IRList Digest Friday, 17 April 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 9 Today's Topics: Announcement - Student support, Details of ACM SIGIR Conference - part 1 News addresses are ARPANET: fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu BITNET: foxea@vtvax3.bitnet CSNET: fox@vt UUCPNET: seismo!vtisr1!irlistrq ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Apr 87 15:06:40 est From: kraft@lsu.edu Subject: money to support student attendance at the acm/sigir conference Date: April 14, 1987 From: Donald H. Kraft, Professor and Chairman Department of Computer Science LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY To: Students Who Wish to Attend this Conference I am writing as the Chairman of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)/ Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval (SIGIR) Interna- tional Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, which will be held in the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA) on June 3-5, 1987. Thanks to a most generous grant from Bell Communica- tions Research (Bellcore), we can support student attendance at this conference. In order to publicize this support, I am publishing this notice on the IRlist bulletin board in the hopes that all who read it will pass on the word to those students who are interested in attending. The support will include the conference registration (which will include a proceedings and a banquet ticket), and will enable the attendee to attend all conference functions. In addition, we may be able to help a little towards air travel, room, and board. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, please contact me at: Professor Donald H. Kraft Department of Computer Science Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4020 USA (504) 388-1495 kraft%lsu@csnet-relay Students, please contact me by May 15, telling me of your desire to attend the conference, plus listing approximate expenses needed to allow you to attend. Stipend amounts will depend on the need and the availabilities of the funds. A copy of the program, along with hotel and conference regis- tration forms, is enclosed for your convenience. PROGRAM Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval (SIGIR) International Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval Monteleone Hotel in the French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana USA June 3-5, 1987 Co-Sponsored by: The British Computer Society (BCS) The Italian Computing Society (AICA) Supported by: Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), Inc. Systems Development Foundation (SDF) Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) Dialog REGISTRATION All attendees, including speakers and session chairs, must register and pay the appropriate registration fee. A registration form is attahed to this Program. Cash is not acceptable; please make out your check, only in U.S. dollars, payable to ACM IR Conference. The registration desk will be located on the Mezzanine Floor of the Monteleone Hotel. While visiting the registration area, do not forget to visit the exhibits. The registration desk will be open to accomo- date attendees at the following times: Tuesday June 2, 1987 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Wednesday June 3, 1987 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Thursday June 4, 1987 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Friday June 5, 1987 8:00 am - 4:00 pm ACCOMODATIONS The conference is being held in its entirety in the Monteleone Hotel. This fine old hotel is located at 214 Rue Royal (Royale Street) in New Orleans, near Iberville Street; the Zip Code is 70140 and the tele- phone number is (504) 523-3341. MESSAGE BOARD A bulletin board is located in the registration area. Attendees are encouraged to check periodically for messages at this center. This will be the only formal communication mechanism available. WHERE TO DINE AND WHERE TO PARTY In New Orleans, dining out is a joyous social event, and a major source of conversation. It is done very much in the Continental style -- in an unhurried, leisurely manner. A meal is to be lingered over, commented on, savored, and remembered. New Orleans serves up some- thing for everyone - from elegant French restaurants with gleaming tile floors, crystal chandeliers and crisp, white napery to simple, down-home country-kitchen cafes. Prices and dress codes vary, so you may want to do a little investigating before making your selection. Rarely is a tie needed, especially in New Orleans in June, but a jacket may be desirable. Remember that the climate is subtropical; in the summer, heat and humidity are the rule. In fact, you may want to drag along an umbrella, just in case. Some New Orleans restaurants do not take reservations so a long wait may be in store at popular places, while reservations are essential at other restaurants. In the French Quarter, you will be hard put to retrieve the name of a bad restaurant. In fact, there are a number of excellent restaurants, some with lush, hidden courtyards and wrought-iron balconies (showing our Spanish heritage), others look so seedy they betray the fantastic quality of food available within its quarters. A representative list of names of top-quality restaurants would have to include: Kajun Kitchen, K-Paul's Louisiana (the inventor of blackened redfish, the famous Paul Prudhomme, is here) Antoine's, Andrew Jackson, Mr. B's Bistro, Arnaud's, Brennan's (famous for breakfast), Galatoire's (one of Kraft's favorites), Mike Anderson's, Felix's (a superb oyster bar), Acme Oyster Bar (another superb one across the street from Felix's), Chart House, and Ralph and Kacoo's. For those on a restricted budget or with a desire to avoid tourists, try Camellia Grill, Flagons, Mandina's, or The Upperline. Moreover, a short cab ride will take you to Christian's, Commander's Palace, Corrine Dunbar's, Pascal's Manale, Delmonico, The Pontchartrain Hotel, Masson's, or