On October 2nd, the NefCA Human-Machine Communication Working Group hosted a special satellite workshop Emotions in Human-Machine Communication event at Tilburg University. The goal of the event was to discuss the role of emotion in human-machine communication, both in terms of the Big Picture, but also how it is represented and measured and what its role is in social human-machine interaction. The workshop occurred before the official Emotions conference (also at Tilburg University), which was held on October 4th.
The Emotions in Human-Machine Communication workshop was an afternoon event, from 13:00 – 17:00 (and concluded with drinks). During the event, two keynote speakers (prof. dr. Elly Konijn and Marieke Wieringa) shared their views on emotions in human-machine communication. Furthermore, we held a poster session and a discussion round. Registration was free and scholars in the field were invited to present their work during the poster session, for which we received 14 submissions.
The program was as follows: the workshop started at 13:00h with coffee at the Dante building at Tilburg University. At 13:30h the workshop officially started with an introduction and opening presentation by Tibor Bosse, one of the organizers of the workshop. At 13:45h the first keynote was held, by Prof. dr. Elly Konijn, who talked about her experiences with emotions in human-machine communication, with a specific focus on the role of empathy. Next, at 14:45 the poster session started, where everyone was invited to hang up their posters and walk around the room to look at other people’s posters and research. A nice discussion followed, combined with coffee and snacks. At 15:45 the second keynote speaker, Marieke Wieringa, talked about how we respond to robots who simulate emotion when they are being harmed. The workshop closed at 16:45 with drinks, where people had the opportunity to talk to one another, network, ask questions and continue the (important) discussion on the role of emotions in human-machine communication. All in all, it was a very successful workshop. As a working group, we are looking forward to organizing more events like this workshop in the future.
