SIGIR '96
Call for Papers
19th International Conference on Research
and Development in Information Retrieval
Held at ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
August 18 - August 22, 1996
Organized by:
UBILAB, Union Bank of Switzerland, Zurich, Switzerland
ETH, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland
In co-operation with:
ACM
AICA-GLIR (Italy)
BCS-IRSG (UK)
CEPIS-EIRSG (Europe)
GI (Germany)
IPSJ (Japan)
OCG (Austria)
SI (Switzerland)
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ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
SIGIR '96 is an international research conference on information retrieval (IR)
theory, systems, and applications. The ACM SIGIR conference occurs annually,
alternating between locations in North America and elsewhere (e.g. Europe).
It attracts a broad range of professionals including theoreticians, developers,
publishers, researchers, educators, and designers of systems, interfaces,
information bases, and related applications.
CALL FOR PAPERS
SIGIR '96 seeks original papers (i.e. never before submitted or published) on
significant contributions to the broad field of information storage and
retrieval covering the handling of all types of information as well as the
underlying theories, models, and implementations.
We encourage discussions of experimental studies, tests of usability,
explorations of information retrieval behavior, reports on largescale system
performance, and demonstrations of advanced approaches. We prefer theoretical
contributions to have sufficient proof of utility, and designs that have been
proven by a prototype. Similarly, reports on smallscale experiments should
include convincing arguments or simulations to show their likelihood of
generalization.
TOPICS
Topics are addressed at the theoretical, experimental and applications level
and include, but are not limited to:
Information Retrieval Theory:
Probabilistic and Logic Retrieval Models, Data Fusion.
User Interaction:
Models, Interfaces, Query (Re-)Formulation, Visualization.
Hypermedia:
Audio, Video, and Image Retrieval, Links, Composite Documents.
Experimentation:
Test Collections, Evaluation Measures.
Natural Language Processing:
Indexing and Retrieval using Linguistic Resources, Multilingual Retrieval.
Systems and Implementation Issues:
Integration with Database Systems, Networked Systems, Compression,
Efficient Query Evaluation.
Applications:
Workflow Management, Electronic Publishing, Digital Libraries.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Submissions to SIGIR '96 can be made in the form of papers, tutorials, panels,
posters, or demonstrations, and should be addressed to the relevant Chairs.
With the exception of papers and posters, submissions may be made via e-mail
(plain ASCII text). All submissions should include complete contact information
including mail address, telephone, fax, and e-mail.
PAPERS
Papers (4 copies) should be submitted in English to the relevant Program
Co-chair. Papers should contain at most 5000 words and should be double-spaced.
The first page must contain the title of the paper and an abstract of not more
than 100 words, but no indication about the author(s) and affiliation(s). In
addition, authors must provide a separate page with the title, the author
name(s), and the author affiliation(s), plus complete contact information
(mailing address, telephone, fax, and e-mail) for the author to whom
correspondence should be sent. Please indicate if the paper is to be
considered for the Best Student Paper Award. This Award requires that the
first and primary author be a fulltime student at time of submission.
TUTORIALS
SIGIR '96 will begin with a full day of tutorials, each of which is intended
to cover a single topic in detail. Proposals are solicited for tutorials of
either a half day (4 hours) or full day in length. Submissions should be made
to the Tutorials and Panels Chair and should include an extended abstract
(3 - 5 pages) and an indication of the tutorial length, objectives, and
intended audience.
PANELS
SIGIR '96 will include a small number of panel sessions. These are intended to
examine issues of interest to the research and development community and to
stimulate lively debate between panelists and audience. Proposals are solicited
from prospective moderators. Submissions to the Tutorials and Panels Chair
should include an extended abstract outlining the proposed topic and a list of
panel members.
DEMONSTRATIONS
Demonstrations provide an opportunity for first-hand, interactive experience
with information retrieval systems. Proposals (up to 3 pages) should be
submitted to the Demonstrations Chair. The proposal should indicate how the
demonstration will illustrate new ideas and describe the technical
specifications of the system. The hardware, software, and network requirements
for the demonstration, including the electrical requirements of the equipment,
should be indicated.
POSTERS
SIGIR '96 will include poster presentations to offer researchers an opportunity
to present late-breaking results, significant work in progress, or research
that is best communicated in presentational format. Abstracts of posters will
appear in the conference proceedings.
Submissions to the Posters Chair should consist of an extended abstract
(3 copies) of approximately 3 - 4 pages emphasizing the research problem and
the methods being used. In addition, a separate cover page is required
containing the title of the poster, the name and affiliation of the author(s)
as well as complete contact information.
WORKSHOPS
Proposals are being solicited from both individuals and groups for one-day
workshops to be held on August 22, 1996. Workshops bring together researchers
to share information and discuss a topic that relates to their particular
field of expertise. Submissions of up to 3 pages should be made to the
Workshops Chair. They should include the theme and goal of the workshop, the
planned activities, the maximum number of participants and the selection
process, plus a list of potential participants. Please include a CV for each
organizer detailing relevant qualifications and experience. After the workshop,
organizers are to provide an article summarizing the workshop for SIGIR Forum.
IMPORTANT DATES
Presently: E-mail sigir96@ubilab.ubs.ch with subject 'subscribe' and an empty
message body to be added to the mailing list.
January 26, 1996: Submission of papers to the relevant Program Co-chair.
March 1, 1996: Submission of proposals for tutorials, panels, demonstrations,
posters, and workshops to the relevant Chair.
April 3, 1996: Author notification.
May 10, 1996: Final manuscript due in camera ready and electronic forms.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Detailed information on the SIGIR '96 conference is available on the World
Wide Web. URL: http://www.ubilab.ubs.ch/sigir96/welcome.html. Questions
should be addressed to sigir96@ubilab.ubs.ch.
