[AG-TECH] REMINDER: AG Retreat 2006 - Call for Participation

["Susanne Lefvert" <lefvert@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
The 6th Annual Access Grid Retreat - May 15-17, 2006
http://www.mcs.anl.gov/fl/flevents/ag/agr06
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Co-hosted by Internet2

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: Friday April 7, 2006

The 6th Annual Access Grid (AG) Retreat will be held May 15-17 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. This year's meeting will be co-hosted by Internet2.

The Access Grid is an ensemble of resources including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive environments, and interfaces to Grid middleware and to visualization environments. These resources are used to support group-to-group interactions across the Grid. For example, the AG is used for large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials, and training. The Access Grid began as a community effort in terms of development, support, education, and training and it continues to grow as a result of this approach. The AG Retreats, an annual tradition, reflect this community involvement and are critical to the continued development, utility, and improvement of the AG.

The AG Retreat program provides an interactive forum for the Access Grid community including developers, node operators and users. This year's Retreat will include information about the current state of the Access Grid software and community, and the road ahead, including the next major release of the Access Grid software, AG3. Presentations in the following subject areas are encouraged:

- Technology presentations
     Extensions of core Access Grid software
     Shared Applications and Services
     Distributed systems
     Streaming audio and video
     Networking: Multicast and multicast bridging
     Meeting archiving
     Security issues
     Scheduling

- Innovative uses of the AG
     Medicine
     Visualization
     Scientific domains
     Remote access to instruments

- Distance education
- Regional updates
- User requirements and improvements
- Requirements from diverse communities

(Presentations outside of these areas will be given equal consideration)

The Access Grid Retreat is an ideal environment for the AG community to share recent experiences and research findings, to present ideas for future AG technical directions, and to train and educate AG newcomers. Two tracks of sessions allow participants to focus on either AG technical issues or activities related to AG operations. This annual meeting will not be broadcast over the Access Grid, but, as with past retreats, focus on bringing the global community together with face-to-face discussions on topics ranging from AG collaboration experiences to node installation and troubleshooting to AG development directions. Given that this year's AG Retreat will be located in Internet2 facilities, presenters are encouraged to include demonstrations that leverage the excellent network capabilities available. The most impressive presentations, as decided by the Program Committee, will be awarded with a prize.

HOW TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS

Speakers are requested to submit extended abstracts of no more than 1000 words, not including figures or references. Speakers should define their interest in submitting a proposed panel discussion (including title and proposed speakers), or an individual presentation (including title). Abstracts should be written so as to be self-contained and to provide the technical substance required for the program committee to evaluate the presenter's contribution, and to provide sufficient detail for the program. Presentations including live demonstrations, for example introducing a new shared application or service, must list the hardware and network requirements necessary for the demonstration.

Abstracts must be submitted by Friday, Apr il 7, 2006. Please submit to agr2006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Speakers will be selected by Friday, April 14, 2006. Confirmations will be sent via email.

For more information, please contact the AG Retreat Program Committee at agr2006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.