IJCAI-97 HOME

CALL FOR PANEL PROPOSALS: IJCAI-97

A panel allows three to five people to present their distinct views on an issue or question of general interest.

Panels should be both relevant and interesting to the AI community, and have a clearly specified issue that is narrow enough to be addressed in a single session of one hour (though longer sessions could be negotiated). Panelists must have substantial experience with the topic.

A panel presents focused questions that stimulate audience discussion. It focuses on alternative approaches to, or views on, a common question, where panelists present their ideas. The question must be such that there are a significant variety of views expressed by the members of the panel.

Panels are usually organized as follows: the chairperson starts the panel by introducing the topic and by providing appropriate background material; next, the panelists provide short presentations, followed by an exchange between the panelists and the audience; the chairperson ends the panel with a summary statement.

The discussion with the audience must take precedence. Panel chairs should plan on at least one-third of the total time to be spent on this.

Requirements for Submission

Panel proposals will only be accepted if it is very clear that the panel is the best mechanism for the expression of widely diverging positions on an issue of concern to a wide section of the AI community. Because of this strong requirement, it is likely that only a very small number of proposals will be accepted.

A panel proposal consists of a cover page, an overall summary, a summary of each member's presentation, and letters from the panelists confirming their intent to participate.

The cover page should contain:

• Title of the panel
• Name, postal address, phone number and email address (if available) of the proposed chairperson. (Note: If the chairperson does not have email, then another panel member who does must be listed as a contact point.)
• Names, postal addresses, phone numbers and email addresses (if available) of the proposed panelists.

The overall summary should be about 500 words in length, giving a clear description of the topic of the panel in a manner that general members of the AI community can understand and appreciate. It should indicate how the members' presentations will present a range of different approaches to the common issue. In addition, the summary should address the following questions:

• What is the relevance or significance of the panel at this time? Everyone's research area is important, but why is a panel particularly useful now, on this topic, and in the IJCAI-97 context?
• What is the general AI interest in the topic? Please give evidence, such as recent important papers, workshops, etc.
• How does the panel membership demonstrate broad coverage of the topic, or, if this is not the case, why is narrow coverage preferable?
• If your topic has been discussed by another panel at a recent national or international AI conference, how will your panel differ from it?

The final part of a proposal consists of brief summaries of each member's presentation, including the chairperson's presentation, if there is one. Each summary should give a clear description of the member's view or approach and demonstrate connections to the panel topic. Each member's summary should be approximately 500 words in length.

The entire proposal should make it clear that all the participants are addressing a common issue, but from very different viewpoints.

Panel proposals should be submitted as soon as possible, but no later than October 21, 1996.

Chairpersons for accepted proposals will be responsible for:

• Preparation of a description of the panel for publication in the conference proceedings (Normally, this will be an extended version of the complete proposal.)
• Determining the format of the panel session and ensuring that it runs according to schedule
• Ensuring that the presentations of the panelists adequately address the panel's topic.

Proposals should be sent to:

Prof. Martha Pollack, Program Chair
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
E-mail: pollack@cs.pitt.edu
FAX: +1-412-624-5249