Announcement And Final Call For Papers An Interdisciplinary Workshop On Similarity And Categorisation Edinburgh, Scotland, November 28, 29 & 30, 1997 To be held at The Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Mark Keane (Computer Science / Psychology) Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Robert Goldstone (Psychology) Indiana University, U.S.A. James Hopkins (Philosophy) Kings College, University of London, U.K. Brian Ripley (Statistics) University of Oxford, U.K. PROGRAMME COMMITTEE David Aha (Machine Learning/Case-Based Reasoning) NRL, U.S.A. Martin Davies (Philosophy) University of Oxford, U.K. Evan Heit (Psychology) Univ. of Warwick, U.K. Koen Lamberts (Psychology) Univ. of Birmingham, U.K. Arthur Markman (Psychology) Columbia University, U.S.A. John R. Taylor (Cognitive Linguistics) Univ. of Otago, N.Z. David Willshaw (Connectionism, Comp. Neuroscience) Univ. of Edinburgh, U.K. THE WORKSHOP Similarity and categorization are paramount in our making sense of the world and the objects, structures and actions that we find in it. The process of classifying objects is a fundamental feature of most human pursuits, and the idea that we classify together those things that we find similar is both intuitive and popular across a wide range of disciplines. Similarity-based models of classification abound in Psychology as accounts of human performance and in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning as the basis of practical applications. However, despite their centrality, the notions of similarity and categorisation are still comparatively poorly understood. The major cause for this has been that until recently, many disciplines have tended to study these only as adjuncts to larger questions and in isolation from other fields. Even in Psychology, where these phenomena have been tackled directly, much discussion of similarity and categorisation has been fragmented across a variety of specialist domains, with related aspects such as conceptual categorisation, metaphor and analogy, decision making, problem solving and memory being studied largely in isolation. This workshop will bring together ways of looking at similarity and categorisation from the perspective of different disciplines in order to provide fresh insights and offer new ways of thinking about them. We welcome papers from any discipline that relate to our understanding of similarity and categorisation, such as: Artificial Intelligence Machine learning Case-Based Reasoning Psychology Philosophy Linguistics Statistics Semiotics Music Design Theory DISSEMINATION: Papers accepted for presentation at the workshop will be published in proceedings, as a Technical Report of the Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh. In addition, an edited collection with Cambridge University Press is planned. This collection which will contain longer contributions based on the material of the proceedings will seek to capture the essence of the workshop, highlighting its main themes and setting out a new agenda for multidisciplinary research in Similarity and Categorisation. QUESTIONS: Whilst the interdisciplinary nature of the workshop will by necessity leave space for a degree of interpretation, papers will be expected to address some the following key questions: What makes things similar? How should 'similarity' and/or 'categorisation' be defined? What principles govern similarity and/or categorisation? What is the relationship between similarity and categorisation? The maximum length for papers will be seven pages, conforming to the format laid down at http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/misc/simcat/formats.html. Whilst all papers will be expected to address an informed interdisciplinary audience, papers that address detailed technical questions and / or innovations will be expected to use the first of these pages to place such matters in a wider context. This should address issues such as: % The role similarity and / or categorisation plays in your research; % Which concept - similarity or categorisation - features most prominently in your work; % A characterisation of the similarity criteria that your research uses or is most pertinent to it; % The level of abstraction at which your description of similarity applies; % Do you have an explicit model for describing similarity or categorisation. DATES Deadline for papers : August 22nd 1997 Notice of acceptance: September 26th 1997 Send Final copy: October 17th 1997 PAPER FORMAT The text of the paper should be formatted in two columns with an overall width of 7 inches and length of 9.25 inches, with 0.25 inches between the columns. The left margin should be 0.75 inches and the top margin should be 1 inch. (The right and bottom margins will depend on whether you use A4 or US letter paper.) Use 10 point type with a vertical spacing of 11 points, and use Times or Times Roman typeface throughout. Papers must not exceed seven pages; in non-review papers one of these pages should be used to relate the body of the paper to a wider audience (see above). ELECTRONIC TEMPLATES Electronic templates for producing the camera-ready copy are available for several major word processors, including LaTeX, Microsoft Word and the standard RTF interchange format. Templates are accessible on the World Wide Web at: http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/misc/simcat/formats.html Please send any questions on these electronic templates to: simcat@dai.ed.ac.uk SUBMISSION You should send both the submitted and final versions of your paper in hardcopy form. We will need five (5) stapled copies of your submitted paper for use in reviewing and three (3) unstapled copies of your final, accepted paper, packed flat and unfolded. Send both to: Similarity and Categorisation Workshop Department of Artificial Intelligence The University of Edinburgh 80 South Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1HN ORGANISING COMMITTEE Emilios Cambouropoulos (Music) University of Edinburgh Ulrike Hahn (Psychology) University of Warwick Helen Pain (Artificial Intelligence) University of Edinburgh Michael Ramscar (Artificial Intelligence) University of Edinburgh ANY OTHER ENQUIRIES Email simcat@dai.ed.ac.uk or write to Similarity and Categorisation Workshop Department of Artificial Intelligence The University of Edinburgh 80 South Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1HN REGISTRATION OF INTEREST If you are interested in attending or contributing to the workshop, we would be grateful if you could take the time to complete the following form, and mail it to simcat@dai.ed.ac.uk - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Interdisciplinary Workshop On Similarity And Categorisation Edinburgh, Scotland, November 28, 29 & 30, 1997 I am considering attending Y/N I am submitting a paper Y/N My name is: My interests are: My email address is: My address is: