Courses

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 10 June 2014, 23:59 UTC/GMT

 

For over 30 years, the Courses program has been a cornerstone of the SIGGRAPH conferences. It allows experts to teach the fundamentals and share the latest research in computer graphics and interactive techniques with the entire community. At SIGGRAPH Asia 2014, hundreds of practitioners, developers, researchers, artists, and students will attend its courses to broaden and deepen their knowledge of their field, and to learn the secrets of new directions.

 

What is NEW this year:

• Focused topics now include big (visual) data and 3D printing and fabrication
• Special encouragement for proposals on hands-on courses (see below). If you are considering such proposals, please contact us prior to the submission deadline to discuss suitability and special arrangements needed
• We no longer accept proposals for full-day courses.

 

Courses usually fall into one of the following categories:

1. Introductory:
   1. An introduction to a topic, suitable for attendees with little or no background in that area. These courses can range from basic topics through more advanced concepts. The important criterion for this type of course is that it should guide attendees through the material in a sensible way and not assume much prior knowledge in that specific topic.
   2. An introduction to an area that is related to computer graphics but is not considered "core" graphics. In this case, in addition to the points outlined above, the materials must clearly demonstrate how computer graphics researchers and professionals would benefit from the information in the course.
      
      
2. State-of-the-art: Best practices and state-of-the-art methodologies for computer graphics professionals. These are advanced courses presenting the best the field can offer to professionals in a specific subfield.

3. New trends: Consolidation of a new and emerging research trend. This type of course can guide new researchers in the area and help facilitate transfers to practical applications.

4. Hands-on: A course that provides opportunities for attendees to learn by doing, through the industry's most-popular technologies. They are intended for a limited audience on a first-come, first-served basis. Please contact us. 

 

While we provide the basic guidelines for the different educational roles above, we believe that the presentation should be tailored to the specific topic and its relevance to the attendees. Therefore, if you feel that your course does not fit the above options, please contact us and we will be happy to provide suggestions and feedback.

 

Proposals for courses that have been presented at previous SIGGRAPH or SIGGRAPH Asia conferences are welcome. However, they must explain why the course should be repeated. Please refer to the FAQs for details.

 

Topics
SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 has special focuses on games, big data, interactive technologies, design and manufacturing, mobile devices, and other Asia-centric topics. We encourage submission of course proposals that deal with:

• Real-time computer graphics for games
• Digital content creation for games, GIS, and maps
• Graphics models and methods based on large-scale visual datasets
• Interactive graphics techniques and HCI
• 3D printing and fabrication
• Graphics techniques and applications for mobile devices
• Production and simulation of oriental art forms
• Large-scale information/medical/scientific visualization

 

SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 attendees are local and international, established industry professionals, students, professors, researchers, engineers, producers. Their expectations are diverse, and we are looking for outstanding courses, at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, on ACM SIGGRAPH's most popular and fundamental topics, including (but not limited to):

• Computer animation
• Visual effects techniques
• Graphics hardware and GPU computing
• Digital geometry processing
• Physically based rendering
• Simulating living creatures and natural phenomena
• Computational photography and image manipulation
• Computer vision and machine learning
• Virtual and augmented reality
• And any other hot emerging topic that you want to get people excited about!

 

Format
Courses are presented in two basic formats: short (1 hour and 45 minutes) and half-day (3 hours and 45 minutes including one 15-minute break). We recommend one lecturer for a short course and two or three lecturers for a half-day course.

Language
The official language of SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 is English. All verbal presentations, slide presentations, and course notes are expected to be in English.

 

Courses Chair
Hao (Richard) Zhang
Simon Fraser University
Canada

 

Notice to All SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 Contributors

All contributors to SIGGRAPH Asia Annual Conferences are now required to use ACM's rights management system to grant rights to publish accepted content rather than through the online submission system. Essentially, submission tracking, jury review, and acceptance remain the same, but now the rights management is through ACM, the parent organization of SIGGRAPH Asia.

You will be asked to complete an ACM rights management form, which includes permission to record and distribute the audio and video of your recorded presentation through official channels of ACM/SIGGRAPH Asia. For most content types, this will be a Permission and Release form, which allows authors to retain copyright.

 

More Information on these options (the FAQ is particularly useful)
Samples of the ACM Copyright Form and the ACM Publishing License

 

As a contributor to an ACM-sponsored event, the following expectations apply to you, should your content be accepted for presentation:

• You have the permission to use everything that is in your presentation. This includes securing permission to use third-party material, and providing documentation of that permission to ACM. (More information on the proper use of third-party material in your presentation)
• If you are using copyrighted musical compositions in your presentation, you must secure performing rights licenses.
• You must have the authority to grant ACM the right to distribute your presentation.

 

Once your contribution is accepted, you will receive a link via email to the appropriate form for your contribution. Good luck!

How To Submit?

