SEARIS provides a forum for researchers and practitioners working on the design, development, and support of realtime interactive systems (RIS). These systems span from Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) environments to novel Human-Computer Interaction systems (such as multimodal or multitouch architectures) and entertainment applications in general. Their common principle is a strong user centric orientation which requires real-time processing of simulation aspects as well as input/output events according to perceptual constraints. Therefore, we encourage researchers and developers of real-time human computer interaction systems of all flavors to share their experiences and learn from each other during this workshop. The upcoming workshop will again feature Personally Inspiring Publications as an interesting new form of contribution, see next section for details. SEARIS wants to account the state-of-the-art in software design and software engineering for realtime interactive systems, to shape a common understanding, to compare systems and approaches and derive common paradigms, to develop useful and necessary methods and techniques, and to foster new ideas. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Architectures: data-flow-oriented, object-oriented, component-based, scene graph(s), etc.
• Abstraction mechanisms: entity centered design, world descriptions, semantic modeling
• Reusability/Extensibility: plugins, components, modules, extension points, etc.
• RIS Programming: class libraries, scripting & core implementation languages, declarativity
• System Issues: operating systems, portability, networking, distribution, etc.
• Adaptivity: support of configurability, personalization, adaptation
• Behavior: support and integration of behavioral components (physics, AI, etc.)
• Implementation and Testing of Realtime Interactive Systems
• Performance: consideration of evaluation strategies, latency, synchronization, etc.

There is a growing interest in interaction research of volumes for immersive virtual environments and immersive visualizations. Traditional interaction modalities may not be sufficient to select and manipulate multiple objects or data points or have the potential to interfere with users’ sense of immersion or workflow. Additionally, there is a strong interest in scaling interfaces from the desktop display to higher immersive display systems, therefore cost, availability, and familiarity all play a role in designing interaction. Solutions tend to be focused on separately in these communities, however we propose a common forum to openly discuss these issues and ideas for solutions. The IEEE VR 2013 Workshop on Immersive Volumetric Interaction is intended to bring together researchers, developers, and users from multiple communities in Virtual Environments, 3D User Interfaces, and Immersive Visualizations to discuss issues and share ideas that relate to the process, interaction modalities, hardware, software, interface constraints, and users’ goals and workflow as they relate to the problem of interacting with volumetric data in immersive visualizations and/or multiple objects defined as a volume in virtual environments. This workshop will provide a forum for presentations and energized discussions to initial new and exciting developments in this area as well as connections for collaborations among multiple research disciplines.

In VR environments, users are surrounded by various kinds of devices such as sensors, displays, actuators, etc. Integration with these devices and analysis of the acquired data can lead to new techniques and technologies that offer users various comfortable computer-supported environments. Ambient information technologies have attempted to allow users to unconsciously access useful information with various kinds of displays according to the users’ situation, which is acquired by the sensors. Following the success of the first event in 2012, the second workshop on Ambient Information Technologies (AMBIT 2013) is aimed at bringing together researchers who develop devices (sensors, displays, actuators, etc.) used in VR environments or applications that utilize these cultivated devices and integrate the acquired data with information to be displayed. The workshop will begin with an introduction, then the invited speakers will report their latest findings related to ambient information technologies. The following sessions will address specific areas where we will review the state-of-the-art and discuss current issues and future research directions. We hope that this workshop will give helpful hints for the design, operation and applications of ambient information environments with VR technologies. Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Unconscious, intuitive, non-intrusive interfaces
• Ambient information technologies
• Ambient intelligence
• User interface for ambient environments
• Immersive environments
• Augmented reality
• Context awareness
• Ubiquitous computing/networking for ambient environments
• Computer-supported communication and interaction
• Autonomous, distributed, coordinated environment control
• Real-time environment sensing
• Networking technologies for ambient environments
• Applications of ambient information technologies