The Multimedia Grand Challenge @ ACM MM 2009 What problems do Google, Yahoo, HP, Radvision, CeWe, Nokia and other companies see in the future of multimedia? The Multimedia Grand Challenge is a set of problems and issues from these (and other) industry leaders, geared to engage the Multimedia research community in solving relevant, interesting and challenging questions about the industry's 2-5 year horizon for multimedia. The Grand Challenge is initially presented as part of ACM Multimedia 2009. Researchers will be encouraged to submit working systems in response to the challenge to win the Grand Challenge competition! Can you solve these problems? We encourage you to consider the challenges and submit your contribution or solution to the ACM Multimedia 2009 Grand Challenge track (submission details forthcoming on this blog). The top submissions will be presented in a special event during the MM 2009 conference in Beijing. Based on the presentation, winners will be selected for Grand Challenge awards. Yes, there will also be prizes (TBD – watch for details on the Grand Challenge web site). A submission will consist of a two-page summary to the ACM MM Grand Challenge track; the authors may include a link to an online demo or video. The submissions must: 1. Significantly address one of the industry challenges posted on the Grand Challenge web site. 2. Depict working, presentable systems or demos. At the conference, you (if accepted) will introduce the idea shortly to the audience, give a quick demo, and take short questions from the judges. Based on your presentation, a team of judges and the attending crowd will select the top contributors. Specific submission instructions will be made available on the Grand Challenge blog. Submission of extended description of the work to other MM 2009 tracks is highly recommended; Grand Challenge submissions that are accompanied by other MM 2009 accepted publications would receive priority. Key Dates June 15th, 2009: Submission deadline July 2nd, 2009: Notification of acceptance July 24th, 2009: Final camera-ready version Oct 19-24th 2009: (exact date TBD) Conference Presentation Learn more The Multimedia Grand Challenge blog hosts the different challenges, updates about the Grand Challenge, and invites discussion via comments. To keep track, make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed or join the Mailing list. Contact For details, questions, or to participate as a corporate partner, email: Mor Naaman: mor@scils.rutgers.edu. New industry challenges are welcome until the end of February. Organizers Grand Challenge Co-chairs Mor Naaman, Rutgers University (mor@scils.rutgers.edu) Tat-Seng Chua, National University of Singapore Academic Steering Committee David Ayman Shamma, Yahoo! Research, USA Susanne Boll, Oldenburg University, Germany Noel E O'Connor, Dublin City University, Ireland Industrial Partners CeWe - Sabine Thieme Nokia - Timo Pylvanainen Google - Jay Yagnik Yahoo - Kaushal Kurapati Radvision - Sagee Ben Zeddef HP - Qian Lin