============================================================================ IAPR TC-11 Newsletter September 2016 http://www.iapr-tc11.org ========== Contents ======================================================== * Message from the Editor * Dates 'n' Deadlines - ICFHR 2020, [in a nice place] October 10 (proposal for hosting) - CVPR 2017, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA November 16 (http://cvpr2017.thecvf.com/) * Announcements: - ICFHR 2016 full program: http://www.nlpr.ia.ac.cn/icfhr2016/program.htm * Call for Participation: - 1st International Workshop on Arabic Script Analysis and Recognition (ASAR 2017), April 3-5, Nancy, France - Text Detection and Recognition Evaluation (TRAIT) October 31 * Call for Hosting Proposals: - Int. Conf. on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition (ICFHR) 2020 (repost) * Request for Comments: - Digitization Choices for "The Lehigh Engineering Drawing Collection" (repost) * Job offers: - PhD Studentships at the Computer Vision Center (Barcelona, Spain) (repost) - Marie Curie Fellowships in Computer Vision - Reading Systems (repost) * New and Recently Published Datasets * Call for Dataset Submissions * Call for Contributions ============================================================================ ========== Message from the Editor ========================================= Welcome to the September edition of our newsletter. First I would like to draw your attention to the full program of ICFHR 2016 that has been released shortly. Furthermore, you will find in this newsletter the Calls for Participation for the First International Workshop on Arabic Script Analysis and Recognition (ASAR 2017) that will be held in Nancy (France) in April, 2017, and for the Text Detection and Recognition Evaluation (TRAIT) 2016. Gernot A. Fink, IAPR TC-11 Newsletter Editor / Education Officer Gernot.Fink@udo.edu ============================================================================ ========== Dates 'n' Deadlines ============================================= Event/Location/Web: Event Date: Deadline (paper submission): ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- * CVPR 2017, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA July 20-27, 2017 November 16 (http://cvpr2017.thecvf.com/) * ASAR 2017, Nancy, France April 3-5, 2017 December 1 (http://asar.ieee.tn/) * ICDAR 2017, Kyoto, Japan November 10-15, 2017 March 15, 2017 (http://www.iapr.org/icdar2017) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * IWRR 2016, Amsterdam, The Netherlands October 9 - passed - (http://www.cvc.uab.es/IWRR2016) * ICFHR 2016, Shenzen, China October 23-26 - passed - (http://www.nlpr.ia.ac.cn/icfhr2016) * MedPRAI 2016, Tebessa, Algeria November 22-23 - passed - (http://medprai2016.sciencesconf.org/) * MANPU 2016, Cancun, Mexico December 4 - passed - (http://manpu2016.imlab.jp) * ICPR 2016, Cancun, Mexico December 4-8, 2016 - passed - (http://www.icpr2016.org/) ============================================================================ ========== New and Recently Published: TC-11 Datasets ====================== For a list of all datasets available visit: http://tc11.cvc.uab.es ============================================================================ ========== Announcements: ICFHR 2016 Full Program ========================== The ICFHR2016 (Shenzhen, China, October 23-26, 2016) has released the full program at http://www.nlpr.ia.ac.cn/icfhr2016/program.htm ============================================================================ ========== Call for Participation: ASAR 2017 =============================== It is our pleasure to invite you to participate in the 1st International Workshop on Arabic Script Analysis and Recognition (ASAR 2017) http://asar.ieee.tn/, which will be hosted by LORIA laboratory (University Lorraine, France), in collaboration with the REGIM-Lab. (University of Sfax, Tunisia), and will be held in Nancy (France) from April 3-5, 2017. The first ASAR 2017 workshop provides an excellent opportunity for researchers and practitioners at all levels of experience to meet colleagues and to share new ideas and knowledge about Arabic script document analysis and recognition methods. The workshop enjoys strong participation from researchers in both industry and academia. IMPORTANT DATES Paper submission: December 1st, 2016 Acceptance notified: January 1st, 2017 Registration and Camera Ready Submission: February 1st, 2017 ============================================================================ ========== Call for Participation: TRAIT 2016 ============================== We would like to invite you to participate in Text Detection and Recognition Evaluation (TRAIT). https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/text-recognition-algorithm-independent-evaluation-trait-2016 We have released the final Phase 3 API for the TRAIT 2016 evaluation supporting use of text detection and recognition in child-exploitation investigations. https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/09/08/nist_textrec_concept_and_api.pdf The deadline for submission of algorithms for Phase 3 is October 31, 2016. We look forward to your participation. Best regards, NIST TRAIT organizers TRAIT2016@nist.gov ============================================================================ ========== Call for Hosting Proposals: ICFHR 2020 ========================== Call for Hosting Proposals for ICFHR 2020 ----------------------------------------- Continuing a long tradition, the international research community plans to gather in Shenzhen, China for the 15th International Conference on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition on October 23-26, 2016 (http://www.nlpr.ia.ac.cn/icfhr2016/). In keeping with the practice of the community, proposals are now being solicited for hosting ICFHR 2020, the 17th International Conference on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition. ICFHR is the premier event for identifying, encouraging, and exchanging ideas in handwriting recognition research, as well as for promoting novel applications at the frontiers of this important field. The single-track conference brings together leading researchers and practitioners in on-line and off-line handwriting recognition. The series of the ICFHR conferences is a continuation of the ten IWFHRs (Montreal 1990, Chateau de Bonas 1991, Buffalo 1993, Taipei 1994, Colchester 1996, Taejon 1998, Amsterdam 2000, Niagara on the Lake 2002, Tokyo 2004, La Baule 2006). Previous ICFHR conferences were held in Montreal 2008, Kolkata 2010, Bari 2012, and Crete 2014. The 16th International Conference on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition, ICFHR 2018, is scheduled to be held in Rochester, USA, on August 6-10, 2018. Individuals and groups who are interested in handwriting recognition research are invited to submit proposals for organizing and hosting ICFHR 2020. According to the normal rotation, the year 2020 would see the conference located somewhere in Europe, but proposals from other locales are encouraged as well. Proposals should be sent to: Koichi Kise, TC-11 Chair, kise@cs.osakafu-u.ac.jp Dimosthenis Karatzas, TC-11 Vice Chair, dimos@cvc.uab.es The deadline for submitting written proposals is Monday, October 10. In addition, proposers should be prepared to make a brief presentation to the community during a special session at ICFHR 2016 after which a vote will be taken to determine the winning bid. The special session is scheduled just before the social event (Wednesday afternoon, October 25, 2016). Questions concerning the proposal process can be addressed to Koichi Kise and Dimosthenis Karatzas. ============================================================================ ========== RFC: Digitization Choices ======================================= The Lehigh Engineering Drawing Collection Request for Comment on Digitization Choices During GREC 2015 in Nancy, in the wake of the Lehigh Engineering Drawing Challenge, the TC-10 community decided to commit ressources to digitizing and making broadly available a roughly 5000 items large collection of engineering drawings. We have finally come around collecting a big part of the required funding to at least digitize a large subset of these documents. In order to proceed, we need your help to take a look at the first digitization tests, and help us determine what level of quality you think is best suited for your research. We have set up a survey for you to complete: http://enquetes.univ-lorraine.fr/index.php/829953?lang=en The digitized documents are available for browsing and bulk downloading from the following URLs: http://dae.cse.lehigh.edu/DAE/?q=browse/dataitem/605933 http://dae.cse.lehigh.edu/DOWNLOADS/Archive.zip Please take a moment to go over the documents, and possibly even run some of your favourite algorithms on them. Your contributions and input will be greatly appreciated, and will have a quite positive impact on the TC-10 and TC-11 community at large. Thank you for your help, Bart Lamiroy Dan Lopresti ============================================================================ ========== Announcement: SuCoFo2016 ======================================== SuCoFo2016: 1st International Summer School on Computational Forensics Date: September 05-09, 2016 Venue: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Gjøvik, Norway. Registration: Before 15 August 2016 Weblink: https://testimon.ccis.no/2016/03/summer-school-on-computational-forensics-sucofo2016/ Wikilink: http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/servlet/event.showcfp?eventid=56718©ownerid=90779 Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the International Association of Pattern Recognition (IAPR) - TC 6 on Computational Forensics (IAPR sponsorship has been applied for), would like to invite you to the 1st International Summer School on Computational Forensics (SuCoFo2016). SuCoFo2016 will be held from 05 September - 9 September and take place at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Gjøvik, Norway. The course is open for PhD students as well as researchers in academia, government and industry needing an advanced knowledge of digital forensics. This school will mostly concentrate on pattern recognition and computer vision based techniques for forensic data analysis. The courses will be delivered by world renowned experts in the field, from both academia and industry. It will give participants a unique opportunity to hear the world famous keynote speakers and to interact with international experts in the field. The courses will cover both theoretical and practical aspects of Computational Forensics problems as well as examples of their successful commercialisation. The school aims to provide a stimulating opportunity for young researchers and Ph.D. students. The participants will benefit from direct interaction and discussions with world leaders in Computational Forensics. Participants will also have the possibility to present the results of their research, and to interact with their scientific peers, in a friendly and constructive environment. Speakers Sujeet Shenoi, University of Tulsa, USA Raymond Choo, University of South Australia, Australia Zeno Geradts, Netherlands Forensic Institute, Netherlands Ali Dehghantanha, University of Salford, United Kingdom Utpal Garain, Indian Statistical Institute, India Thomas Walmann, Økokrim, Norway