New Features Proposed for ICASSP 2009

BY LIN-SHAN LEE, GENERAL CHAIR

In the next ICASSP 2009, two new features may be implemented: 

Overview Talk Sessions

• added as a new type of Special Sessions

• each overview talk is 40-minute long, synchronized with 2 regular oral papers

• an overview talk session includes 3 overview talks, and will be scheduled in the first time slot after lunch

• only overviews are given; they are different from Tutorials which have more depth

• audio/video recorded (with agreement by the speaker) and made available to conference participants via networks by passwords 3 hours after the talk until 3 weeks after the conference, in order to reduce conflicts. After 3 weeks, they will be managed by SPS as education programs.

Thematic Symposia

• Virtual umbrellas grouping together several sessions with common theme but probably in different types

• may include regular/special/plenary sessions, overview talks, tutorials

• with compact and smooth schedule in 1 or 2 days

• made visible on the "program at a glance"

• giving the program a better structure

• the whole ICASSP technical program will be several Thematic Symposia plus the "normal program", i.e., the majority of the program remain unchanged as the normal program.

The objectives of the 2 new features are:

• to help the participants to learn more (perhaps outside of their research areas) from a more accessible and better structured program

• to make the program more interesting and attractive, hopefully attracting more people from industry

• to help TCs to play more roles in "shaping" the program, emphasizing important directions, and designing the program strategically

• to make ICASSP a better platform for education for researchers and interdisciplinary interaction