[agents] AAMAS 2016 Workshop Call

[Adrian Pearce]

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AAMAS 2016
CALL FOR WORKSHOPS
http://sis.smu.edu.sg/aamas2016?itemid=9906
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AAMAS-2016 invites proposals for the Workshop Program, to be held on May 9-10, 2016, immediately prior to the technical AAMAS conference. The objective of the AAMAS-2016 workshop program is to stimulate and facilitate discussion, interaction, and comparison of approaches, methods, and ideas related to specific topics, both theoretical and applied, in the general area of Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems. The AAMAS-2016 workshops will provide an informal setting where participants will have the opportunity to discuss specific technical topics in an atmosphere that fosters the active exchange of ideas.

All members of the AAMAS community are invited to submit workshop proposals for review. We encourage workshops that focus on emerging topics and applications, on open research questions and challenges, and on broader topics that are of interest to a wider community. 

Workshops can vary in length from half a day to two days, though we expect most to be one full day in duration. As attendance will be limited to registered participants, workshop organisers and attendees must register for their workshop, whose fee will be separate from the main conference fee. Workshop attendees do not need to register for the main AAMAS conference, but are encouraged to do so. AAMAS-2016 reserves the right to cancel workshops whose attendance does not support their running costs.
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AAMAS-2016 is happy to announce that selected workshop papers will be published by Springer under two books. The aim of these books is to encourage innovative and visionary papers, even if their research work is still at a preliminary stage, as well as encourage the submission of good quality papers in general to all AAMAS-2016 workshops. To achieve these aims, the first book will be a compilation of the most visionary papers of the AAMAS-2016 Workshops, where one paper will be selected from each AAMAS-2016 workshop. This book will be published under Springer's Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) - Hot Topics series. The second book will be a compilation of the best papers of the AAMAS-2016 Workshops, where again one paper (different from the selected visionary paper) will be selected from each AAMAS-2016 workshop. This second book will be published under Springer's Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) series. By submitting a workshop proposal the workshop organisers commit to perform this selection in collaboration with the Workshop Co-chairs.


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Important Dates
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*** Strict Dates

When submitting workshop proposals, the organisers commit to respect the following deadlines.

- October 16, 2015: Deadline for workshop proposal submission
- November 6, 2015: Acceptance notification
- March 10, 2016: Deadline for sending two nominated "visionary papers" and two nominated "best papers" to the AAMAS-2016 Workshop Co-chairs
- April 8, 2016: Deadline for sending the AAMAS-2016 Workshop Co-chairs: (1) the LATEX files of the  agreed upon "visionary paper" and the agreed upon "best paper"; and (2) the PDF of the workshop proceedings, together with a list of audio-visual requirements and any special room requirements.
- May 9-10, 2016: AAMAS-2016 Workshop days

*** Suggested Dates

Although we do not require all workshops to follow the same timeline for issuing their call for papers, paper submission, acceptance notification, and camera ready submission, we strongly suggest the following dates to ensure workshop organisers meet the strict deadlines above, especially those on March 10 and April 8, 2016. 

- November 30, 2015: Deadline to post, disseminate, and publicise the workshop's 1st call for papers
- December 18, 2015: Deadline to post, disseminate, and publicise the workshop's 2nd call for papers
- January 11, 2016: Deadline to post, disseminate, and publicise the workshop's 3rd call for papers
- January 26, 2016: Acceptance notification for the AAMAS-2016 conference papers
- February 1, 2016: Deadline for paper submissions to the workshop
- March 7, 2016: Deadline for announcing accepted papers by the workshop
- March 10, 2016: Deadline for collecting camera-ready papers (including latex files) from authors


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Requirements for submission
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The workshop proposals should be submitted electronically as a single PDF file through the Easychair system. The submission website is https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aamas2016workshops

Proposals for workshops should be a maximum of five pages in length, and should contain the following information:

1- Title and acronym of the workshop.

2- A brief technical description of the workshop, specifying the workshop's goals, the technical issues that it will address, the relevance of the workshop to the main conference, together with a brief discussion of why and to whom the workshop is of interest.

3- A preliminary workshop format and a proposed schedule for organising the workshop, including the desired length for the workshop (usually 1 full day). Please include a brief description of how the organisers intend to encourage an atmosphere appropriate for a workshop, and indicate whether you intend to have any activities other than contributed talks (e.g., invited talks, panels, or posters). 