Katrin Franke, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Slobodan Petrovic, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Stefan Axelsson, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Carl Leichter, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Mariusz Nowostawski, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Andrii Shalaginov, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway ============================================================================ ========== Job Offer: PhD Positions at the CVC, Barcelona ================== --------------------------------------------------------------------- PhD Studentships at the Computer Vision Center (Barcelona, Spain) --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Computer Vision Center at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) offers three PhD student positions in the field of historical document image analysis. Candidates must prove that they hold university-awarded Master's degree or equivalent at the time of signing the contract. Candidates cannot already hold a PhD degree. DATES - The call will open in september (tentative). - (probable) Start date: October-December 2016. Research contact: Josep Llados(josep@cvc.uab.es), Alicia Fornes(afornes@cvc.uab.es) ============================================================================ ========== Job Offer: Marie Curie Fellowships at the CVC, Barcelona ======== --------------------------------------------------------------- Marie Curie Fellowships in Computer Vision - Reading Systems --------------------------------------------------------------- The Computer Vision Centre is looking for two researchers with excellent academic track record to work in the areas of reading systems. The Marie Curie fellows will become members of the Computer Vision Centre, in Barcelona, Spain, a research institute comprising more than 100 researchers and support staff, dedicated to computer vision research and knowledge transfer. The fellows will join a vibrant team of researchers pertaining to Consolidated Research Groups (SGRs) within the Catalan research system, with background on machine learning, reading systems, scene classification and object recognition. The P-SPHERE project is coordinated by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona with the participation of the Computer Vision Centre. It aims to foster excellence in the training, mobility and professional improvement of researchers. The fellowship is co-financed by the P-SPHERE project, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND action financed through the H2020 framework. ** Positions The two fellowships advertised here are linked to the Document Analysis Group (DAG). The successful candidates will work on reading systems, capable to detect and recognise textual information in either: 1. Images in challenging conditions such as urban scenery, born-digital images, videos and images recorded with wearable devices. 2. Images of historical documents stored in archives and libraries. The Marie Curie fellows are expected to align their research to the research priorities of the host group and develop their research plan in one of the following areas: Scene text localisation, object proposals for text, script identification, word spotting, handwriting recognition, language models, deep network architectures for robust reading, camera-based document image analysis, human-document interaction, information extraction, context-aware recognition (syntactic and semantic recognition), indexation in large scale document collections, among others. ** Candidate´s profile A PhD in computer science or a related field is required. The applicants must have experience in pattern recognition and machine learning techniques, and be able to demonstrate strong analytical and programming skills. Prior research experience in computer vision, and publications in top computer vision journals and conferences will be highly valued. The applicants are expected to be fluent in both oral and written communication in English. They should work well in a team, while demonstrating initiative and independence. Candidates should have been awarded their PhD before the call deadline and must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the call deadline. The official application period will open during September 2016. ** Research contact Dimosthenis Karatzas (dimos@cvc.uab.es), Josep Llados (josep@cvc.uab.es), Alicia Fornes (afornes@cvc.uab.es). More information: http://www.uab.cat/psphere/ (fresh information will be available from September onwards) http://www.cvc.uab.es ============================================================================ ========== Call for Contributions ========================================== This newsletter needs your support in order to provide useful information to the TC11 community. Therefore, please contribute relevant news by sending a short notice to the newsletter editor Gernot A. Fink . Such news could be the obvious announcements of conferences and workshops, job opportunities, reports on past conferences, book reviews, or anything that might be of interest to a wider audience involved in the construction of reading systems. ============================================================================ ========== Subscription Information ======================================== This newsletter is sent to subscribers of the IAPR TC11 mailing list. To manage your subscription, please visit the mailing list homepage at: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=IAPR-TC11 The homepage for IAPR TC11 is http://www.iapr-tc11.org ============================================================================