============================================================================ IAPR TC-11 Newsletter November 2014 http://www.iapr-tc11.org ========== Contents ======================================================== * Message from the Editor * Dates 'n' Deadlines - ICDAR 2015, Gammarath, Tunisia January 15, 2015 * New and Recently Published Datasets * Calls for Papers, Workshops, Hosting: - ICDAR 2015, Call for Papers January 15, 2015 - ICDAR 2015, Call for Workshop Proposals December 15 - DAS 2016, Call for Hosting Proposals, November 30 (repost) * Event Reports: - 3rd Int. Workshop on Automated Forensic Handwriting Analysis (AFHA 2014) * Call for Dataset Submissions * Call for Contributions ============================================================================ ========== Message from the Editor ========================================= Welcome to the November edition of our TC-11 newsletter. This edition brings to you an update on the Call for Papers for ICDAR 2015 as well as the Call for Workshop Proposals for the same conference (deadline December 15). Furthermore, you will find below a report on this year's AFHA 2014, the 3rd International Workshop on Automated Forensic Handwriting Analysis. Gernot A. Fink, IAPR TC-11 Newsletter Editor Gernot.Fink@udo.edu ============================================================================ ========== Dates 'n' Deadlines ============================================= Event/Location/Web: Event Date: Deadline (paper submission): ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- * ICDAR 2015, Gammarath, Tunisia August 23-26, 2015 January 15, 2015 (http://2015.icdar.org/) - Workshop proposals: December 15 - Tutorial proposals: December 15 - Competition proposals: December 15 * ICCV 2015, Santiago, Chile December 13-16, 2015 April 30, 2015 (http://pamitc.org/iccv15/) * ACPR 2015, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia November 3-6, 2015 June 1, 2015 (http://acpr2015.org/) * DRR 2015, San Francisco, USA February 11-12, 2015 - passed - (http://nlp.cs.byu.edu/drr2015) * CVPR 2015, Boston, United States June 8-10, 2015 - passed - (http://www.pamitc.org/cvpr15/) ============================================================================ ========== New and Recently Published: TC-11 Datasets ====================== For a list of all datasets available visit: http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Datasets_List ============================================================================ ========== Call for Papers: ICDAR 2015 ===================================== *** ICDAR 2015 - Call for Papers *** --- IAPR 13th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR 2015) --- *** Tunis, Tunisia *** 23-26 August 2015 http://2015.icdar.org/ *Important Dates:* * Workshops, Tutorials and Competitions Proposal Due: December 15, 2014 * Paper submission: January 15, 2015 * Acceptance: April 15, 2015 * Doctoral Consortium: April 15, 2015 * Camera-ready due: May 15, 2015 ICDAR 2015 Publication: IEEE *Plenary Speakers:* * Prof. David Doermann, Program Manager, DARPA, USA * Prof. Koichi Kise, Osaka Prefecture University, Japan * IAPR/ICDAR Outstanding Achievements Award Recipient (will be announced soon!) --------------------- ICDAR is the premier international forum for researchers and practitioners in the document analysis community for identifying, encouraging and exchanging ideas on the state-of-the-art technology in document analysis, understanding, retrieval, and performance evaluation. The term document in the context of ICDAR encompasses a broad range of documents from historical forms such as palm leaves and papyrus to traditional documents and modern multimedia documents. ICDAR 2015 is sponsored by the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR) and technically co-sponsored by TC-10 (Graphics Recognition), TC-11(Reading Systems), IEEE Computer Society (pending approval), IEEE Region 8 (pending approval), and Tunisian Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society. The conference program will include workshops, tutorials, competitions, and doctoral consortium, along with prominent keynote speakers and paper presentations. *~~~THEMES~~~* The conference includes the following themes: * Character and symbol recognition: /a) Alphanumeric characters b) Chemical, mathematical, shorthand symbols, etc. / * Printed/Handwritten text recognition: /a) Language and script recognition b) Text linguistics c) On-line specific problems / * Graphics analysis and recognition: /a) Map, drawing, diagram analysis b) Logos, stamp, etc. identification/characterisation / * Document analysis: /a) Basic processing (binarisation, enhancement, etc.) b) Segmentation (line, word, character, data stream,) c) Printed/handwriting separation d) Layout structure e) Form, table, bank check, postal address processing / * Document understanding: /a) Document information extraction (spotting, entity extraction, etc.) b) Mathematical, chemical expressions analysis c) Reverse engineering / * Digital libraries: /a) Standards and formats b) Retrieval for users c) Database generation d) Groundtruthing and evaluation / * Ancient/Historical documents:/a) Special digitization and enhancement b) Multi-manuscript Collections c) Applications / * Document based forensics: /a) Individuality of handwriting (writer identification, health related effects) b) Forgery detection c) Duplication detection d) Novel detection e) Signature analysis / * Born-digital document: /a) On-line handwriting, graphics, etc. b) Internet document processing / * Camera and video based scene text analysis: /a) Text-based image retrieval b) Navigation aid (Street images) c) Sign translation / * Document Imaging Systems: /a) Multi-/Hyper- Spectral images b) High Dynamic Range images/ *Proceedings:* _Registered_ and _Presented_ papers will be submitted for inclusion into IEEE Xplore as well as other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases. *Ranking:* ICDAR is ranked by CORE as a conference of category A (excellent conference). *Author Guidelines:* --------------------------------------------- Prospective authors are invited to submit original and high-quality work for presentation at the IAPR ICDAR 2015. Deadline: January 15, 2015. https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icdar2015 *Manuscript length*: 5 pages maximum. This is a strict page limit. *Single blind reviewing*: ICDAR 2015 follows a single-blind review process. Authors are required to include their names and affiliations in their papers as illustrated in the sample templates. Templates (Microsoft Word and LaTeX) can be found at the following link: http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html *~~~Call for Related Activities (Deadline: December 15, 2015)~~~* *Workshops:* Post-conference workshops offer a unique opportunity for in-depth discussions of specific topics in Document Analysis and Recognition. Researchers interested in organizing workshops are invited to send a proposal to the workshops chairs. http://2015.icdar.org/activities/workshops/ *Tutorials:* ICDAR 2015 will feature pre-conference tutorials addressing fundamental and advanced topics in Document Analysis and Recognition. Researchers interested in organizing tutorials are invited to submit a formal proposal. http://2015.icdar.org/activities/tutorials/ *Competitions:* Researchers interested in organizing competitions within the framework of the Conference are invited to submit proposals. Competitions should aim at evaluating the performance of algorithms and methods related to areas of document analysis and recognition. http://2015.icdar.org/activities/competitions/ *~~~**Sponsors & Exhibitions**~~~* We invite you to be a sponsor of the 13th ICDAR 2015 and thus play an essential role for the success of the conference. We expect to welcome more than 300 experts and researchers from all over the world and numerous high-ranking guests. Therefore, we anticipate extensive coverage of the event in the media. To take advantage of these opportunities and to help enhance them, corporations, research centers, universities and individuals are invited to become sponsors of ICDAR 2015. It will be a good opportunity to present your enterprise and your expertise to a distinguished audience. We are looking forward to a successful cooperation with you! http://2015.icdar.org/sponsors-exhibitors/sponsorship-exhibitor/ *~~~VENUE~~~* ICDAR 2015 will be held in RAMADA Plaza Tunis Hotel in Gammarth, 20 km from the main international airport in Tunisia (TUN). Beautifully positioned on an unspoiled sandy beach on the CA~Ltes de Carthage, the hotel is ideal for your business stay and a relaxing holiday. ICDAR 2015 will offer *FREE *Tunis Airport - Hotel transfer service for participants staying in the venue Hotel. Tunisia is known for its golden beaches, sunny weather, fabulous archaeological sites, upscale spa thalasso therapy, and affordable luxuries. It is now a democratic modern country in which liberty, peace and safety are guaranteed! All Tunisian people are here to welcome you and make you spend an unforgettable stay. *~~~COMMITTEE~~~* /*Honorary Chair:*/ Sebastiano Impedovo , University of Bari, Italy /*General Chairs:*/ Adel M. Alimi , University of Sfax, Tunisia Volker Ma"rgner , Technische Universita"t Braunschweig, Germany