4- A list of related workshops held within the last three years, if any, and their relation to the proposed workshop. Please include, when information is available: when and where they have been offered in the past (i.e., with AAMAS or another conference), organisers' names and affiliations, number of submitted/accepted papers, approximate attendance numbers, and follow-up publications (e.g., journal special issues). 
For workshops that have had previous editions (even if they had different titles and were not held with AAMAS), include a list of URLs of the websites of the previous editions. 

5- Description of the paper review process and acceptance standards.

6- The names, affiliations, URLs, and email addresses of the proposed workshop organisers. This committee must consist of two to four people knowledgeable about the technical issues to be addressed. The organising committee should include individuals from multiple institutions, spreading across different regions. By submitting the workshop proposal, the organisers commit to fulfilling their responsibilities, outlined below in the "Responsibilities" section. 

7- The name of the primary contact for the organising committee.

8- Mini CVs of the organising committee members, focusing on the qualifications of the individual committee members with respect to organising an AAMAS workshop, and including a list of key publications demonstrating scholarship in the field and a list of workshops previously arranged, if any. Note that strong proposals should include organisers who bring differing perspectives to the workshop topic and who are actively connected to the communities of potential participants.

9- A list of potential program committee members, including their titles and affiliations.

10- A tentative list of places (distribution lists, websites, journals, etc.) where the workshop is planned to be advertised.

11- If available, a list of tentatively confirmed attendees.


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Selection criteria
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The selection of workshops for the final program will be based upon multiple factors, including the scientific/technical interest of the topics in relation to the AAMAS community, the clarity of the proposal in addressing the requested information, the innovative character of workshop topics, the cross-disciplinary nature of the workshop, the capacity of the organisers in leading a successful workshop, and the capacity of the conference workshop program. Please note that AAMAS may request proposers addressing similar or overlapping content areas to merge their proposals.


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Responsibilities
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*** For all accepted proposals, AAMAS will be responsible for: 

- Providing publicity for the workshop series as a whole.
- Providing logistic support and a meeting place for the workshop.
- Together with the organisers, determining the workshop date and time.

AAMAS reserves the right to cancel workshops, for example in case of a low number of registrants.

*** Workshop organisers will be responsible for:

- Replying promptly to email messages from the AAMAS-2016 Workshop Co-chairs.
- Setting up a website for the workshop and providing its URL to the Workshop Co-chairs.
- Adding the following text to the workshop's call for papers, preferably under a section on "proceedings":
"The most 'visionary paper' will be published by Springer in a book under the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) - Hot Topics series. The book will be a compilation of the most visionary papers of the AAMAS-2016 Workshops, where one paper will be selected from each AAMAS-2016 workshop.
Additionally, the 'best paper' will be published by Springer in a book under the Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) series. The book will be a compilation of the best papers of the AAMAS-2016 Workshops, where one paper will be selected from each AAMAS-2016 workshop."
- Authors of the selected most visionary paper and the best paper are expected to provide their latex files promptly upon request.
- Advertising the workshop and issuing the call for papers and the call for participation promptly, as per the suggested dates above.
- Collecting and evaluating submissions, notifying authors of acceptance or rejection on a timely basis, and ensuring a transparent and fair selection process.
- All workshop organisers are strongly advised to adopt the suggested deadlines for paper submissions, notifications of acceptance, and camera ready submissions, as per the suggested dates above.
- Sending two nominated "visionary papers" and two nominated "best papers" to the AAMAS-2016 Workshop Co-chairs by March 10, 2016 the latest. Please note this is a strict deadline. Workshop organisers shall also collaborate with the Workshop Co-chairs in the selection process of their workshop's  "visionary paper" and "best paper".
- Sending the latex files of the  agreed upon "visionary paper" and the agreed upon "best paper" to the AAMAS-2016 Workshop Co-chairs by April 8, 2016 the latest. Please note this is a strict deadline. 
- Making the PDF of the workshop proceedings available to the AAMAS-2016 Workshop Co-chairs by April 8, 2016, together with a list of audio-visual requirements and any special room requirements. Please note this is a strict deadline. For the proceedings, no shared latex format is required but \documentclass{proc} is encouraged.
- Ensuring that the workshop organisers and the participants register for the workshop and are invited to register to the main conference. Please note that at least one author must register for the workshop in order for a paper to appear in the workshop proceedings. 
- Devising a schedule that meshes with shared breaks (coffee and lunch).
- Coordinating and moderating workshop participation and content.

AAMAS reserves the right to cancel any workshop if the above responsibilities are not fulfilled.


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Inquiries
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Please send any inquiries to the AAMAS-2016 Workshop Co-chairs:

Nardine Osman [nardine at iiia.csic.es]
Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC), Spain

Carles Sierra [sierra at iiia.csic.es]
Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC), Spain