promote it as a new standard. There will then be a consideration of major steps to cover and obstacles to overcome, toward yielding a greater understanding of what work should be done next in the creation of a truly interactive story.

We would like to invite everyone who is either interested in or actively researching any aspect of interactive story to attend this workshop. The more participants that attend, the better that ITIS will be able to represent the diversity and interest of interactive story. Please visit www.itistory.org for information concerning registration; ITIS will take place immediately prior to INTETAIN (www.intetain.org), and attendees of both INTETAIN and ITIS may register at a discounted rate.

* Organising Committee *

Heather Barber, University of York, UK
Christina Strong , University of California Santa Cruz, California, USA
David Thue, University of Alberta, Canada