# IAPR TC-11 (Reading Systems) Newsletter ## April, 2024 **Online, phone-friendly version:** [April 2024 Newsletter](http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=IAPR_TC11_Newsletter_2024_04) **TC-11:** [TC-11 Homepage](http://www.iapr-tc11.org)    **X (Twitter):** [iapr_tc11](https://twitter.com/iapr_tc11) ### TABLE OF CONTENTS - Message from the Editor - Dates and Deadlines - Deadlines - Upcoming Conferences and Events - Open Call for Organizing DAR Events *(repost)* - TPDL 2024 - Call for Papers *(repost - updated deadlines)* - DAS 2024 - Call for Papers *(repost - updated deadlines)* - PhD Student Position in Computer Vision in Basel, Switzerland - Datasets - TC11 Datasets Repository - Recently published datasets *(repost)* - Where to share datasets Message from the Editor ======================= Dear TC11 members, This light newsletter issue includes reposts of calls for papers for DAS workshop, TPDL conference, both with updated deadlines for long and short papers. We also re-post here the open call for organizing our major DAR events that will be held in the coming years. Find also in this issue a new and interesting job offer for a PhD position in Computer Vision (ancient handwritten documents) in Basel, Switzerland. Finally, please have a look at the "Dates and Deadlines" section to see the updated deadlines. **Nibal Nayef, TC11 Communication Officer** ( ) **Join us!** If you are not already a member of the TC11 community, please consider joining the [TC11 mailing list](https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=iapr-tc11&A=1). **Follow us on X (Twitter) (iapr\_tc11):** Dates and Deadlines =================== Deadlines --------- **2024** - **May 7** Full paper Submission for TPDL 2024 - **May 10** Full paper submission for DAS 2024 - **May 17** Short paper Submission for TPDL 2024 - **June 15** Tutorial submission for ICPR 2024 - **June 17** Short Papers/Demos submission for DAS 2024 Upcoming Conferences and Events ------------------------------- **2024** - [ICPRAI 2024](https://brain.korea.ac.kr/icprai2024/). Jeju Island, South Korea (June 18-21, 2024) - [TPDL 2024](https://tpdl2024.nuk.si/). Ljubljana, Slovenia (September 24-27, 2024) - [ICDAR 2024](https://icdar2024.net/). Athens, Greece (August 30 - September 4, 2024) - [ICPR 2024](https://icpr2024.org/). Kolkata, India (December 01-05, 2024) Open Call for Organizing DAR Events *(repost)* ============================================== The IAPR technical committees on graphics recognition (TC10) and reading systems (TC11) are regularly organizing scientific events for the Document Analysis and Recognition (DAR) community, including the ICDAR flagship conference. In addition to specific calls for bids to host one of the events, we encourage teams to announce their interest in organizing one of the following events: - **ICDAR**: International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (annually; next possibility in **2027**) - **DAS**: International Workshop on Document Analysis Systems (satellite event of ICDAR in even years; next possibility in **2026**) - **GREC**: International Workshop on Graphics Recognition (satellite event of ICDAR in odd years; next possibility in **2025**) - **SSDA**: Summer School on Document Analysis (biannually in odd years; next possibility in **2025**) You may find the details of each specific call in the previous or future issues of this newsletter or in the respective websites of each event. Anyone interested in hosting one of these events is invited to announce their interest via email to and , in order to receive feedback and support for preparing a proposal. **Jean-Christophe Burie (Chair, TC10)** **Andreas Fischer (Chair, TC11)** TPDL 2024 - Call for Papers *(repost - updated deadlines)* ========================================================== This is a call for research papers for the 28th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL), which will be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia between 24-27 September 2024. Website: https://tpdl2024.nuk.si/ Submission link: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TPDL2024 TPDL is an international forum focused on digital libraries and their associated technical, practical, and social issues. The conference encompasses the many meanings of the term "digital libraries," embracing the whole spectrum of the LAM (Library, Archive, and Museum) community; operational information systems with all manner of digital content; new means of selecting, collecting, organizing, and distributing digital content; and theoretical models of information media, including document genres and electronic publishing. In 2024, TPDL is expanding its scope to prominently include Document Analysis/Recognition and Information Retrieval, acknowledging the vital role of those research areas in the creation (by means of digitization and information extraction from heterogeneous sources), access, discovery, and dissemination of digital content. This includes exploring innovative approaches to document image analysis and recognition, search algorithms, data retrieval, user engagement, and personalized content delivery within digital libraries, making these two areas central themes for this year's conference. **Participants.