Jean-Marc Ogier , University of La Rochelle, France */Executive Chair:/* Haikal El Abed, GIZ, Technical Trainers College, Saudi Arabia /*Program Chairs:*/ Abdel BelaA~?d , University of Nancy 2, France Bidyut B. Chaudhuri , Indian Statistical Institute, India Mohamed Cheriet , ETS, Canada /*Tutorials Chairs:*/ Venu Govindaraju , University at Buffalo, USA Marcus Liwicki , Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Germany /*Workshops Chairs: */ Laurence Likforman-Sulem , Telecom Paris Tech, France Seiichi Uchida , Kyushu University, Japan /*Competitions Chairs: */ Apostolos Antonacopoulos , U. Salford, United Kingdom Umapada Pal , Indian Statistical Institute, India Liu Wenyin , City Univ. Hong Kong, Hong Kong /*Publicity Chairs: */ Michael Blumenstein , Griffith University, Australia Josep Llados , U. Autonoma Barcelona, Spain /*Sponsors & Exhibitions Chairs: */ Rolf Ingold , Univ. Fribourg, Switzerland Robert Sabourin , ETS, Canada *Local information contact:* Habib M. KAMMOUN REGIM-Lab., ENIS, University of Sfax Tunisia Phone: +216 55 414 610 e-mail: Habib.Kammoun@ieee.org ============================================================================ ========== Call for Workshop Proposals: ICDAR 2015 ========================= *Call for ICDAR 2015 Workshops* http://2015.icdar.org/activities/workshops/ Deadline: December 15th, 2014 Dates of workshops: Saturday 22 August-Sunday 23 August 2015 The ICDAR 2015 conference *www.icdar.org *is the main event in the field of Document Analysis and Recognition. ICDAR is organized by TC10 and TC11 technical committees of the IAPR. Post-conference workshops offer a unique opportunity for in-depth discussions of specific topics in Document Analysis and Recognition. The workshops should be moderated by scientists or professionals who have significant expertise and /or whose recent work has had a significant impact within their field. The format of each workshop will be up to the moderator, and can include interactive presentations as well as panel discussions among participants. These interactions should highlight exciting new developments and current research trends to facilitate a discussion of ideas that will drive the field forward in the coming years. Workshop organizers can prepare various materials including handouts or electronic resources that can be made available for distribution before or after the meeting. Researchers interested in organizing workshops are invited to send a proposal to the workshops chairs, including: - Title - Duration (1 or 2 days) - Scope and Motivation - Topics - Relevance for ICDAR - Potential program committee - Short Bio of Organizers - Estimated costs and the proposed registration fee. Note: Workshops are financially independent from the main conference. Workshop organizers bear full responsibility for budget. ICDAR 2015 organizers will help with the process of booking local arrangements and registration facilities. *Contacts:* - *Seiichi UCHIDA* (Kyushu University, Japan), E-mail: uchida@ait.kyushu-u.ac.jp - *Laurence LIKFORMAN* (Institut Mines-Telecom/Telecom ParisTech, France), E-mail: likforman@telecom-paristech.fr ============================================================================ ========== Call for Hosting Proposals: DAS 2016 (repost) =================== Dear all, We have still in our memory the wonderful and productive days in Tour during DAS 2014, organized by our colleagues Jean-Yves Ramel and Marcus Liwicki. Once again, many thanks to them as well as to the program chairs, Jean-Marc Orgier, Koichi Kise, and Ray Smith. More than 100 members of the international research community met in the Loire Valley for the 11th IAPR International Workshop on Document Analysis Systems in April this year. The DAS workshop has become one of the signature events for TC-11, and DAS 2014 builds on the tradition established by past DAS workshops held in Kaiserslautern, Germany (1994), Malvern, PA (1996), Nagano, Japan (1998), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2000), Princeton, NJ (2002), Florence, Italy (2004), Nelson, New Zealand (2006), Nara, Japan (2008), Boston, MA (2010), and Gold Coast, Australia (2012). Individuals and groups who are interested in Document Analysis Systems are now invited to submit proposals for organizing and hosting DAS 2016. The event should preferably take place in late summer/fall, but is not limited to this period. The call is now open! The submission deadline is November 30th, 2014. If you already know whether you are interested in preparing a proposal, please send me your expression of interest. Note that an expression of interest is not a commitment to make a formal proposal