Affective computing is a nascent field situated at the intersection of artificial intelligence with social and behavioral science. It studies how human emotions are perceived and expressed, which then informs the design of intelligent agents and systems that can either mimic this behavior to improve their intelligence or incorporate such knowledge to effectively understand and communicate with their human collaborators. Affective computing research has recently seen significant advances and is making a critical transformation from exploratory studies to real-world applications in the emerging research area known as applied affective computing. This book offers readers an overview of the state-of-the-art and emerging themes in affective computing, including a comprehensive review of the existing approaches to affective computing systems and social signal processing. It provides in-depth case studies of applied affective computing in various domains, such as social robotics and mental well-being. It also addresses ethical concerns related to affective computing and how to prevent misuse of the technology in research and applications. Further, this book identifies future directions for the field and summarizes a set of guidelines for developing next-generation affective computing systems that are effective, safe, and human-centered. For researchers and practitioners new to affective computing, this book will serve as an introduction to the field to help them in identifying new research topics or developing novel applications. For more experienced researchers and practitioners, the discussions in this book provide guidance for adopting a human-centered design and development approach to advance affective computing.

The four-volume set LNCS 14011, 14012, 14013, and 14014 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Human Computer Interaction thematic area of the 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2023, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2023. A total of 1578 papers and 396 posters have been accepted for publication in the HCII 2023 proceedings from a total of 7472 submissions. The papers included in the HCI 2023 volume set were organized in topical sections as follows: Part I: Design and evaluation methods, techniques and tools; interaction methods and techniques; Part II: Children computer interaction; emotions in HCI; and understanding the user experience; Part III: Human robot interaction; chatbots and voice-based interaction; interacting in the metaverse; Part IV: Supporting health, quality of life and everyday activities; HCI for learning, culture, creativity and societal impact.