** Representatives from academia, cultural heritage institutions, government, industry, research communities, research infrastructures, and others are invited to participate in this annual conference. The conference draws from various research areas including computer science, information science, data science, librarianship, archival science and practice, museum studies and practice, technology, social sciences, cultural heritage, digital humanities, and the scientific communities. **Location.** TPDL 2024 is hosted by the National and University Library of Slovenia and will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 24 to 27 September 2024. This is an in-person event. This choice does not exclude the possibility of following talks online, but authors of accepted papers are strongly encouraged to come and present in person. We aim to encourage discussion formally after a paper presentation and informally during social events and coffee breaks. A selection of the best papers will be invited to submit an extended version to the International Journal of Digital Libraries. **Important Dates** Note that all deadlines are 23:59 (11:59 pm) in the AoE (Anywhere on Earth) time zone on the date specified. - Submission deadline for Full Papers: 7 May 2024 - Submission deadline for Short Papers: 14 May 2024 - Notification for Full Papers: 12 July 2024 - Camera-ready submission: 26 July 2024 - Conference: 24-27 September 2024 Topics in 2024 include but are not limited to, theories, models, standards, tools, and applications on the following themes: \* **Publishing Science**: FAIR Data and Software, Research Objects, Nanopublications, Digital Preservation and Curation, Supporting Science, Reproducibility, Metadata Standards, Research Data Management, Research Output Management. - **Data Management and Discovery**: Data Search and Discovery in Digital Libraries, Data Citation and Credit Distribution, Data Lifecycle Management (creation, store, share, reuse), Data Provenance and Documentation, Linked Data and Open Data Platforms, Data Repositories and Archives, Data Stewardship and Governance, Data Integration and Harmonization. - **Monitoring and Assessment of Science**: Science of Science Studies, Scientometrics and Bibliometrics, Scholarly Communication Knowledge Graphs, Impact Analysis in Scientific Research. - **Knowledge Creation and Dissemination**: AI and Machine Learning Applications in Digital Libraries, Knowledge Bases and Organizational Systems, Entity Extraction and Semantic Linking, Ontology Development and Usage, Data as collection. - **Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage**: Digital Cultural Heritage Preservation, Computational Linguistics and Digital Terminology, Digital Methods in History and Archaeology, Knowledge Organization in the Humanities, Digital Interfaces for Humanities Research, Digital Repatriation, Indigenous data, governance, and sovereignty. - **Human-Computer Interaction in Digital Libraries**: Design and Evaluation of User Interfaces, User Experience and Participation in Digital Libraries, Information Visualization and Analytics, Interaction Design for Diverse User Groups. - **Information Retrieval**: Advanced Search Algorithms and Techniques, Semantic Search and Indexing, User-Centric Information Retrieval Design, Information Retrieval System Evaluation, Multimodal and Multilingual Information Access, Information Behavior and Interaction in Digital Libraries. - **Document Analysis and Recognition**: Document Image Analysis and Recognition for Digital Libraries, Physical and Logical Layout Analysis, Historical Document Analysis, Document Semantics Extraction, Natural Language Processing for Document Analysis. **Contribution Types** Research Papers (12 - 15 pages + unlimited references) present high-quality, original research of relevance to the TPDL community. Submissions should detail their methods and techniques sufficiently to enable replication and reuse. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings and presented as long conference talks. Practitioner Papers (12 - 15 pages + unlimited references) present high-quality applied work of relevance to the TPDL community. Submissions should focus on results of direct relevance to practitioners and institutions in the TPDL community. Methods, tools, and techniques should be detailed sufficiently to enable application by other institutions. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings and presented as long conference talks. Short and Prototype Papers (6 - 8 pages + unlimited references) present high-quality, original research or tools or applications that are of relevance to the TPDL community. Submissions should present more focused or smaller studies, for example, preliminary results, ongoing work, or late-breaking results. Prototypes should ideally include a link to where the tool or application is available. