[comp.ai.digest] Conference - Workshop on Blackboard Systems

rajd@cel.fmc.COM (Rajendra Dodhiawala) (03/11/88)

                Workshop Announcement -- Call For Participation

                   THE SECOND WORKSHOP ON BLACKBOARD SYSTEMS

                               Sponsored by AAAI
         Congress Suite, Radisson St. Paul Hotel, St. Paul, Minnesota
                          Wednesday, August 24, 1988
                      (Parallel activity during AAAI '88)

(Note change in date from previous announcements of the workshop)

The  Second  Workshop on Blackboard Systems will address issues that pertain to
the design, implementation and applications of blackboard systems.    Emergence
of   blackboard  systems  as  practical  tools  to  implement  a  diversity  of
applications has raised some important questions about the various aspects that
need  further  investigation.  The focus of the workshop will be to discuss the
following interest areas in blackboard systems:

1. Control and Organization Issues: What is the approach taken to  control  the
problem solving and the rationale for the choice?  What is the ramifications on
performance? What are the mechanisms available for organizing knowledge in such
systems? What is the ramifications of organization in control?
Moderator: Vic Lesser

2.  Real-time  Issues:  What  is  the  applicability  of  blackboard systems to
real-time problems? How is the architecture enhanced or  reduced  to  meet  the
needs of real-time problem-solving? There is increasing interest on the role of
parallelism at the system level  to  achieve  real-time  performance.  How  can
parallelism or distribution be exploited to provide for real-time performance?
Moderator: Roberto Bisiani

3.  Applications:  In what innovative ways can the blackboard system be used to
address particular problems or classes of problems?  Comparisons with alternate
approaches  and  paradigms,  why  they  fail,  and  distinctive features of the
blackboard paradigm that had the greatest impact should be highlighted.
Moderator: Bob Engelmore

To  encourage  vigorous  interaction  and  exchange  of  ideas  between   those
attending, the workshop will be limited to approximately 30 participants. There
will be three panel sessions, one for each of the three  subject  areas  listed
above.  There will also be a free form discussion session to address unanswered
questions.  The format  of  the  panels  will  be  decided  by  the  respective
moderators.

All  submitted  papers  will be refereed with respect to how well they identify
and discuss the factors affecting the design and implementation  of  blackboard
systems.    Authors  should  discuss  their  design decisions (why a particular
approach was selected); what worked, what did  not  and  why;  the  advantages,
disadvantages  and limitations of their approach; and what they would recommend
to others developing such systems.  Preference will be given  to  those  papers
that discuss approaches that have been demonstrated in real applications.

Workshop planning committee and referees:
Roberto Bisiani, Carnegie Mellon University
Harold Brown, Stanford University
Dan Corkill, University of Massachusetts
Robert Engelmore, Stanford University
Lee Erman, Teknowledge, Inc.
Barbara Hayes-Roth, Stanford University
Victor Lesser, University of Massachusetts
Penny Nii, Stanford University
D. Sriram, MIT

Submission  Details:  Five  copies of an extended abstract, double spaced up to
4000 words, should be submitted to either of the workshop co-chairs before  May
10,  1988.  Acceptances  will  be  mailed by June 30, 1988. Final copies of the
papers will be required by July 31, 1988.

Title Page: The extended abstract must have a title page which lists the  names
and  addresses,  including electronic addresses if any, of all the authors. All
communication will be with the first author, unless indicated otherwise.  Since
there  may  be  overlaps  in  the  subject  areas of this workshop, authors are
encouraged to mention on the title page the area in which they think their work
best contributes.

Edited Volume: Academic Press (HBJ Publishers) have agreed to publish an edited
volume of the current and outstanding papers  in  the  subject  areas  of  this
workshop.  The  papers for this volume will be selected from the submissions to
this workshop and the proceedings of the first workshop. However, there will be
an  additional  review process to select the final set of papers for the edited
volume.

Workshop Co-chairs:
V. Jagannathan,  M/S  7L-64             R. T. Dodhiawala
Boeing Advanced Technology Center       FMC Central Engineering Labs
Boeing Computer Services                1205 Coleman Avenue, Box 580
P. O. Box 24346                         Santa Clara, CA 95052
Seattle, WA 98124-0346.                 (408) 289-3303
(206)865-3240.                          rajd@cel.fmc.com
juggy@boeing.com

Important dates:
May 10, 1988: Extended Abstracts due (5 copies)
June 30, 1988: Notification of acceptance
July 31, 1988: Final versions of papers and abstracts due.
August 24, 1988: Workshop

				- rajendra