Call for workskops

The AAMAS-2014 Organizing Committee invites proposals for the Workshop Program to be held on May 5-6, 2014 immediately prior to the main technical program of the AAMAS conference. The main goal of the AAMAS-2014 workshop program is to stimulate and facilitate discussion, interaction, and comparison of approaches, methods, and ideas related to specific topics, both theoretical and applied, in the general area of Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems. The AAMAS-2014 workshops will provide an informal setting where participants will have the opportunity to discuss specific technical topics in an atmosphere that fosters the active exchange of ideas.

The 2014 edition of AAMAS will see, for the first time, an integration of workshops and tutorials, traditionally held separately. The AAMAS-2014 Organizing Committee asks all workshops to include a tutorial session. A tutorial session might include, for example, a discussion of the main issues in the research themes of interest to the workshop, and give a historical perspective, particularly for long-running workshops. It would be an excellent way to attract new participants and introduce students to the workshop. There is no restriction on the length of the proposed tutorial.

Members from all areas of the AAMAS community are invited to submit workshop proposals for review. Workshops on new and emerging topics, applications, and on broader topics of interest to a wider community are particularly encouraged. Workshops can vary in length, but most will be one full day in duration. Workshop organizers and attendees must register for their workshop and preferably also for the main AAMAS conference. Attendance is limited to registered participants.

Important Dates

November	06, 2013:	Proposal Submission Deadline
November	25, 2013:	Notification of Selected Workshops
December	04, 2013:	Deadline for posting Workshop Call for Papers
December	04, 2013:	AAMAS-2014 Workshop Program Announced
January	22, 2014:	Recommended deadline for Workshop Submissions
February	19, 2014:	Recommended deadline for Workshop Notification
March	19, 2014:	Deadline for complete workshop notes submission to the workshop chairs
March	19, 2014:	Deadline for posting Workshop Call for Participation
May	5-6, 2014:	AAMAS-2014 Workshops

Requirements for submission

Proposals for workshops should be a maximum of five pages in length (in plain ASCII text), and should contain the following information:

Title of the workshop.
A technical description of the workshop, specifying the workshop goals, the technical issues that it will address, and the relevance of the workshop to the main conference.
A discussion of why and to whom the workshop is of interest.
A brief description of a proposal for a tutorial session to be held as part of the workshop.
A list of related workshops held within the last three years, if any, and their relation to the proposed workshop. Information about previous offerings of the proposed workshop: when and where it has been offered in the past (i.e., with AAMAS or another conference), organizers names and affiliations, number of submissions, acceptances and registered attendees, and follow-up publications, if any (e.g., journal special issues).
For workshops that have had previous editions (even if they had different titles and were not held with AAMAS), include a list of URLs of the websites of the previous editions.
A preliminary workshop agenda and a proposed schedule for organizing the workshop. This should include a brief description of how the organizers intend to encourage an atmosphere appropriate for a workshop.
Description of the paper review process and acceptance standards.
If available, a list of tentatively confirmed attendees.
The names, affiliations, postal addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the proposed workshop organizing committee. This committee should consist of three or four people knowledgeable about the technical issues to be addressed. The organizing committee should include individuals from multiple institutions.
The name of the primary contact for the organizing committee (this person must reply promptly to email messages).
A description of the qualifications of the individual committee members with respect to organizing an AAMAS workshop, including a list of workshops previously arranged by any members of the proposed organizing committee, if any.
List of potential program committee members, including their title and affiliations.
Expected duration of the workshop (usually a full day).
A list of places (distribution lists, web sites, journals, etc.) where the workshop is planned to be advertised.

All proposals should be submitted by electronic mail, in plain ASCII text, to the AAMAS-2014 Workshop Chairs, email address aamas2014.workshops@gmail.com, as soon as possible and no later than Wednesday November 6th, 2013.

The selection of the workshops to be included in the final AAMAS program will be done by the general chairs of AAMAS 2014 based on the advice of the workshop chairs. The selection is based upon multiple factors, including: the scientific/technical interest of the topics, the clarity of the proposal in addressing the requested information, the innovative character of workshop topics, the cross-disciplinary nature of the workshop, the proposed tutorial session, and the capacity of the conference workshop program.

Responsibilities of AAMAS and workshop organizers

For all accepted proposals, AAMAS will be responsible for:

Providing publicity for the workshop series as a whole.
Providing logistic support and a meeting place for the workshop.
Together with the organizers, determining the workshop date and time.
Provide one free workshop registration when the workshop has more than 15 registrations.
AAMAS reserves the right to cancel workshops, for example in case of low number of registrants.

Workshop organizers will be responsible for:

Setting up a website for the workshop.
Advertising the workshop and issuing a call for papers (by December 4, 2012) and a call for participation (by March 19, 2013).
Collecting and evaluating submissions, notifying authors of acceptance or rejection on a timely basis, and ensuring a transparent and fair selection process.
All workshop organizers are strongly advised to adopt the same deadlines for paper submissions and notifications of acceptance, i.e., January 22, 2014 for submissions of contributions to workshops, and February 19, 2014 for notifications.
Ensuring that the workshop organizers and the participants register for the workshop and are invited to register to the main conference (at least one author must register for the workshop in order for a paper to appear in the workshop proceedings). AAMAS reserves the right to cancel any workshop if the above responsibilities are not fulfilled.

Submissions and Inquiries

Please send proposals and inquiries to: aamas2014.workshops@gmail.com

Workshop Co-Chairs

Rafael H. Bordini
PUCRS, Brazil
r.bordini@pucrs.br

José M. Vidal
University of South Carolina, SC, USA
vidal@sc.edu