Subject: CFP AAAI-96
From: Richard Benjamins <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 1995 12:52:42 +0100

Thirteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence

August 4 - 8, 1996, Portland, Oregon

AAAI-96 -- the Thirteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence --
is sponsored by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

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Call for Participation

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Contents

   * Call for Papers
        o Timetable for Submission
        o Electronic Title Page
        o Content Areas
        o Paper Format For Blind Review
             + Title Page
             + Paper Body
             + Length
        o Review Process
        o Review Criteria
             + Significance
             + Originality
             + Quality
             + Clarity
        o Videotape Support
        o Submissions to Multiple Conferences
        o Publication
        o Copyright
        o Paper Submissions & Inquiries

   * Student Abstract & Poster Program
        o Requirements for Submission
             + Abstract Format
             + Length
             + Submissions to AAAI-96 or Other Conferences
        o Review Criteria
        o Publication
        o Poster Session
        o Student Abstract Submissions & Inquiries

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Call for Papers

AAAI-96 is the thirteenth national conference on artificial intelligence
(AI). The purpose of the conference is to promote research in AI and
scientific interchange among AI researchers and practitioners.

Papers may represent significant contributions to any aspects of AI: a)
principles underlying cognition, perception, and action; b) design,
application, and evaluation of AI algorithms and systems; c) architectures
and frameworks for classes of AI systems; and d) analysis of tasks and
domains in which intelligent systems perform.

One of the most important functions served by the national conference is to
provide a forum for information exchange and interaction among researchers
working in different sub-disciplines, in different research paradigms, and
in different stages of research. Based on discussions among program
committee members during the past few years, we are continuing efforts to
expand active participation in the conference to include a cross-section of
the AI community and the community's research activities.

Accordingly, we encourage submission of papers that: describe theoretical,
empirical, or experimental results; represent areas of AI that may have been
under-represented in recent conferences; present promising new research
concepts, techniques, or perspectives; or discuss issues that cross
traditional sub-disciplinary boundaries. As outlined below, the paper review
criteria is intended to recognize this broader spectrum of research
contributions. We will continue the policy established in AAAI-94 of
accepting more of the papers that are submitted, relative to prior years.

Timetable for Submission

Authors must first submit their paper's title page (preferably
electronically, as described below) by January 3, 1996. Authors must then
submit six (6) complete printed copies of their papers to the AAAI office by
January 9, 1996. Papers received after that date will be returned unopened.
Notification of receipt will be mailed to the first author (or designated
author) soon after receipt. All inquiries regarding lost papers must be made
by January 23, 1996. Notification of acceptance or rejection of submitted
papers will be mailed to the first author (or designated author) by March
11, 1996. Camera-ready copy of accepted papers will be due about one month
later.

Electronic Title Page

Because of the huge number of submissions anticipated and the tight schedule
required to assign reviewers, we require that authors who desire to submit a
full paper declare their intention by sending AAAI a title page by
Wednesday, January 3, 1996. The preferred method is by using a
World-Wide-Web (WWW) browser such as Netscape to connect to:
http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/National/1996/submit.html
then filling out the form and finally pressing the submit button. (You can
also access a link to this page by connecting to AAAI's home page, which is
located at: http://www.aaai.org After submitting the form, the page will
display a unique tracking number which should be marked on the full paper
submission. Authors who do not have access to a WWW browser with forms
support should mail a printed page to the AAAI office to arrive by January
3. (These authors may omit the tracking number). The printed page should use
the following format:

* author: <name of first author>
* address: <address of first author>
* author: <name of last author>
* address: <address of last author>
* abstract: <abstract>
* content areas: <first area>,
., <last area>

Content Areas

To facilitate the reviewing process, authors are requested to select one or
more appropriate content area keywords from the list below, to appear on the
electronic title page and submitted paper. Please use the exact phrases
below; do not make up new keywords, since they will be ignored by the paper
classification software.

     * AI architectures
     * applications
     * art and music
     * artificial life
     * automated modeling
     * automated reasoning
     * control
     * belief revision
     * case-based reasoning
     * causality
     * cognitive modeling
     * common sense reasoning
     * computational complexity
     * computer-aided education
     * constraint satisfaction
     * decision theory
     * decision trees
     * design
     * description logics
     * diagnosis
     * discourse
     * discovery
     * distributed AI
     * enabling technologies
     * expert systems
     * game playing
     * genetic algorithms
     * geometric or spatial reasoning
     * information retrieval
     * knowledge acquisition
     * knowledge representation
     * lifelike characters
     * machine learning
     * machine translation
     * mathematical foundations
     * multiagent systems
     * multimedia
     * natural language processing
     * neural networks
     * nonmonotonic reasoning
     * ontologies
     * perception
     * philosophical foundations
     * planning
     * probabilistic reasoning
     * problem solving
     * qualitative reasoning
     * reactive control
     * real-time systems
     * reinforcement learning, robotics
     * scheduling
     * scientific discovery
     * search
     * simulation
     * software agents
     * speech understanding
     * syntax
     * temporal reasoning
     * theorem proving
     * user interfaces
     * virtual reality, vision