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Short papers are presented as short conference talks, while prototype papers are presented with a poster and a demonstration. **Submission Guidelines** Submissions should detail their methods and techniques sufficiently to enable replication and reuse. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings and presented as long conference talks. Papers must be in the Springer LNCS style: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines Submission link: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/TPDL2024 **Program chairs** Apostolos Antonacopoulos, University of Salford, United Kingdom Annika Hinze, University of Waikato, New Zealand Benjamin Piwowarski, CNRS / Sorbonne Université, France DAS 2024 - Call for Papers *(repost - updated deadlines)* ========================================================= Document Analysis System (DAS) will be organized as a satellite workshop in conjunction with ICDAR 2024. Join us at DAS 2024 to explore the cutting-edge of document analysis technologies! This workshop is an unparalleled opportunity for researchers, practitioners, and technology enthusiasts to engage in a forward-looking discourse on document analysis systems' evolution and future directions. We welcome papers and demos in the many categories listed [here](https://das2024.seecs.edu.pk/submission.html), according to Springer formatting guidelines: - Full papers (12-15 pages) for comprehensive research findings - Short papers (6-8 pages) for research in progress, and novel ideas - Demos. Must be accompanied by a short paper (6-8 pages) - Demos for Accepted ICDAR papers (4-8 pages) highlighting the application and technical detail of the accepted paper **Important Dates** - Full Paper submission: May 10, 2024 (23:59 AoE) - Full Paper Acceptance notification: June 03, 2024 - Full Papers Camera-ready: June 10, 2024 (23:59 AoE) - Short Papers/Demos Submission: June 17, 2024 (23:59 AoE) - Short Papers/Demos Acceptance Notification: June 27, 2024 - Short Papers Camera-ready: July 02, 2024 (23:59 AoE) For more details, please have a look at the following link: https://das2024.seecs.edu.pk/submission.html We are looking forward to your excellent contributions! DAS Organizing Committee PhD Student Position in Computer Vision in Basel, Switzerland ============================================================= The Department of Ancient Civilizations of the University of Basel invites applications for one PhD student position (100%) in computer vision for 3 years on the topic of offline to online conversion of historical handwritings within the SNSF-funded research project: 'Egrapsa: Retracing the evolutions of handwritings in Greco-Roman Egypt thanks to digital palaeography'. - Deadline for application: May 15, 2024 - Start date: September 01, 2024 (ideally) - Work location: Basel (Switzerland) - Salary: approx. 50,000 Swiss francs per year The interviews are expected to take place beginning of May online via Zoom. **The project** Papyri preserved by the dry climate of Egypt are an unparalleled source of information about the ancient world. However, their large number, diversity and current dispersion have impeded a comprehensive grasp of their nature and content. In particular, palaeography, the study of handwritings that has the potential to unveil where, when, and by whom a text was written, still relies on experts' assertions that rarely reach consensus. New technological advances in computer science, notably in computer vision and natural language processing now allow building the big picture of the writing culture of Greco-Roman Egypt and developing scientific analyses of scripts. Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation for five years, the starting grant project EGRAPSA (literally "I have written" in Ancient Greek) aims at providing a new theoretical framework to the palaeography of Greek papyri. Starting from sound evidence, it aims at retracing the evolutions of handwritings, generating a model that, in turn, can contribute to organizing the papyrological documentation in a coherent panorama, improving the solidity of dates and writer identifications made on palaeographical grounds. The ground-breaking dimension of the project is to encompass the entire papyrological documentation in its full complexity to measure similarities and explain evolutions by focusing on the reconstruction of the dynamics of writing, thus to literally re-trace handwritings. For further information, see the project website d-scribes.org. **Your assignments** The PhD student will be fully funded for a period of three years, be registered as a PhD student at the University of Basel, and work under the co-supervision of Prof. Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello (Department of Ancient Civilizations) and of Prof. Ivan Dokmanić (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science) with support from the Center for Data Analytics (CeDA). The PhD dissertation project will focus on how to experimentally capture hypothetical ductus (stroke order and direction of writing) reconstructed by experts and to design deep learning pipelines as well as experimental protocols to acquire and compare ductus reconstitutions. Moreover, the PhD student will take part in the team's discussions on the history and evolutions of Greek handwritings across a millennium. She/he will help organize -- jointly with the team -- a number of workshops and conferences, participate in outreach activities of the project and present her/his research at scientific meetings. **Your profile** Applicants should hold a Master's degree in Computer Vision or related fields with grades above average (Master's thesis must be completed by the start of the position), be highly motivated to conduct innovative transdisciplinary research at the intersections of Artificial Intelligence, Kinematics, Digital Humanities and Ancient History, have an excellent command of at least English, and be able to work autonomously within an internationally and institutionally diverse environment. **We offer you** The project is based in the Department of Ancient Civilizations and conducted in collaboration with the Center for Data Analytics led by Prof. Ivan Dokmanić at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The collaborative nature of the project ensures that the successful candidate will be immersed in a stimulating machine learning research environment, with cutting-edge infrastructure for high-performance computing provisioned by sciCORE -- the Center for Scientific Computing. The salary and employment conditions will be those of PhD students at the University of Basel. **Application / Contact** Applicants should submit a motivation letter, a current CV (including a list of publications if applicable), a text sample of a research paper (MA-thesis or other), and a copy of their academic degrees via the online application portal of the University (see button below) until ***15 May 2024***. Please also indicate the name and address of ***two*** possible referees. Applications that are not submitted via the University's online application portal will not be considered. Questions about the position can be addressed to Prof. Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello, SNSF Project leader Egrapsa, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, CH - 4051 Basel (i.marthot-santaniello\@unibas.ch). We look forward to receiving your complete application. Datasets ======== TC11 Datasets Repository ------------------------ ### Recently published datasets *(repost)* **RIMES** datasets collection - Contributed: 2024-03-14 - Keywords: OCR, Handwritten Text Recognition, RIMES, Document Image Analysis, Information Extraction, Writer recognition, Document Structure Identification - URL: https://zenodo.org/records/10812725 Handwritings Datasets for Urdu & English (**IPC-WritDAR**) - Contributed: 2024-03-25 - Keywords: Handwriting, Urdu, English, Writer Identification, Biometrics Identification, Document Analysis - URL: https://tc11.cvc.uab.es/datasets/IPC-WritDAR\_1 Urdu Artificial Text Dataset (**IPC-ArtifDAR**) - Contributed: 2024-03-25 - Keywords: Urdu, Caption Text Detection, Artificial Text, Text Localization - URL: https://tc11.cvc.uab.es/datasets/IPC-ArtifDAR\_1 ### Where to share datasets Did you know it? We have two official places for datasets: - Our historical platform for storage and listing: http://datasets.iapr-tc11.org - A Zenodo community (if you choose to submit your datasets there): https://zenodo.org/communities/iapr-tc11 TC11 maintains a collection of datasets that can be found online in the [TC11 Datasets Repository](http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Datasets). If you have new datasets (e.g., from competitions) that you wish to share with the research community, please use the [online upload form](http://tc11.cvc.uab.es/upload/). For questions and support, please contact the TC11 Dataset Curator (contact information is below). **Joseph Chazalon (TC11 Dataset Curator)** ( ) Contributions and Subscriptions ================================== **Call for Contributions:** To contribute news items, please send a short email to the editor, [Nibal Nayef](mailto:n.nayef@gmail.com). Contributions might include conference and workshop announcements or reports, job opportunities, book reviews, or anything else of interest to the TC11 community. **Subscription:** This newsletter is sent to subscribers of the IAPR TC11 mailing list. To join the TC11 mailing list, please click on [this link](https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=iapr-tc11&A=1). To manage your subscription, please visit the [mailing list homepage](https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=IAPR-TC11). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IAPR TC11 HOMEPAGE: [http://www.iapr-tc11.org](http://www.iapr-tc11.org) The IAPR is the International Association for Pattern Recognition. IAPR's Technical Committee No. 11 (TC11) includes researchers and practitioners working with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and more generally the analysis and recognition of information in documents.