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text-decoration: none;"><b>Special Issue on Conversational Agents
for Healthcare and Well-being </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
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text-decoration: none;"><a href="https://dl.acm.org/journal/tiis/calls-for-papers" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">https://dl.acm.org/journal/tiis/calls-for-papers</a></p>
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text-decoration: none;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
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text-decoration: none;"><b>Guest Editors</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
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-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">A. Baki Kocaballi, University of
Technology Sydney, Australia,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:baki.kocaballi@uts.edu.au" style="color: blue;
text-decoration: underline;">baki.kocaballi@uts.edu.au</a> </p>
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font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
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white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Liliana Laranjo, University of Sydney,
Australia </p>
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color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
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-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Leigh Clark, Swansea University, Wales </p>
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font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
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auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">RafaĆ Kocielnik, Washington University,
USA </p>
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font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Robert J. Moore, IBM Research, USA </p>
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font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Q. Vera Liao, IBM Research AI, USA </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Timothy Bickmore, Northeastern University,
USA </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Conversational agents (CAs) are systems
that engage human users in one-to-one conversation through a
natural language interface. Such systems may differ in terms of
their conversational capabilities, ranging from simple question-
answering to multi-turn dialogues, as well as in their interaction
modalities, ranging from text- or voice-only to multimodal
interaction. Technical advances in speech recognition, natural
language processing, and machine learning have led to increasing
adoption and use of CAs. While CAs are widely used in many
applications, such as education and workplace productivity, one of
their important applications is healthcare. In various healthcare
settings, CAs play important roles, including assisting clinicians
during consultations, supporting consumers in changing health
behaviors, and assisting patients such as elderly individuals in
their living environments. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
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-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Despite the increasing adoption and the
benefits of using CAs to support healthcare and well-being, recent
research has shown that: i) patient safety was rarely evaluated,
ii) healthcare outcomes were poorly measured, and iii) no
standardized evaluation methods were employed. In addition to
addressing these challenges, this special issue will feature
innovative conversational agents that aim at improving healthcare
services and outcomes. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
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-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"><b>Scope</b> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">This special issue invites submissions
that feature original research on designing, developing and
evaluating CAs for healthcare and well-being. These CAs aim at
improving healthcare outcomes and services, and satisfy unique
application needs (e.g., safety, trust, and user experience). A
suitable submission must also demonstrate its relevance to TiiS,
the premier journal featuring interactive intelligent systems with
two distinct characteristics: intelligence and interactivity. In
particular, a suitable submission must exhibit or discuss how the
resulting approaches, techniques, or systems advance an
interactive intelligent system. Interdisciplinary and applied
research is especially encouraged. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
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-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Specific areas of interest include, but
are not limited to: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">- Studies on CAs for healthcare and
well-being in clinical and/or community settings, supporting
patient empowerment, safety, or autonomy through CAs </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">- Innovative methods, technologies, and
systems addressing risk, bias, privacy and trust issues associated
with the design and use of healthcare CAs </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">- Innovative artificial intelligence (AI)
and machine learning (ML) technologies and methods in areas such
as dialog management, speech summarization or error recovery for
healthcare CAs </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">- Novel applications of user experience
(UX) design and evaluation methods for healthcare CAs </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"><b>Important Dates</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Full paper submission deadline: January
15th, 2021 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">First author notification: March 15th,
2021 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Revised paper due: April 30th, 2021 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Final author notification: June 15th,
2021 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Expected publication: Fall 2021 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">Refer to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://tiis.acm.org/authors.cfm" style="color: blue;
text-decoration: underline;">http://tiis.acm.org/authors.cfm</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>for author information and
submission details. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; font-size: 11pt;
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-caps:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans:
auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
text-decoration: none;">For questions and further information,
please contact<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:baki.kocaballi@uts.edu.au" style="color: blue;
text-decoration: underline;">baki.kocaballi@uts.edu.au</a></p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Leigh Clark
Lecturer in Computer Science
Computational Foundry, Swansea University, United Kingdom
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lmhclark.com">https://lmhclark.com</a></pre>
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