Paper Format For Blind Review

All six (6) copies of a submitted paper must be clearly legible. Neither
computer files nor fax submissions are acceptable. Submissions must be
printed on 8 1/2 x 11 inch or A4 paper using 12 point type (10 characters
per inch for typewriters). Double-sided printing is strongly encouraged.
Reviewing for AAAI-96 will be blind to the identities of the authors. This
requires that authors exercise some care not to identify themselves in their
papers.

Title Page

Each copy of the paper must have a title page, separate from the body of the
paper, including the title of the paper, the names and addresses of all
authors, a short abstract of less than 200 words, a list of content areas
(see above), word count, tracking number from electronic submission of title
page (see above), statement with respect to multiple submissions (see
below), and acknowledgements (if any).

Paper Body

The second page, on which the paper body begins, should include the same
title, abstract, content areas, word count, tracking number, and statement
with respect to multiple submissions, but not the names or affiliations of
the authors. The references should include all published literature relevant
to the paper, including previous works of the authors, but should not
include unpublished works. When referring to one's own work, use the third
person, rather than the first person. For example, say "Previously, Weld
[13] has shown that...", rather than "In our previous work [13] we have
shown that...." Try to avoid including any information in the body of the
paper or references that would identify the authors or their institutions.
Such information can be added to the final camera-ready version for
publication. Please do not staple the title page to the body of the paper.

Length

The body of submitted papers must be at most 7000 words, including
footnotes, figure captions, tables, and appendices, but excluding the
bibliography. The word count should appear on the title and second pages of
the submitted paper. Papers longer than 7000 words will be returned without
review.

Review Process

Program committee (PC) members will identify papers they are qualified to
review based on the information electronically presubmitted (e.g., the
paper's title, content areas, and abstract). This information, along with
other considerations, will be used to assign each submitted paper to three
PC members. Using the criteria given below, they will review the paper
independently; these reviews will be blind to the identities of the authors
and their institutions. If the majority of the reviewers of a paper agree to
accept or reject it, that recommendation will be followed. If the reviewers
are unable to decide, the paper will be discussed by an appropriate
sub-group of the PC during its meeting in March. In general, papers will be
accepted if they receive at least two positive reviews or if they generate
an interesting controversy among the reviewers. The final decisions on all
papers will be made by the program chairs.

Review Criteria

Questions that will appear on the review form appear below. Authors are
advised to bear these questions in mind while writing their papers.
Reviewers will look for papers that meet at least some (though not
necessarily all) of the criteria in each category.

Significance

How important is the problem studied? Does the approach offered advance the
state of the art? Does the paper stimulate discussion of important issues or
alternative points of view?

Originality

Are the problems and approaches new? Is this a novel combination of existing
techniques? Does the paper point out differences from related research? Does
it address a new problem or one that has not been studied in depth? Does it
introduce an interesting research paradigm? Does the paper describe an
innovative combination of AI techniques with techniques from other
disciplines? Does it introduce an idea that appears promising or might
stimulate others to develop promising alternatives?

Quality

Is the paper technically sound? Does it carefully evaluate the strengths and
limitations of its contributions? Are its claims backed up? Does the paper
offer a new form of evidence in support of or against a well-known
technique? Does the paper back up a theoretical idea already in the
literature with experimental evidence? Does it offer a theoretical analysis
of prior experimental results?

Clarity

Is the paper clearly written? Does it motivate the research? Does it
describe the inputs, outputs, and basic algorithms employed? Are the results
described and evaluated? Is the paper organized in a logical fashion? Is the
paper written in a manner that makes its content accessible to most AI
researchers?

Videotape Support

If authors feel that an understanding of the dynamic behavior exhibited by
their system is an important factor in judging the technical merit of the
work, they may optionally include six (6) copies of a videotape of not more
than five (5) minutes duration in NTSC-VHS (US standard only) format to the
AAAI office by January 9, 1996, as part of their paper submission. Tapes
should be labeled only with the tracking number and title of the paper
submission; tapes cannot be returned.