nor an official bid. If you need further information concerning DAS, please feel free to contact me. The final selection among competing proposals will be made short after the deadline by the DAS Steering Committee, which is composed of all those who have themselves organized or contributed substantially to past DAS workshops. I look forward to many bids. Best regards, Andreas Dengel ============================================================================ ========== Workshop Report: AFHA 2015 ======================================= Report on the 3rd International Workshop on Automated Forensic Handwriting Analysis (AFHA 2014) The 3rd International Workshop on Automated Forensic Handwriting Analysis was held on August 09-10, as a satellite workshop of the 2014 joint meeting of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners (ASQDE) and the Australasian Society of Forensic Document Examiners (ASFDE) in Hawaii, USA. The AFHA 2014 continued the approach of bringing together researchers in the fields of automated signature verification and handwriting analysis and experts from the forensic handwriting examination community. The program was organized as a single-track 2-day workshop. Different sessions were dedicated to specific topics related to automated forensic handwriting analysis. The program comprised of talks and panel discussions by well-known forensic scientists and PR researchers working in close collaboration with forensic experts. Explicit focus was on how forensic experts make comparisons, similarities versus differences, subjectivity, bias, natural variation, line quality, quality versus quantity; what forensic experts need from the document analysis community; what the document analysis community needs to understand about the work of a FHE; existing systems and system problems; application of the Bayesian approach to the evaluation of evidence (i.e., using the Likelihood Ratios as measure of the strength of evidence), and reporting by means of a verbal conclusion scale. The state-of-the-art of automatic handwriting/signature analysis systems was also put forward, with the emphasis on the internal working of these systems. The workshop had various sessions reserved for plenary the plenary discussions. These sessions helped people from the two communities, PR and forensics, to discuss their ideas in detail. It was suggested that FHEs should encourage the use of more and more automated systems in their real caseworks and at the same time PR people should explicitly focus on demands of FHEs so that automated systems developed by them should fulfill real casework needs of FHEs. A special effort was put to evolve common terminology to explain various signature modalities/categories which should be equally usable for both the PR researchers and forensic scientists. Some examples include, how to define various types of signatures as authentic or simulated, when to call a signature simulation or as a forgery, what are the types of signature forgeries and how to define them. AFHA participants were encouraged to submit papers on the above listed topics. The submissions went through a single-blind-peer review process, and all the accepted papers are considered for publication in the Journal of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners. The AFHA submissions are currently under second review phase for the said journal. Further details about the event and its outcomes can be requested from Muhammad Imran Malik (muhammad_imran.malik@dfki.de). We are planning to organize the next iteration of AFHA with the ICDAR 2015 in Tunisia. PC-chairs: Muhammad Imran Malik, Linda Alewijnse, Angelo Marcelli, and Marcus Liwicki. ============================================================================ ========== Call for Dataset Submissions ==================================== We would like to remind you that the TC10 and TC11 welcome contributions of new datasets or other resources related to the community. We would like to particularly encourage authors of articles that introduce new datasets, software or other material to submit such material to TC11 for hosting. Please check the TC11 site on information about how to submit datasets for archiving ( http://www.iapr-tc11.org/mediawiki/index.php/Datasets) also feel free to contact Marcus Liwicki, the TC11 dataset curator, for any doubts you might have on the process. Marcus Liwicki, TC-11 Dataset Curator liwicki@dfki.uni-kl.de ============================================================================ ========== 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 ============================================================================