Friday 4th April 2003

MEETING NOTES

The following is a synopsis the main issues discussed at the second ECVision six-monthly meeting.

Management
It was noted that the network is presently under-spending vis-à-vis its budget and that the involvement of members in sponsored specific actions is significantly below the level planned for at the outset. Members were strongly encouraged to submit proposals for specific actions, in accordance with the guidelines on the website.

Research Planning
Due to illness and prior commitments, neither area coordinator was able to be present to review the research planning area. However, they did forward a summary presentation and this was presented briefly by the network coordinator. The key activity in the past six months has been the creation of a research roadmap. The members were asked to review the current version (2.5) and send comments to James Crowley. A number of members at the meeting noted that there is a need to develop it further so that it clearly maps out the issues that required focused research attention.

Education and Training
The cognitive vision ontology continues to evolve, with some 25% of the entries complete.

The primary activity in this area over the past six months has been the creation of a draft syllabus for a course on cognitive vision. It was suggested at the meeting that the prerequisites for the course be extended to include structure from motion and AI topics such as predicate calculus and frames. This issue of linking the syllabus to the indexed and annotated bibliography was raised. This will be addressed in the future. There was a brief discussion on the usefulness of the syllabus vis-à-vis the ontology and in particular where future efforts should be concentrated. The consensus of the meeting was that the syllabus activity is very valuable and should continue to be the focus of attention in the near-term.

It was originally planned that ECVision would create a list of M.Sc. and Ph.D. topics. This was discussed at some length and, while the usefulness of such a list was unanimously agreed, some concerns about preemptively identifying hot research issues were voiced. Ultimately, it was agreed that those who felt able to identify topics would do so, and that those who posted the topics would be contacted by those undertaking them as a matter of courtesy.

A summer school in cognitive computer vision is planned for August 24th to August 29th, 2003. The summer school will be held at the Activotel, Much, Germany. It is expected that there will be 40 participants and 8 lecturers. This has not yet been formally announced, pending the finalization of the programme. It was agreed that, if possible, pre-school tutorials on statistics, Bayesian methods, and selected AI techniques would be organized for the Saturday 23rd August.

Information Dissemination
A draft of the indexed and annotated bibliography of cognitive vision publications is now on the ECVision website (menu item: Information->Indexed and Annotated Bibliography). This is a pre-release to illustrate the functionality and format of the bibliography and contains only a small number of sample citations. A fuller list with over 400 citations will be created shortly and the facility will be formally launched at that point.

It was agreed to revise the current index format from a single linear structure to a multi-file hierarchical system of index terms (this has now been implemented.)

Industrial Liaison
It was decided not to award to application prize to any of the submitted entries as the judging panel felt they didn’t reach the standard required. It was agreed to continue to solicit entries and, if possible, to make an award before the end of the year. A database of vendors has been delivered and is being updated as information comes to hand. The databases of research profiles, application-motivated problems, and applicable techniques have been deferred for the present. A white paper has been completed.

Date of Next Meeting
A decision on the date of the next meeting was deferred until the plans for the Commission review of ECVision are finalized.