Submissions to Multiple Conferences

Papers that are being submitted to other conferences, whether verbatim or in
essence, must reflect this fact on the title page. If a paper appears at
another conference (with the exception of specialized workshops), it must be
withdrawn from AAAI-96. Papers that violate these requirements are subject
to rejection without review.

Publication

Accepted papers will be allocated six (6) pages in the conference
proceedings. Up to two (2) additional pages may be used at a cost to the
authors of $250 per page. Papers exceeding eight (8) pages and those
violating the instructions to authors will not be included in the
proceedings.

Copyright

Authors will be required to transfer copyright of their paper to AAAI.

Paper Submissions & Inquiries

Please send papers and conference registration inquiries to:

     AAAI-96
     American Association for Artificial Intelligence
     445 Burgess Drive
     Menlo Park, CA 94025-3496

Registration and call clarification inquiries (ONLY) may be sent to the
Internet address: [email-masked].

Please send program suggestions and inquiries to:

     Bill Clancey, Program Cochair
     Institute for Research on Learning
     3450 Hillview Drive
     Palo Alto, CA 54301
     [email-masked]

     Daniel Weld, Program Cochair
     Department of Computer Science and Engineering
     University of Washington
     P.O. Box 352350
     Seattle, WA 98195-2350
     [email-masked]

     Ramesh Patil, Associate Program Chair
     USC/Information Sciences Institute
     4676 Admiralty Way
     Marina del Rey, CA 90292
     [email-masked]

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Student Abstract & Poster Program

AAAI-96 invites submissions to the student abstract and poster program. The
goal of this program is to provide a forum in which students can present and
discuss their work during its early stages, meet some of their peers who
have related interests, and introduce themselves to more senior members of
the field. The program is open to all pre-PhD students. Non-student advisors
or collaborators should be acknowledged appropriately, as coauthors or
otherwise. However, students are requested to honor the spirit of the
program by submitting only work for which they are primary investigators.

Requirements for Submission

Authors must submit six (6) printed copies of a two-page abstract describing
their research to the AAAI office by January 9, 1996. Abstracts received
after that date will be returned unopened. Notification of receipt will be
mailed to the author. All inquiries regarding lost abstracts must be made by
January 23, 1996. Notification of acceptance or rejection of submitted
abstracts will be mailed to the author by March 11, 1996. Camera-ready copy
of accepted abstracts will be due about one month later.

Abstract Format

All six (6) copies of a submitted abstract must be clearly legible. Neither
computer files nor fax submissions are acceptable. Submissions must be
printed on 8 1/2 x 11 inch or A4 paper using 12 point type (10 characters
per inch for typewriters). Each page must have a maximum of 38 lines and an
average of 75 characters per line (corresponding to the LaTeX article-style,
12 point).

Length

All abstracts must be no more than two pages, including: title, author's
full name, postal address, phone number, e-mail address, text, any figures,
tables, diagrams, and bibliography. Papers exceeding the specified length
and formatting requirements are subject to rejection without review.

Submissions to AAAI-96 or Other Conferences

Students are free to submit abstracts for work reported in a regular paper
submitted to the AAAI-96 or another conference, but not for work that has
already been published. Abstracts will be accepted or rejected for the
student session regardless of the outcomes of related paper submissions.

Review Criteria

Each abstract will be reviewed against the following criteria:

     Significance: Does the work address an important problem?
     Originality: Is the problem or approach presented new?
     Clarity: Is the abstract clearly written?

Publication

Accepted abstracts will be allocated one (1) page in the conference
proceedings. Students will be required to transfer copyright of the abstract
to AAAI.

Poster Session

Accepted abstracts will be allocated presentation time and space in the
Student Poster Display area at the conference. Student authors of accepted
abstracts must agree to prepare a poster representing the work described in
their abstracts and to be available to discuss their work with visitors
during their allocated time in the Student Poster Display area.

Student Abstract Submissions & Inquiries

Please send abstracts to:

     AAAI-96
     American Association for Artificial Intelligence
     445 Burgess Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025-3496

Registration and call clarification inquiries (ONLY) may be sent to the
internet address: [email-masked].

Please send student program suggestions and inquiries to:

     Maja J. Mataric
     Volen Center for Complex Systems
     Computer Science Department
     Brandeis University
     Waltham, MA 02254
     [email-masked]

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For More Information Contact:

American Association for Artificial Intelligence 
445 Burgess Drive 
Menlo Park, California 94025-3496 
USA
Telephone: 415-328-3123 
Fax: 415-321-4457 
Email: [email-masked] 
URL: http://www.aaai.org

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please drop us a note.

Last updated on on 1 January 1996.
Copyright 1995, 1996, American Association for Artificial Intelligence. All
Rights Reserved.