[Blindmath] Call for Papers DEIMS workshop on math accessibility topics

[John Gardner]

Hello all.  A few people on this list may be interested in the DEIMS
workshop to be held in Tokyo in February.  The call for papers follows.
Enjoy.
John

CALL FOR PAPERS

The International Workshop on "Digitization and E-Inclusion in Mathematics
and Science 
2012" (DEIMS12)
February 8-10, 2012
Nihon University, College of Science and Technology, Surugadai Campus
1-8-14, Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 101-8308, Japan

Workshop Website:  http://www.gaea.jcn.nihon-u.ac.jp/deims12/ 
E-mail:  deims12-office at gaea.jcn.nihon-u.ac.jp


As can be seen by the spread of online journals, information in mathematics,
the sciences 
and other fields is being digitized for various purposes.  Computerized
processing of such 
information is also being actively studied.  However, the digitization of 
mathematical/scientific content, and its eventual applications, have special
problems.  
For example, such content includes many technical characters, symbols, and
notation such 
as mathematical formulae, figures and tables, putting them beyond the
capabilities of 
standard OCR (optical character recognition).  Better interfaces are needed
to improve the 
environment for e-learning, digital libraries and other applications for
mathematics and 
the sciences.

One of the most important tasks in this field is accessibility.  Since most
digitized 
scientific content such as online journals and e-learning mathematical
content are still 
not accessible for the visually impaired, it is hard for them to access
content available 
to the fully sighted.  Research aimed at making those contents more
accessible is 
necessary to achieve a truly inclusive society.

The International Workshop on "Digitization and E-Inclusion in Mathematics
and Science 
2012" (DEIMS12), supported by Nihon University, Junior College Funabashi
Campus and the 
Not-for-Profit Organization: Science Accessibility Net, will bring together
experts from 
around the world to present and discuss the state of the art, current
research and 
development activities and future perspectives on those topics.

A similar workshop was held in Fukuoka, Japan, December 2009, the title of
which was 
"Workshop on E-Inclusion in Mathematics and Science 2009" (WEIMS09)
http://www.mrit.kyushu-u.ac.jp/weims2009/.  DEIMS12 is planned as the second
in this 
series of workshops.  The change in title reflects the new topics which have
been added to 
the scope of the workshop, in particular, that of "Digitizing Mathematics
and Science".

Our research group, the Infty Project, has organized a series of workshops
on scientific- 
information processing and its accessibility, once a year for the past 15
years in Japan.  
DEIMS12 will take its place as one in this series.

The main topics of the workshop will include, but not be limited to:
 - Digitizing printed scientific documents (technology / practice)
 - Digital mathematical / scientific libraries
 - Accessibility of scientific documents (e.g. PDF to DAISY)
 - Accessibility of tables and figures
 - E-publishing and its accessibility
 - E-learning and online services in scientific fields
 - Assistive tools for disabled people
 - Services and technologies for an inclusive environment
 - Higher education for disabled students
 - Other related topics.

Keynote Lecture
  Petr Penaz and Svatoslav Ondra
    Support Centre for Students with Special Needs
    Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Call for papers:
To submit a paper, please access the DEIMS12 submission page in Easy Chair
Conference 
System:
	https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=deims12
and upload the extended abstract (from 4 to 10 pages).  If you do not have
an Easy Chair 
account, yet, you need to create it before your submission.

If you encountered a trouble in accessing Easy Chair, you might send the
extended abstract 
by e-mail to:
  E-mail Address for Submission: deims12-submit at gaea.jcn.nihon-u.ac.jp.

For more detailed information, please visit the DEIMS12 web page:
   http://www.gaea.jcn.nihon-u.ac.jp/deims12/.

Key Dates:
 4 November 2011 (JST) - Submission deadline of extended abstracts,
 2 December 2011 (JST) - Notification of acceptance,
 9 January 2012 (JST) - Submission deadline of camera-ready versions.


If you have any questions, please contact Katsuhito Yamaguchi at
    The workshop contact e-mail address:
deims12-office at gaea.jcn.nihon-u.ac.jp