General Conference Chair:
Hans-Peter Frei
UBILAB, Union Bank of Switzerland
Bahnhofstr. 45, 8021 Zurich, Switzerland
sigir96@ubilab.ubs.ch
Phone: +41/1-236 5714; Fax: +41/1-236 4671
Local Arrangements Chair:
Gabriele Sonnenberger
UBILAB, Union Bank of Switzerland
P.O. Box 2336, 8033 Zurich, Switzerland
sigir96@ubilab.ubs.ch
Phone: +41/1-234 4457; Fax: +41/1-234 6518
Local Organization:
Simone Barth
UBILAB, Union Bank of Switzerland
P.O. Box 2336, 8033 Zurich, Switzerland
sigir96@ubilab.ubs.ch
Phone: +41/1-236 5714; Fax: +41/1-234 6518
Treasurer:
Peter Schaeuble
Informationssysteme, ETH Zentrum
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
sigir96@ubilab.ubs.ch
Phone: +41/1-632 7222; Fax: +41/1-632 1172
Program Co-chairs:
Europe, Africa:
Peter Schaeuble
Informationssysteme, ETH Zentrum
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
schauble@inf.ethz.ch
Phone: +41/1-632 7222; Fax: +41/1-632 1172
North and South America:
Donna Harman
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Building 225, Room A216, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA
harman@potomac.ncsl.nist.gov
Phone: +1/301-975 3569; Fax: +1/301-840 1357
Asia, Pacific:
Ross Wilkinson
RMIT
723 Swanston Street, Carlton, 3053, Australia
ross@kbs.citri.edu.au
Phone: +61/3-9282 2485; Fax: +61/3-9282 2490
Tutorials and Panels Chair:
Norbert Fuhr
Lehrstuhl Informatik VI, Universitaet Dortmund
44221 Dortmund, Germany
fuhr@ls6.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
Phone: +49/231-755 2045, or 2779; Fax: +49/231-755 2405
Posters Chair:
Elizabeth D. Liddy
4-206 Center for Science and Technology, Syracuse University,
Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
liddy@mailbox.syr.edu
Phone: +1/315-443 4456; Fax: +1/315-443 5806
Demonstrations Chair:
Marc Rittberger
Informationswissenschaft, Universitaet Konstanz
P.O. Box 5560, 78434 Constance, Germany
Marc.Rittberger@uni-konstanz.de
Phone: +49/7531-88 3595; Fax: +49/7531-88 26 01
Workshops Chair:
Robert R. Korfhage
Dept. of Information Science, Univ. of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
korfhage@lis.pitt.edu
Phone: +1/412-624 9420 or: 421 1428; Fax: +1/412-624 2788
Program Committee:
IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, Philips, The Netherlands
Maristella Agosti, U. Padua, Italy
Peter Anick, Digital Equipment Corp., USA
Micheline Beaulieu, City U., UK
Richard K. Belew, UC San Diego, USA
Nicholas Belkin, Rutgers U., USA
Abraham Bookstein, U. Chicago, USA
Giorgio Brajnik, U. Udine, Italy
Peter D. Bruza, QUT, Australia
Chris Buckley, Cornell U., USA
Yves Chiaramella, LGI-IMAG, France
Stavros Christodoulakis, Technical U. of Crete, Greece
W. Bruce Croft, U. Massachusetts, USA
Raya Fidel, U. of Washington, USA
Edward Fox, Virginia Tech, USA
Norbert Fuhr, U. Dortmund, Germany
Richard Furuta, Texas A&M U., USA
Frederic Gey, UC Berkeley, USA
Gregory Grefenstette, Rank Xerox Research Centre, France
David Harper, Robert Gordon U., UK
William Hersh, Oregon Health Sciences U., USA
David Hull, Rank Xerox Research Centre, France
Nancy Ide, Vassar College, USA
Peter Ingwersen, School of Librarianship, Denmark
Tetsuya Ishikawa, ULIS, Japan
Kalervo Jarvelin, U. Tampere, Finland
Paul Kantor, Rutgers U., USA
Haruo Kimoto, NTT, Japan
Shmuel T. Klein, Bar-Ilan U., Israel
Robert Korfhage, U. Pittsburgh, USA
Donald Kraft, Louisiana State U., USA
Dik L. Lee, Hong Kong U., Hong Kong
Joon Ho Lee, KIST, Korea
David Lewis, AT&T, USA
Elizabeth D. Liddy, Syracuse U., USA
Elke Mittendorf, ETH, Switzerland
Alistair Moffat, U. of Melbourne, Australia
Sung Hyun Myaeng, Chungnam National U., Korea
Desai Narasimhalu, National U. of Singapore, Singapore
Yasushi Ogawa, RICOH, Japan
Jan O. Pedersen, Xerox PARC, USA
Annelise Mark Pejtersen, Risoe, Denmark
Keith van Rijsbergen, U. Glasgow, UK
Stephen Robertson, City U., UK
Tefko Saracevic, Rutgers U., USA
Fabrizio Sebastiani, IEI-CHR, Italy
Alan Smeaton, Dublin City U., Ireland
Phil Smith, Ohio State U., USA
Craig Stanfill, Ab Initio Software, USA
Jean Tague-Sutcliffe, U. of Western Ontario, Canada
Ulrich Thiel, GMD IPSI, Germany
Richard Tong, Verity, USA
Howard Turtle, West Publishing, USA
Ellen Voorhees, Siemens, USA
Peter Willett, U. Sheffield, UK
Justin Zobel, RMIT, Australia