call for papers, previous message

From:     skalsky@btr.btr.com (Rick Skalsky UUCPR ed aaai.org skalsky@btr.com)
Subject:  AAAI 1995 Spring & Fall Symposium Call for Proposals
Date:     13 May 1994 17:52:50 GMT



1995 Spring Symposium Series and 1995 Fall Symposium Series
Call for Proposals

AAAI invites proposals for the 1995 Spring Symposium Series, to be held 
at Stanford University, California, March 27-29, 1995,
and for the 1995 Fall Symposium Series, November, 1995 (location
to be announced)

The Spring and Fall Symposium Series are a yearly set of two and one-half day
long symposia run in parallel at a common site.  They are designed to
bring colleagues together in an intimate forum while at the same time
providing a significant gathering point for the AI community.  
Approximately eight symposia on a broad range of topics within and
around AI will be selected for the 1995 Spring Symposium Series, and
approximately five symposia will be selected for the 1995 Fall Symposium
Series.

The symposia are intended to encourage presentation of speculative
work and work in progress, as well as completed work.  Ample time
should be scheduled for discussion.  Novel programming, including the
use of target problems, open-format panels, working groups, or
breakout sessions, is encouraged.  Working notes will be prepared, and
distributed to the participants.  At the discretion of the individual
symposium chairs, these working notes may also be made available as
AAAI Technical Reports following the meeting.  Most participants of
the symposia will be selected on the basis of statements of interest
or abstracts submitted to the symposia chairs; some open registration
will be allowed.  All symposia are limited in size, and participants
will be expected to attend a single symposium.

Proposals for symposia should be between two and five pages in length, 
and should contain: 
  - A title for the symposium
  - A description of the symposium, identifying specific areas of interest
  - Evidence that the symposium is of interest at this time--such as a 
    completed, successful one-day workshop on a related topic
  - The names and (physical and electronic) addresses of the
    organizing committee, preferably three or four people at different
    sites, all of whom have agreed to serve on the committee
  - A list of several potential participants.
Ideally, the entire organizing committee should collaborate in producing 
the proposal. If possible, a draft proposal should be sent out to a few of the 
potential participants and their comments solicited.

All proposals will be reviewed by the AAAI Symposium Committee (Chair:
Lynn Andrea Stein, MIT; Associate Chairs: Bonnie Dorr, University of
Maryland; Ben Kuipers, University of Texas at Austin).  The criteria
for acceptance of proposals include:
  - An appropriate level of perceived interest in the topic of the symposium 
among AAAI members. 
  - No long-term ongoing series of activities in the particular topic. (The 
Spring Symposium Series serves more to nurture interest in particular 
topics than to maintain it over a number of years.) The existence of 
activities in related and more-general topics will help to indicate the level 
of interest in the particular topic. 
  - An appropriate organizing committee.

Accepted proposals will be distributed as widely as possible over
the subfields of AI, and balanced between theoretical and applied
topics.  Symposia bridging theory and practice and those combining AI
and related fields are particularly solicited.

Symposium proposals should be submitted as soon as possible, but no 
later than July 1, 1994. Proposals that are submitted significantly before 
this deadline can be in draft form.  Comments on how to improve and 
complete the proposal will be returned to the submitter in time for 
revisions to be made before the deadline.  Notifications of acceptance or 
rejection will be sent to submitters around July 8, 1994. The submitters 
of accepted proposals will become the chair of the symposium, unless 
alternative arrangements are made.

The symposium organizing committees will be responsible for:
  - Producing, in conjunction with the general chair, a Call for Participation 
    for the symposium, which will be distributed to the AAAI membership
  - Additional publicity of the symposium, especially to potential
    audiences from outside the AAAI community
  - Reviewing requests to participate in the symposium and 
    determining symposium participants
  - Preparing working notes for the symposium
  - Scheduling the activities of the symposium
  - Preparing a short review of the symposium, to be printed in the AI 
    Magazine. 

AAAI will provide logistical support, will take care of all local 
arrangements, and will arrange for reproducing and distributing the 
working notes.

Please submit (preferably by electronic mail) your symposium proposals, 
and inquiries concerning symposia, to the chair: 

Lynn Andrea Stein 
(las@ai.mit.edu)
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
545 Technology Square #811
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA