NOVEL TECHNIQUES FOR BROWSING IN LARGE MULTIMEDIA COLLECTIONS Special Session at the International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME 2004) June 27th-30th, Taipei, Taiwan In the past few years rapid developments in capture and display technologies have created a crucial need for novel and more effective approaches for browsing in multimedia collections. Users are able to acquire large volumes of multimedia data with very little effort. Cameras in cellular telephones, and other pervasive devices, along with the increasing use of high-speed internet connections, digital broadcast, and emerging interoperability standards (MPEG-7, MPEG-21, etc.), facilitate the collection of multimedia and related metadata. This has created important technical challenges for the research community: without effective and fun interactive techniques and browsing mechanisms, multimedia collections are like just another photography shoebox stored in a closet. This special session will focus on effective methods (including visualization, sonification, and immersion) for browsing large multimedia collections and related metadata using traditional and novel devices. The session will explore techniques for single displays, as well as new techniques that utilize multiple, large format, projective, and personal devices (e.g., wearable and pervasive). Submissions are welcome on papers that address visualization, sonification, and immersion of any type of multimedia data (video, consumer images, e-learning materials, multimedia product catalogs, medicine, surveillance, etc.), with a focused goal on allowing the user to develop insights into the structural and semantic relationships present (e.g., using novel ways to represent metadata including annotations and links between multimedia documents). The aim of the session is to bring together researchers to discuss, evaluate, and explore state-of-the art techniques, as well as identify future research directions related to browsing in large multimedia collections. Topics include, but are not limited to the following: - New semantic structures and techniques for multidimensional representation and navigation of multimedia collections (time, space, etc.) - Theoretical frameworks for human computer interaction for browsing large multimedia collections - Novel techniques for visualization, sonification, and immersion - Effects of perceptual and cultural factors in browsing systems - User-centric, context-aware browsing - Objective criteria and evaluation methods for browsing - Novel techniques for browsing large multimedia collections with resource limited pervasive devices - Applications and demonstration systems Organizers: Alejandro Jaimes (alex.jaimes@fujixerox.co.jp), FujiXerox, Nakai Research Center, Japan Hari Sundaram (Hari.Sundaram@asu.edu), Arizona State University, USA Submission: Papers must be submitted using the ICME guidelines and system. Review Process: All papers will be reviewed using the standard ICME procedures. Papers will be selected on the basis of novelty, relevance, significance, soundness and clarity. Important Dates: * Paper submission to the special session: January 15th, 2004 * Notification of acceptance: March 1st, 2004. * Camera-ready paper due: March 31st, 2004. http://ame2.asu.edu/faculty/hs/icme_ss.htm http://www.icme2004.org/