NIPS 2004 Call for Demonstrations

[John Platt <jplatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                          CALL FOR DEMONSTRATIONS
      Neural Information Processing Systems --- Natural and Synthetic
            Monday, December 13 --- Saturday, December 18, 2004
                    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
                              http://nips.cc

           DEADLINE FOR DEMONSTRATION PROPOSALS: August 1, 2004

Based on their success in 2002 and 2003, the Neural Information
Processing
Systems Conference will again include a separate track for
Demonstrations. The Demonstrations will take place in parallel with the
NIPS poster sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings (December 14 and
15).

The key requirements for Demonstrations is that they be LIVE and
INTERACTIVE and that they present a compelling view of an emerging
technology. Past Demonstrations have covered a very wide range. Areas of
interest for the Demonstrations track have previously included the
following: analog and digital VLSI, neuromorphic engineering,
computational
sensors and actuators, robotics, bioMEMS (microelectromechanical
systems),
biomedical instrumentation, neural prostheses, photonics, real-time
multimedia systems, large-scale neural emulators, software
Demonstrations
of novel algorithms, and open-source software toolboxes.

NIPS is a continually-evolving interdisciplinary Conference, which
attracts
cognitive scientists, computer scientists, engineers, neuroscientists,
physicists, statisticians, and mathematicians interested in all aspects
of
neural and statistical processing and computation. The Demonstration
track
enables researchers to highlight scientific advances, systems, and
technologies in ways that go beyond conventional poster presentations.
It
will provide a unique forum for demonstrating advanced technologies
(hardware and software), and fostering the direct exchange of knowledge.
We
hope that this track will stimulate interactions between researchers
from
different fields or approaches.

Submissions accepted in the Demonstrations track will be published on
the
NIPS web site, but will not appear in printed proceedings. However,
submitting your work to the Demonstration track does not preclude the
submission of a companion paper to the regular NIPS Conference; joint
submissions are very much encouraged. We also encourage authors
submitting
Demonstrations to consider organizing a Workshop at NIPS 2004.

There will be a separate room for these Demonstrations and participants
will have access to power strips, tables and poster boards. Monitors
will
also be provided on request at their rental cost. Participants are
responsible for ensuring that their Demonstration is sufficiently
portable;
additional hardware beyond that specified above might be provided at
cost,
if readily available.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Proposals for Demonstrations will be reviewed
by
the Demonstrations Co-Chairs. Demonstration proposals should be
submitted
via the web form available at http://nips.cc. Demonstrators will be
asked
to enter information about the nature of the Demonstration, in
particular
they will be asked to describe first the user experience and then the
underlying technology. Proposals that are simply papers in disguise will
be
rejected, this session is for live, interactive experiences that
compellingly demonstrate new technology. The Demonstration track is not
an
alternative poster session. Proposers will also be asked about the
present
state of their Demonstration in order that the co-chairs may judge
whether
the Demonstration can actually be made functional. Past experience has
shown that simpler Demonstrations that make one point are usually more
interesting to attendees. Complex Demonstrations involving multiple
technologies and partners have not been as effective.

NIPS 2004 DEMONSTRATIONS CO-CHAIRS: Tobi Delbruck, Institute of
Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich, ETH Zurich; Timmer Horiuchi,
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Institute for Systems
Research and Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of
Maryland.

DEADLINE FOR DEMONSTRATION PROPOSALS: August 1, 2004