i3 annual conference

i3 has now established its own Annual Conference. A small Committee of volunteers has developed the following framework for the event.
It was felt that this first i3Annual Conference should be a closed, i3-internal "family" event, though members may suggest special press contacts and industrial project partners could invite senior members of their own company. For a major pur-pose of this first Conference is to establish close contact between project partners by bringing them together with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information and experience across all of the i3 projects. Therefore, a series of sessions with project presentations, posters, and themes as well as inter/intra project meetings is envisioned.
The Conference will also provide an opportunity for Esprit LTR to assess the progress of i3 activity as a whole as well as that of its constituent parts: each project and the network will be reviewed by juries.
But, primarily, i3 project partners should enjoy this opportunity to meet and get to know each other, share enthusiasms and exchange ideas.

Venue
Hotel Nyborg Strand on the eastern coastline of Fyn, the central island of Denmark, has been chosenfor this first i3 Annual Conference. The peaceful island landscape of Fyn is linked to the main island of Sjaelland by a triumph of modern engineering - the new thirteen-kilometer Storebaelt bridge (including a long undersea train tunnel) which ensures that Nyborg now is little more than an hour's car or train journey from Copenhagen.
Hotel Nyborg Strand http://www.nyborgstrand.dk/ is a spacious modern hotel situated amid woods and lawns and facing the sea. It is one of the major Danish conference centres. We hope that gathering everyone together here might help to create a collective atmosphere which will be relaxed and tranquil yet also refreshing and stimulating.

Programme Outline
The multiple purpose of the conference will be reflected in the programme:
For the sake of the i3 community aspect there will be sessions on: Project presentations, Posters, Themes, and Project activities.
For the review tasks there will be Individual review meetings for each project.

The suggested programme structure is as follows:
Monday and Tuesday:
09.00 - 13.00 Plenum, 7 Project Presentations
14.00 - 15.30 Parallel sessions/workshops, Scientific and other themes
15.30 - 16.30 Coffee and Poster viewing
16.30 - 17.30 Plenum, Scientific and other themes
19.00 Dinner (Conference Dinner on Tuesday)
Wednesday:
09.00 -10.30 4 parallel Reviews + Project activities
11.00 -12.30 4 parallel Reviews + Project activities
13.30 -15.00 4 parallel Reviews + Project activities
15.30- 17.00 2 parallel Reviews + "Farewell Party"

Project presentations (30 minutes long) should focus on work completed and results achieved. The poster exhibition will be open throughout the conference and might include exhibits requiring a limited amount of special equipment, such as data projectors. Projects are urged NOT to stake on demos requiring sophisticated equipment at this first conference. Project activities could include meetings between two or more projects and individual projects could have their own internal meetings. Project co-ordinators should communicate with helen@mip.ou.dk about intended project meetings as well as what they would be using in the way of equipment.

Themes
On Monday and Tuesday we envision a number of parallel sessions available for exploring themes of particular interest to our i3 community, for example:

•Avatars and Agents •Design and Art •Interaction and Navigation •New Technology and Real time issues •Database management, Distributed Info-spaces •Reports from Workshops and SIGs •Project management/admin •IPR and related issues.
For the afternoon plenary sessions we might have invited talks by members of i3 to address themes like the past, present and future:
•Perspective on Inhabited Information Spaces •Perspective on Connected Communities

All i3 members are called upon to produce suggestions for themes, and eventual contributions. Suggestions to be mailed to Erik Granum, eg@vision.auc.dk, with CC to Helen MacLean, helen@mip.ou.dk.

Conference Dinner and Prizes
Prizes will be presented at the conference dinner on Tuesday, based on votes cast by all participants.

Participation and Finances
Special prices for room and full board for 3 nights (arrival the day before) have been negotiated as follows on the basis of a provisional estimate of 150 delegates.
Single room: DKK 2800 (approx. ECU 375)
Double room: DKK 2100 (approx. ECU 280)
This cost plus that of travel is borne by the individual participant/project.
The costs of Conference Rooms and Facilities are borne by i3net. These include standard, but not sophisticated, computer facilities, and email access. Project co-ordinators are asked to provide estimates by mid-April to: helen@mip.ou.dk of the expected number of participants from their project.
More detailed information and review procedures in the members section of http://www.i3net.org/

The Organising Committee wanted an informal name for the first i3 Gathering, to signal that partners should relax and not be too worried about the fact that it was combined with a review.They talked about this at length ... and eventually the matter was brought to the CG.

LINES, BY A LADY, ON THE NAMING OF THE i3 ANNUAL GATHERING BY MEMBERS OF THE CG BOARD, 27 February 1998

Ten Brows were furrowed in the Board
- All other Business quite ignored -
Ten Minds to but One Purpose bent:
Christening the Annual Event:
Festival, Parley, Pow - wow, Mod,
Coven, Ceilidh, Eisteddfod ?
"But isn't it our Jamboree ?"
" - We're not Boy Scouts, we are i3!"
It's very hard to think of names
Combining Work with fun and games...
Symposium to any Greek
Might mean we'd drink more than we'd speak.
Jamposium and Symboree
Were scorned, as New Words tend to be...
In case this leaves you at a loss,
Just let me quote Sam Walter Foss:
"For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind..."
We took a Vote, which served to prove
That we obeyed Sam's Law (above).
Custom prevailed, and Common Sense:
Here's to THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE !!!

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