CFP: Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS)

The AAMAS 2012 Organizing Committee invites proposals for the Workshop Program, which will be held on June 4-5, 2012. The main goal of the AAMAS Workshop Program is to stimulate and facilitate active exchange, interaction, and comparison of approaches, methods, and ideas related to specific topics, both theoretical and applied, in the general area of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems. Workshops should be organized to facilitate informal discussion, active engagement and interaction amongst attendees. Members from all areas of the AAMAS community are invited to submit workshop proposals for review. Workshops on new, emerging topics or specific relevant aspects of broader topics are encouraged. The length of individual workshops will either be half-day or full-day. Workshop organizers and attendees must register for their workshop and preferably also for the main AAMAS conference.

Requirements for submissions

To propose a workshop for AAMAS 2012, please prepare a complete workshop proposal in PDF format. The document should be 5-8 pages in length, using 10-point font (or larger). The page limit is 8 pages. The document must contain the following required elements:

1) Title of the workshop

2) Abstract
Provide a brief version (400 words or less) of the workshop description (see below).

3) Workshop Description
The workshop description should address each of the following items:

• the technical issue(s) that the workshop will address: what issues will be discussed in this workshop?
• the relevance of the workshop to the main conference: why is this workshop of interest to AAMAS attendees?
• the significance of the workshop: why is this workshop important?
• the uniqueness of the workshop: how is this workshop different from other AAMAS workshop offerings in past years?
• the expected audience: who will attend this workshop? what is the expected number of attendees?
• rough agenda: indicate requested length of workshop (half-day or full-day) and anticipated number/length of paper presentations, invited talks, discussion periods, poster sessions

4) Workshop History
If applicable, provide the following information about previous offerings of the proposed workshop:

• when and where has the workshop been offered in the past?
• for each past workshop, please provide:

1. dates and venue
2. names and affiliations of organizers
3. number of submissions
4. number of acceptances
5. number of registered attendees
6. details on any post-proceedings

5) Related Workshops
Provide a list of related workshops held within the last 3 years, if any, and their relation to the proposed workshop.

6) Workshop Organizers
It is expected that organizers will be recognized experts in the field(s) of the proposed workshop, will take responsibility for making sure that submitted papers are reviewed appropriately and handled fairly, and will produce a workshop program representative of the area(s) described above.

Please designate one person as the CONTACT ORGANIZER with whom the Workshops Chair will correspond.

For each workshop organizer, please provide:

• full name
• professional affiliation and title
• email address
• postal address
• contact phone number
• qualifications as a workshop organizer (i.e., brief bio, 200 words or less)

7) Program Committee
It is expected that program committee members will be recognized experts in the field(s) of the proposed workshop, and that program committee members will take responsibility for reviewing papers submitted to the workshop.  The Program Committee should consist of individuals from multiple institutions and nations, representing a broad perspective.

For each program committee member, please provide:

• full name
• professional affiliation and title
• indication of this person's commitment to serve ("agreed", "invited-not-yet-accepted", or "not-yet-contacted")

8) Review Process
Describe the paper review process and acceptance standards.

9) Post-Proceedings
Describe any plans regarding post-proceedings (e.g., Springer volume, journal special issue, etc.).

10) Call for Papers
Include a draft of the "Call for Papers" for the proposed workshop.

Submissions

All proposals should be submitted via the EasyChair site.
Detailed information is listed on the Workshop Program home page
(http://agents.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/aamas12wp).

Submissions deadline

Wednesday November 9, 2011 (midnight Hawaii time)

Selection process

The selection of the workshops to be included in the final AAMAS program will be based upon multiple factors, including:

• the scientific/technical interest of the topics in relation to the anticipated AAMAS audience,
• the quality of the proposal,
• the balance and distinctness of topics across all workshops,
• the history of past attendance for non-first-time workshops, and
• the capacity of the conference workshop program.

Note that authors of proposals addressing similar and/or overlapping content areas and/or audiences may be requested to merge their proposals.

Proposers will be notified of the committee's decision no later than Wednesday December 7, 2011.


Responsibilities of AAMAS and of workshop organizers

For all accepted Workshops, AAMAS will be responsible for the following:

• Providing logistical support and a meeting room for the workshop
• Determining the workshop date and time, together with the organizers
• Providing an electronic version of workshop papers to participants

Workshop Organizers will be responsible for the following:
- Responding to email requests by the AAMAS organizers in a timely way
- Setting up a web site for the Workshop, and keeping the web site up-to-date with information about submissions and the workshop agenda, and electronic versions of accepted papers

• Advertising the workshop and issuing a call for papers and a call for participation
• Collecting and evaluating submissions, notifying authors of acceptance or rejection on a timely basis, and ensuring a transparent and fair selection process
• Providing one printable PDF file of all workshop papers to the AAMAS organizers by the date given (TBA)
• Ensuring that the workshop organizers and the participants register for the workshop and are invited to register to the main conference (at least one author must register for the workshop in order for a paper to appear in the workshop proceedings)
• Adhering to a set of common deadlines for the following:

       - Workshop paper submission
       - Notifications to authors of accepted/rejected papers
       - Submission of final ("camera-ready") papers to workshop organizers
       - Uploading of complete set of workshop papers

AAMAS reserves the right to cancel any workshop if the above responsibilities are not fulfilled, or if too few attendees register for the workshop.


Important dates
November 9, 2011: Workshop PROPOSAL submission
December 7, 2011: Notification of accepted PROPOSALS
tba, 2012: Workshop PAPER submission
tba, 2012: Notification of accepted PAPERS
tba, 2012: Camera-ready submission
tba, 2012: Uploading of Workshop Papers
JUNE 4-5, 2012: AAMAS 2012 Workshop Program

Questions
Please contact the AAMAS 2012 Workshops Chair:
Prof Elizabeth Sklar
Dept of Computer and Information Science
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
email: [email protected]