[Blindmath] FW: Call for Papers: DEIMS2016

Tue Aug 4 00:52:29 UTC 2015

Some professionals might find this event interesting as authors or just as attendees.
I think blindies should be aware of the events taking place that should lead to changes affecting our futures.
N.B. the webpage for the 2016 event is not available yet, but you can see the details of the first and second events held in 2009 and 2012.
Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Call for Papers: DEIMS2016

Dear Friends,

** With apologies for multiple postings. **

We would greatly appreciate it if you could forward this e-mail message to persons or organizations who might be interested in the following event.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 3rd International Workshop on "Digitization and E-Inclusion in Mathematics and Science 2016" (DEIMS2016)
   February 4-6, 2016
   at Shonan Village Center, Kanagawa, Japan
      http://shonan-village.co.jp/svc/
   Workshop Website: http://workshop.sciaccess.net/DEIMS2016 
      (will open by the end of July, 2015)
   E-mail: deims2016-office at mail.sciaccess.net 

A significant number of online journals and e-textbooks, as well as 
other forms of  academic/educational information are now digitized 
for various purposes.  Computerized processing of such information 
is also being actively studied.  For instance, in Japan, so-called 
"digital textbooks" (the official name of an e-textbook in Japan) are 
supposed to be fully adopted in elementary and junior-high school 
by April, 2020.  Digitization is certainly a keyword in contemporary 
society, in which "Knowledge" forms its foundation.

However, digitization of STEM (science, technology, engineering and 
mathematics) contents and its applications have their own 
problems, different from those in a non-technical field.  For 
example, while many online journals are provided in PDF (Acrobat 
Portable Document Format), a mathematical formula in such 
documents has no semantic representation.  It is only 
depictedvisually as a set of characters/symbols in a two-
dimensional layout or an image.  Thus, we cannot use it for further 
processing such as searching the mathematical expression in PDF 
or reading it out with a screen reader. 

We believe that one of the most serious problems is the poor 
accessibility of digitized STEM contents.  In many cases, it is hard 
for print-disabled people to read/author those contents although 
their accessibility is definitely important to achieve a truly 
inclusive 
society.  In terms of a non-technical document, even if the original 
one is inaccessible, we can usually easily convert it into an 
accessible representation with standard tools such as OCR (optical 
character recognition) technology; however, as far as STEM 
contents are concerned, we cannot at all.

Since a STEM document includes many technical characters, 
symbols and notations such as mathematical expressions, chemical 
formulas, figures, tables, etc., its conversion into accessible format

such as LaTeX or MathML is quite beyond the capabilities of the 
standard tools.  In addition, to establish a STEM-accessibility 
environment in education, digital libraries or others, not only 
conversion tools but also many other systems such as authoring 
tools and accessible players should be improved/developed. 

The 3rd International Workshop on "Digitization and E-Inclusion in 
Mathematics and Science 2016" (DEIMS2016), which is 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 
state-of-the-art technologies (research and development), novel 
activities and future perspectives on digitization/computerized-
processing of STEM contents, their applications and accessibility.

A similar workshop was held in Fukuoka, December 2009 and in 
Tokyo, February, 2012.  DEIMS2016 is planned to be the third one 
of this series of international workshops.  For more than 15 years, 
the Infty Project, (The primary organisers of this workshop)  has 
also organized a series of annual domestic workshops on scientific-
information processing and its accessibility.  DEIMS16 is also 
regarded as one of this series.
To view information on the previous international workshops in this 
series, please visit 
the DEIMS2012 home page: 
   http://workshop.sciaccess.net/DEIMS2012 and 
the WEIMS2009 home page: 
   http://workshop.sciaccess.net/WEIMS2009.

the main topics of the workshop will include, but not be limited to, 

  - Digitizing and processing printed scientific documents 
    (technology / practice)
  - Digital mathematical / scientific libraries
  - Accessibility of scientific documents (e.g. PDF to DAISY: Digital 
    Accessible Information System)
  - Accessibility of tables and figures
  - Accessible e-books, in particular, accessible e-textbooks
  - E-learning, online services in scientific fields
  - Assistive tools for disabled people
  - Services and technologies for inclusive environments
  - Higher education for disabled students
  - Other related topics.

Keynote Lecture
Prof. Dr. Volker Sorge
   The University of Birmingham, UK.
   Prof. Sorge will present a lecture on his amazing work which has 
   greatly increased the accessibility of chemistry.   His talk will 
   include a description of the new OCR system for chemical 
   formulas developed by his team.

Call for papers:
To submit a paper, please access the DEIMS12 submission page in 
the Easy Chair Conference System:
   https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=deims2016
and upload the extended abstract (ranging from 4 to 6 pages).  If 
you do not as yet possess an Easy Chair account, you will firstly 
need to create it before creating your submission.

If, for any reason, you encounter difficulties in accessing Easy 
Chair, You may send the extended abstract by e-mail to:
   E-mail: deims2016-office at mail.sciaccess.net. 

For more detailed information, please visit the DEIMS2016 web 
page:
   http://workshop.sciaccess.net/DEIMS2016 
      (will open by the end of July, 2015).

Key Dates:
   25 September 2015 (JST) - Submission deadline of extended 
   abstracts,
   30 October 2015 (JST)  - Notification of acceptance and
   18 December 2015 (JST)   - Submission deadline of camera-
   ready versions.

If you have any questions, please contact Katsuhito Yamaguchi 
at The workshop contact e-mail address: 
   deims2016-office at mail.sciaccess.net

Best regards,

Katsuhito Yamaguchi (General Chair) and Masakazu Suzuki (Sub Chair)

--------------------

Katsuhito Yamaguchi
   Conference Chair

The 3rd International Workshop on
"Digitization and E-Inclusion in Mathematics and Science 2016" 
(DEIMS2016)

   URL: http://workshop.sciaccess.net/DEIMS2016
           (will open by the end of July,2015)
   E-mail: DEIMS2016-office at mail.sciaccess.net
           or eugene at gaea.jcn.nihon-u.ac.jp