Call for Participation:

            BCS-IRSG European Colloquium on IR Research 


                          April 4-6, 2001

                        in Darmstadt, Germany



    The colloquium on information retrieval research provides an
    opportunity for both new and established researchers to present
    papers describing work in progress or final results. These
    Colloquia were established by the BCS IRSG (British Computer
    Society Information Retrieval Specialist Group), and named the
    Annual Colloquium on Information Retrieval Research.  Recently, the
    location of the colloquium has alternated between the United
    Kingdom and continental Europe.  To reflect the growing European
    orientation of the event, the 23rd Colloquium in the series will be
    renamed The 23rd BCS European Annual Colloquium on Information
    Retrieval Research.  This event is hosted by GMD Forschungszentrum
    Informationstechnik mbH, and co-sponsored by the BCS IRSG and GI
    FG-IR, its German counterpart.

    Topics

    Contributions to the programme will address (at the theoretical,
    methodological, system or application level) the analysis, design
    or evaluation of functions like

    Indexing
    Information Extraction
    Data Mining
    Browsing
    Retrieval and Filtering
    User Interaction

    for the following types of documents and databases:

    Monomedia documents (e.g. text, images, audio, voice, video)
    Composite documents
    Multimedia documents
    Hypermedia documents
    Active documents
    Distributed documents and databases
    Digital Libraries
    the Web

    Location

    Up until now the BCS IRSG Colloquium has had a venue focus on the
    Britsh Isles, with the exception of Grenoble. Darmstadt
    will be a move to central Europe. Darmstadt prides itself on being
    a "City of Science", and is well-suited as conference venue for a
    number of reasons:

    Situated just south of Frankfurt in the Rhine-Main area, Darmstadt
    offers excellent access and technical infrastructure. It is also
    close to important tourist attractions (such as Heidelberg,  Mainz,
    Würzburg, Marburg, the Rhine River, and the forests of the
    Palatinate, Odenwald and Spessart), several thermal spas
    (Wiesbaden, Bad Dürkheim, Bad Ems, Baden Baden), and the largest as
    well as one of the smallest German wine-growing regions
    (Rheinhessen and Bergstraße)

    The Darmstadt University of Technology (TUD) and the Darmstadt
    University of Applied Sciences (FHD) together have a total
    of about 26 000 students from all over the world; in addition about
    twenty public and private research institutions are located in the
    "City of Sciences" Darmstadt. Among them are such important names
    as the GMD-German National Research Center for Information
    Technology, which will co-host ECDL 2001, the Institute for
    Computer Graphics (Fraunhofer Institut für Graphische
    Datenverarbeitung), the Heavy Ion Research Center GSI, and the
    European Space Operations Center ESA/ESOC.  Software companies and
    IT providers have chosen Darmstadt as their headquarters or as
    locations for major divisions, employing a total of more than 3000
    people. This includes SAG Software AG, Danet, Deutsche Telekom AG
    Development Center, T-online, and Computer Associates, but also
    many small and start-up companies.

    Reachability and Infrastructure

    From Frankfurt Airport, the busiest airport in continental Europe,
    Darmstadt can be reached by shuttle bus in less than half an
    hour. It is connected to the German railroad system (DB), offering
    easy access to the main hubs of Frankfurt, Mannheim, and Mainz with
    all major European connections. Darmstadt can also be reached by
    the motorway. There is sufficient hotel capacity of all categories
    available and many more places are within reach by public
    transportation.

    Venue

    The conference will be located at GMD's Integrated Publication and
    Information Systems Institute, GMD-IPSI, approx. 10
    minutes walk from the Darmstadt train station. The building offers
    a fully equipped lecture hall with up to 100 seats, and several
    smaller rooms with capacities of 10 - 40 seats.  For lunch, a
    nearby cafeteria  and many restaurants offer  moderate prices (GBP
    3 - 6). Refreshments for coffee breaks will be served in the
    conference building.

    Social events

    Conference Dinner
    A conference dinner will be organized on the evening of the first day.
    The  event will take place in the oldest restaurant in the city
    centre of Darmstadt.
    Reception
    There will be a reception in the evening of the second day.

    Exhibitions

    We invite interested companies active in document and knowledge management to show their products and latest
developments.
    A special industrial session on products and applications - as well as experiences - will be considered.

    Any queries regarding exhibitions should be sent to:
    [log in to unmask]


    Colloquium Committee

    Ulrich Thiel, GMD-IPSI (Germany) (general chair)

    Norbert Fuhr, University of Dortmund (Germany) (programme chair)

    Christoph Baumgarten, Eurospider (Switzerland)
    Micheline Beaulieu, University of Sheffield (UK)
    Fabio Crestani, University of Strathclyde (UK)
    Mark Dunlop, University of Strathclyde (UK)
    Hans-Peter Frei, Infocons (Switzerland)
    Pia Borlund Jorgensen, Royal School of Librarianship (Denmark)
    Mounia Lalmas, University of London (UK)
    Monica Landoni, University of Strathclyde (UK)
    Massimo Melucci, Universita di Padova (Italy)
    Josiane Mothe, Universite Paul Sabatier TOULOUSE III (France)
    Mark Sanderson, University of Sheffield (UK)
    Fabrizio Sebastiani, IEI-CNR (Italy)
    Alan Smeaton, Dublin City University (Ireland)
    Theo P. van der Weide, University of Nijmwegen (Netherlands)
    Christa Womser-Hacker, University of Hildesheim (Germany)

    Further details

    For further details regarding registration form, travel, programme of
    events etc. see
    the ECIR page URL: http://www.darmstadt.gmd.de/ECIR01/

    IMPORTANT DATES

    Paper submission: 20 December 2000.
    Notification of acceptance: 20 February 2001.
    Final copy due: 15 March 2001.
    Conference: 4-6 April 2001

    FEES

      Fees (not including accomodation) are EUR 180 (GBP 110), special rates
      for students are EUR 104 (GBP 65)),
       and EUR 145 (GBP 90) for members of the participating organisations
      BCS, GI). In addition, CEPIS travel grants are available for
      students.




    CONTACTS

    If you have any questions or problems concerning the colloquium,
    please contact:

    Dr. Ulrich Thiel
    GMD-IPSI
    Dolivostr. 15
    64293 Darmstadt
    Germany

    Tel.  ++49 (0) 6151  869 855
    Fax: ++49 (0) 6151   869 6968
    email: [log in to unmask]