Ruth's Chris Steak House. Then there is Mosca's and La Ruth's across the river. The hotel itself has some lovely spots in which to dine, and our social events will definitely allow for you to sample the merchandise. Of course, we have just begun to scratch the surface. Quite frankly, New Orleans has the best the country has to offer! For the cost of a drink, or perhaps for free, some of the natives attending the confer- ence will offer suggestions about what to eat and where, interpreting words such as creole, cajun, etoufee, jambalaya, crawfish, gumbo, boudin, andouille, poboy, and muffaletta. ATTRACTIONS The attractions in New Orleans will meet practically anyone's desires. New Orleans is, after all, "the city that care forgot." In the French Quarter, there are shops, fashion boutiques, open air markets, Jackson Square (with its horse and buggy rides, sidewalk artists, and sidewalk performers), art galleries, Bourbon Street (madness), museums, night clubs, and, of course, superb restaurants. Along the Mississippi river front, there is the French Market, the River Walk, and River- gate. The Jackson (Jax) Brewery is located on the riverfront and is a turn-of-the-century brewhouse that has been renovated and now contains specialty shops, food, and entertainment. Also, a stroll along the river could even hold the promise of a romantic boat cruise for the adventurous with some time. Then, there is the Cafe du Monde, with its cafe au lait and French Market doughnuts (beignets). For those of you that wish to venture outside of the French Quarter, attractions would include Canal Street with its large department stores, hotels, and shops (e.g., the Fashion Mall at Canal Place); the Garden District with its magnificent houses and gardens; the Superdome, which gives tours; the Audobon Zoological Gardens, near Tulane University, can be reached by a streetcar (maybe even one named Desire) ride. In City Park, the New Orleans Museum of Art always has great exhibits. You should check with the hotel just before coming as to plays, concerts, and sports events available in early June. There are always some additional attractions for those with extra time that are located outside New Orleans. The Jefferson Downs racetrack in nearby Kenner has thoroughbred horse races. Picturesque antebellum homes can be seen within thirty miles of New Orleans. Check with the concierge at the hotel for details and tickets as necessary. Of course, there is the ever present, and ever fantastic jazz; hot, cool, dixieland, or modern, this is the place to be. And, for those with a blues bent, New Orleans has some fine spots. Details of who is playing where can be had from the concierge or from the natives present at the conference. But, one place that is not to be missed is Preservation Hall, here is where it all began. SOCIAL PROGRAMS Registration Reception -- On Tuesday night, from 7:00 - 9:00 pm, there will be a wine and cheese reception for all attendees. We will meet by the registration desk, where there is a lovely corner room for such events. Come register, and meet your colleagues in a friendly atmo- sphere, while discussing the latest in retrieval topics, such as how to pick out the best restaurant in which to dine later that night (a fuzzy problem if ever there was one). OCLC Reception -- On Wednesday night, from 6:30 - 8:00 pm, there will be a reception honoring the ACM/SIGIR conference attendees, sponsored by OCLC, Inc. This is a must event, featuring some of the world's finest seafood au d'hoevres. It will be hard to remember to save room for dinner. Gould Hospitality Suite -- On Wednesday night, from 6:00 - 9:00 pm, there will also be an open hospitality suite for the ACM/SIGIR confer- ence attendees, sponsored by Gould, Inc. This will be a casual environment in which to view a continuous demonstration of the new text searching architecture now available. Banquet -- On Thursday night, from 7:00 - 8:00 pm, there will be a cash bar to start off the evening in the beautiful ballroom of the Monteleone Hotel. Don't be surprised by anything that happens, since this is New Orleans, home of mardi gras (did anyone see MTV broadcast live from the French Quarter this year?), home of jazz and jazz fun- erals, home of big city cajun bands, and home of the motto, Laissez les bon temps rouler! (Hey, cher, let the good times roll!). Then, a meal, dinner will be served (more commentary on the gastronomic delights seem unnecessary), followed by whatever the city of New Orle- ans has to offer. TECHNICAL PROGRAM AND SCHEDULE Papers were invited on theory, methodology, and applications of infor- mation retrieval. Emerging areas related to information retrieval, such as office automation, computer hardware technology, and artifi- cial intelligence and natural language processing were welcome. Topics included, but were not limited to: retrieval system modeling user interfaces retrieval in office environments multimedia retrieval system development and evaluation linguistic models natural language processing mathematical models storage and search techniques complexity problems cognitive and semantic models knowledge representation retrieval system performance hardware development inf. retrieval & database mgmt. Submitted papers were either full length papers of approximately twenty to twenty-five pages or extended abstracts of no more than ten pages. All papers were required to contain the authors' contributions in comparison to existing solutions to the same or to similar prob- lems. The important dates were: Submission Deadline December 15, 1986 Acceptance Notification February 15, 1987 Final Copy Due March 20, 1987 Conference June 3-5, 1987 Four copies of each paper had to be submitted. Papers submitted from North America were sent to Clement T. Yu; submissions from outside North America were sent to C. J. van Rijsbergen. [continued in next issue of IRList - Ed] ------------------------------ END OF IRList Digest ********************