NIPS 2004 Call for Workshops

[John Platt <jplatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                       CALL FOR WORKSHOPS --- NIPS 2004
        Neural Information Processing Systems --- Natural and Synthetic
              Friday, December 17 --- Saturday, December 18, 2004
                      Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
                                http://nips.cc
                Deadline for Workshop Proposals: August 1, 2004

Following the regular program of the Neural Information Processing
Systems 2004 Conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada, workshops on various
current topics in Neural Information Processing will be held on December
17 and 18, 2004, in Whistler, BC, Canada. We invite researchers
interested in chairing one of these workshops to submit proposals for
possible workshops. The goal of the workshops is to provide an informal
forum for researchers to discuss important research questions and
challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, and comparisons of
competing approaches are encouraged and preferred as workshop topics.
Representation of alternative viewpoints and panel-style discussions are
also particularly encouraged. Workshop topics include, but are not
limited to, the following:

Active Learning, Attention, Audition, Bayesian Networks, Bayesian
Statistics, Benchmarking, Bioinformatics, Brain Imaging, Computational
Complexity, Control, Genetic Algorithms, Graphical Models, Hippocampus
and Memory, Human-Computer Interfaces, Hybrid Supervised/Unsupervised
Learning, Implementations, Independent Component Analysis, Kernel
Methods, Mean-Field Methods, Music, Network Dynamics, Neural Coding,
Neural Plasticity, On-Line Learning, Optimization, Recurrent Nets,
Robotics, Rule Extraction, Self-Organization, Sensory Biophysics, Signal
Processing, Spike Timing, Speech, Time Series, Topological Maps, and
Vision.

Detailed descriptions of previous workshops may be found at:
http://nips.cc under Previous Conferences.

There will be six hours of workshop meetings per day, split into morning
and afternoon sessions, with free time between the sessions for ongoing
individual exchange or outdoor activities. Selected workshops may be
invited to submit proceedings for publication in the post-NIPS workshops
monographs series published by the MIT Press.

Workshop organizers have several responsibilities including:
* Coordinating workshop participation and content, which includes
arranging short informal presentations by experts, arranging for expert
commentators to sit on a discussion panel, formulating a set of
discussion topics, etc.
* Moderating the discussion, and reporting its findings and conclusions
to the group during the evening plenary sessions.
* Writing a brief summary and/or coordinating submitted material for
post-conference electronic dissemination.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:
Interested parties must submit a proposal for a workshop via email by
August 1,2004. Proposals should include a title, description of what the
workshop is to address and accomplish, proposed workshop length (1 or 2
days), planned format (e.g., lectures, group discussions, panel
discussion, combinations of the above, etc.), and proposed speakers.
Names of potential invitees should be given where possible. Preference
will be given to workshops that reserve a significant portion of time
for open discussion or panel discussion, as opposed to a pure
"mini-conference" format. An example format is:
* Tutorial lecture providing background and introducing terminology
relevant to the topic.
* Discussion or panel presentation.
* Short talks or panels alternating with discussion and question/answer
sessions.
* General discussion and wrap-up.

We suggest that organizers allocate at least 50 percent of the workshop
schedule to questions, discussion, and breaks. Past experience suggests
that workshops otherwise degrade into mini-conferences as talks begin to
run over. For the same reason, we strongly recommend that each workshop
include no more than 12 talks per day.

The proposal should state why the topic is of interest, why it should be
discussed, and who the targeted group of participants is. It should also
include a brief resume of the prospective workshop chair with a list of
publications to establish scholarship in the field. We encourage
workshops that build, continue, or arise from one or more workshops from
previous years. Please mention any such connections.

NIPS does not provide travel funding for workshop speakers. In the past,
some workshops have sought and received funding from external sources to
bring in outside speakers. In addition, the organizers of each accepted
workshop can name up to four people (six people for 2-day workshops) to
receive discounted registration for the workshop program.

Submissions should include the name, address, email address, phone and
fax numbers for all organizers. If there is more than one organizer,
please designate one organizer as the primary contact.

Proposals should be emailed as plain text to nips-prp@umich.edu (please
do not use attachments, Word, postscript, html, or PDF files)

NIPS 2004 WORKSHOP CO-CHAIRS:
* Satinder Singh, University of Michigan
* Daniel D. Lee, University of Pennsylvania

Questions may be emailed to nips-adm@umich.edu

              DEADLINE FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS: AUGUST 1, 2004
              REMINDER: Deadline for Papers --- June 4, 2004