The International Gesture Workshops (GW) are interdisciplinary events for those researching gesture-based communication across the disciplines. The focus of these events is a shared interest in understanding gestures and sign language in their many facets, and using them for advancing human–machine interaction. Since 1996, International Gesture Workshops have been held roughly every second year, with fully reviewed proceedings published by Springer. The International Gesture Workshop GW 2009 was hosted by Bielefeld University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF – Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung) during February 25–27, 2009. Like its predecessors, GW 2009 aimed to provide a platform for participants to share, discuss, and criticize recent and novel research with a multidisciplinary audience. More than 70 computer scientists, linguistics, psychologists, neuroscientists as well as dance and music scientists from 16 countries met to present and exchange their newest results under the umbrella theme “Gesture in Embodied Communication and Human–Computer Interaction. ” Consistent with the steady growth of research activity in this area, a large number of high-quality submissions were received, which made GW 2009 an exciting and important event for anyone interested in gesture-related technological research relevant to human–computer interaction. In line with the practice of previous gesture workshops, presenters were invited to submit theirs papers for publication in a subsequent peer-reviewed publication of high quality. The present book is the outcome of this effort. Representing the research work from eight countries, it contains a selection of 28 thoroughly reviewed articles.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Gesture-Based Human-Computer Interaction and Simulation, GW 2007, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in May 2007. The 31 revised papers presented were carefully selected from 53 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on analysis and synthesis of gesture; theoretical aspects of gestural communication and interaction; vision-based gesture recognition; sign language processing; gesturing with tangible interfaces and in virtual and augmented reality; gesture for music and performing arts; gesture for therapy and rehabilitation; and gesture in Mobile computing and usability studies.

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the 9th International Gesture Workshop, GW 2011, held in Athens, Greece, in May 2011. The 24 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 35 submissions. They are ordered in five sections named: human computer interaction; cognitive processes; notation systems and animation; gestures and signs: linguistic analysis and tools; and gestures and speech.

Language use is fundamentally multimodal. Speakers use their hands to point to locations, to represent content and to comment on ongoing talk; they position their bodies to show their orientation and stance in interaction; they use facial displays to comment on what is being said; and they engage in mutual gaze to establish intersubjectivity. This volume brings together studies by leading scholars from several fields on gaze and facial displays, on the relationship between gestures, sign, and language, on pointing and other conventionalized forms of manual expression, on gestures and language evolution, and on gestures in child development. The papers in this collection honor Adam Kendon whose pioneering work has laid the theoretical and methodological foundations for contemporary studies of multimodality, gestures, and utterance visible action.

The four-volume set LNCS 6946-6949 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2011, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in September 2011. The fourth volume includes 27 regular papers organized in topical sections on usable privacy and security, user experience, user modelling, visualization, and Web interaction, 5 demo papers, 17 doctoral consortium papers, 4 industrial papers, 54 interactive posters, 5 organization overviews, 2 panels, 3 contributions on special interest groups, 11 tutorials, and 16 workshop papers.

Co-speech gestures are ubiquitous: when people speak, they almost always produce gestures. Gestures reflect content in the mind of the speaker, often under the radar and frequently using rich mental images that complement speech. What are gestures doing? Why do we use them? This book is the first to systematically explore the functions of gesture in speaking, thinking, and communicating – focusing on the variety of purposes served for the gesturer as well as for the viewer of gestures. Chapters in this edited volume present a range of diverse perspectives (including neural, cognitive, social, developmental and educational), consider gestural behavior in multiple contexts (conversation, narration, persuasion, intervention, and instruction), and utilize an array of methodological approaches (including both naturalistic and experimental). The book demonstrates that gesture influences how humans develop ideas, express and share those ideas to create community, and engineer innovative solutions to problems.

This volume presents a state-of-the-art of current research on the role of eye gaze in different types of interaction, including human-human and human-computer interaction. Approaching the phenomenon from different disciplinary and methodological angles, the chapters in the volume are united through a shared technological approach, viz. the use of eye-tracking technology for measuring speakers’ and hearers’ eye gaze patterns while engaged in interaction. Envisioned as an ‘innovating reader’, the volume addresses key questions of interdisciplinary relevance (e.g. to what extent can the analysis of fine-grained eye gaze data, obtained with eye-tracking technology, inform conversation analysis, and vice versa?), positioning (e.g. what is the semiotic status of eye gaze in relation to linguistic signaling?), and methodology (e.g. can we strike a balance between experimental control and authenticity in setting up dialogue settings with eye-tracking technology?). The exploration of these and other questions contributes to the demarcation of a burgeoning research program.