TAC 2009 papers, posters/demos, and presentations
Each team that submits runs for evaluation is requested to write a
paper for the TAC 2009 proceedings that reports how the runs were
produced (to the extent that intellectual property concerns allow) and
any additional experiments or analysis conducted using TAC 2009 data.
A draft version of the proceedings papers is distributed as a notebook
to TAC 2009 workshop attendees. The final proceedings are published
on the TAC web site only after the workshop. The notebook version of papers gives
workshop attendees something concrete to discuss during the meeting
itself, while the final proceedings give participants the opportunity
to revise their papers based on findings from workshop discussion.
All teams are strongly encouraged to present their system(s) and
results during a poster/demo session at the TAC 2009 workshop. A limited
number of teams are also allowed to give full oral presentations at
the workshop; full presentations are selected by the TAC Advisory
Committee based on presentation proposals
rather than on entire papers.
Unless specifically invited by the TAC Advisory Committee, a team may
contribute a paper to the proceedings and give a presentation at the
TAC 2009 workshop only if it has also submitted at least one run for
evaluation.
Copyright release
Any organization whose paper will appear in the TAC proceedings must
sign a copyright release
form. Teams that are giving an oral presentation must also fill
in the speaker section of the form. The senior author at each
organization can sign for other authors, but if a team consists of
multiple organizations, a signed copyright release form is required
from each organization.
To submit copyright forms: Print out the copyright form, fill
it in, sign it, and send the signed form to NIST as a fax or emailed
pdf attachment. In your email message or fax cover letter, please
provide your TAC 2009 team name, email address, and subject "TAC 2009
copyright release". Signed forms should be sent to:
Papers
Each team is requested to write a paper that will be included in the
workshop notebook and the final proceedings. The paper should consist
of a description of the team's TAC 2009 system(s) and any additional
experiments or analysis of TAC 2009 tasks, evaluations, and results.
Papers do not undergo a standard peer review, although the TAC
Advisory Committee reserves the right to exclude non-responsive
papers. (Participants are encouraged to expand on the work reported
in their TAC proceedings papers and submit the results to
peer-reviewed conferences, journals, and other venues.)
Each team should write a single paper for all tracks in which the
team participated. Paper length is limited to 10 pages for the first
track, plus two additional pages per additional track (e.g., a team that
submits runs for three tracks would be allowed a total of 14 pages).
NIST reserves the right to exclude papers that exceed the page limit.
Papers must print in black-and-white on 8.5 x 11 inch paper.
These are the only paper formatting requirements:
- standard US-letter size (not A4)
- minimum 10pt type
- no page numbers
- minimum 2 cm bottom margin
- maximum 10 pages for the first track, plus 2 additional pages for each additional track
- authors' names and affiliations should appear on the paper
- single .pdf or .ps file only (no Word documents)
The notebook paper and signed copyright release form(s) should be submitted to NIST by October 22, 2009. The paper should be
submitted using the online notebook paper
submission form. The copyright release
form(s) should be sent by email or fax when the paper is submitted.
The final (proceedings) version of the paper should be submitted to NIST by February 25, 2010, using the online proceedings paper submission form.
Posters/Demos
Each team is strongly encouraged to present a poster and/or demo at
the TAC 2009 workshop. Prior to the poster session, all teams are
invited to give a boaster for their poster/demo. A boaster is a very
short (maximum 3-minute) "advertisement" that helps everyone identify
those posters/demos they particularly want to see.
Posters should be no more than 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall.
Pins are provided to attach the poster to a padded wall in a hallway
(so it is better to not back the poster with anything like foamcore).
For demos, NIST will provide tables, outlets, and wireless Internet
access to the NIST Visitor's network, to which participants can
connect their own laptop. The Visitor's network does not
route packets to the rest of NIST's internal networks, but it is
behind a NIST firewall. Therefore, if you need to send something back to NIST
during your demo (such as an X-window, for example), please notify
[email protected] in advance.
N.B. regarding Internet access:
Because of the potential danger of viruses and other malware,
NIST requires that workshop attendees connecting to the NIST Visitor network must meet a number of conditions. The conditions are spelled out in a form that users must sign before access is granted. The form requires a user of a non-NIST machine who wishes to connect the machine to the NIST Visitor network to certify that:
- the machine has antivirus software installed and
the signatures were updated within the past week;
- all security-relevant patches have been installed
within the past month;
- file sharing software has been turned off
and will not be activated while the computer is
attached to the NIST Visitor's network.
Users will also need to acknowledge that they understand that NIST
networks are government-owned, and thus they have no right of privacy:
authorized personnel may monitor all communications for the purposes
of network maintenance and security.
Teams may request to give a poster and/or demo when submitting their
notebook paper. Alternatively, you may send a request to
[email protected] (please include the team name in all correspondences).
Full Presentations
While all teams are allowed to give a poster/demo at the TAC 2009
workshop, there is time for only a limited number of teams to give a full oral
presentation (approximately 20 minutes long). Each team may submit up
to three presentation proposals -- one for each track in which it
participated.
A presentation proposal should consist of a short abstract about the
team's experiments in that track. The abstract should not just give a
general description of the system, but should emphasize what
experiments were done and why they are interesting or unusual. Each
abstract should be no more than 500 words. Do not send entire
papers or presentation slides. Abstracts should be simple ASCII
text and should be emailed as separate attachments to
[email protected]. Please include the team ID in the email message
and rank the proposals by the team's desire to present each proposed
talk.
The Advisory Committee selects the final set of proposals to accept
for presentation, factoring in the intrinsic value of each proposal,
the needs of the program, and the desirability ranking provided by the
team.
The deadline for submitting full presentation proposals is September
25. Teams are notified by October 7 whether a proposal has been
accepted for presentation.
Schedule
TAC 2009 Schedule |
September 25 | Deadline for workshop presentation proposals |
October 7 | Notification of acceptance of presentation proposals |
October 22 | Deadline for participants' notebook papers, copyright release forms |
November 16-17 | TAC 2009 workshop in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA |
February 25, 2010 | Extended Deadline for participants' final proceedings papers |