Subject: NIPS 2004 Call for Demonstrations From: John Platt <jplatt(at)MICROSOFT.COM> Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 10:42:46 -0700CALL 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