 

Log in to the SIGGRAPH Asia Information System, select "Begin a New Submission," and then select "Create" for the Courses submission form. Your submission must include the following materials and information:

• Real-time computer graphics for games.
• Permissions (page 2) and presentation format (page 3).
• Basic submission information, including lecturer names, affiliations, and contact information, as well as title of the course, and a single-sentence summary (50 words or fewer).
• One "representative image" suitable for use in the conference web site and promotional materials. See Representative Image Guidelines.
• Statement of permissions to use the submitted materials.
• Course Description, Syllabus/Schedule including duration of topic sections and lecturers.
• Length of the course: short (1 hour and 45 minutes) and half-day (3 hours and 45 minutes including one 15-minute break).
• Intended audience, prerequisites, and level of difficulty.
• Bio Form. Please provide short bios for each of your lecturers or panelists.. We recommend one lecturer for a short course and two lecturers for a half-day course.
• Sample of Course Notes. This is an outline of materials and a representative sample of the type of Course Notes that you plan to provide if your course is accepted. The review sample need not be long or complete, but it should be clear and concise, and it should demonstrate the expected quality of the learning materials that will be available during and after the conference.
  Course Notes Examples
  Formatting Guidelines
• Special presentation requirements, if any.
• Submission categories and keywords to help ensure your submission is reviewed and juried appropriately.
• Optional: You may also provide examples of other materials, demonstrations, or exercises that support the course topics.

 

Non-native English speakers may use the English Review Service to help improve the text of submissions. Please note that this process takes time, so plan far ahead.

All submitters must complete the Submission and Authorization Agreement before the submission deadline. Incomplete submissions will not be reviewed or accepted.

For more information about uploading files for your submission, please see Uploading Files.

For additional submission information, please see the FAQs.

Evaluation

 

Courses can fulfill many educational roles:

• Introducing a core graphics area, suitable for someone with little background in that area. These can cover various topics, ranging from introductory to advanced. The jury evaluates these based on if they believe the course will guide an attendee through the material in a sensible way.
• Introducing a topic related to graphics but not considered "core" graphics. The jury evaluates these courses based on the expected benefit of the knowledge to a typical SIGGRAPH Asia attendee.
• Consolidating a new and emerging research trend. The jury evaluates these courses based on their potential to facilitate knowledge transfer for practical applications and guide new researchers in the area.

 

Well-attended, strong courses may be re-submitted in subsequent years. Recently taught courses must provide justification for why the course should be repeated. Courses taught longer ago should explain why the material should be revisited, and what new advancements will be covered. Introductory courses have the potential to be repeated more frequently than advanced ones, as the potential audience is larger.

Jurors are asked to evaluate your submission using four criteria: Concept, Novelty, Interest, and Quality. The final submission score is based on a combination of these factors. For example, a submission that is high quality, has broad appeal, and contains something new is likely to be accepted, while a submission that is incremental, of interest to only a small number of people, and poorly written will probably be rejected.

 

Concept
How exceptional are the ideas, problems, solutions, aesthetics, etc. presented in this submission? How coherently does the submission convey its overall concept? Is the concept similar to existing ones, or does it stand out?

Novelty
How new and fresh is this work? Is it a new, ground-breaking approach to an old problem, or is it an existing approach with a slightly new twist? You must demonstrate to the jury that your course is sufficiently different from other approaches to the topic.

Interest
Will conference attendees want to attend this course? Will it inspire them? Does it appeal to a broad audience? This is partly a measure of how broad the potential audience is and partly a measure of the overall clarity and novelty of the proposal.

Quality, Craft, and Completeness
This is a measure of the course proposal's quality of expression, clarity of thinking, and how clearly and completely it explains the course and its intentions. It also measures the quality and completeness of the supporting materials.

 

Some reasons courses are rejected:

• Example notes or slides fail to communicate key ideas clearly and informatively.
• Materials narrowly cover an area, without sufficient justification. A course should provide a comprehensive overview, and not just focus (for instance) on the presenter's own techniques or methods used in a particular company.
• Previous courses have sufficiently covered the area, or the jury feels the topic is too narrow to attract sufficient attendance at SIGGRAPH Asia.

Upon Acceptance

 

You will be notified of acceptance or rejection in late July 2014.

 

After acceptance, the SIGGRAPH Asia Information System will allow you to update basic information about your work and upload any final materials for inclusion on the conference program and web site. This information needs to be finalized four weeks after acceptance (see Timeline).

 

Be prepared to deliver your final versions of your work before these dates, or your acceptance may be rescinded.

 

If your course is accepted, you will need to submit:

• Copyright permissions or clearances on any restricted materials
• Submission and Authorization Agreements from all speakers
• A final set of electronic Course Notes
• Digital supplementary materials (for example, sample code, datasets, documentation, demos, animations, etc.)
• A final course timeline listing the topics and speakers in chronological order

 

The time and location of your course will be posted on the SIGGRAPH Asia website well in advance of the conference.

 

Some registration and travel costs to attend SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 may be at your own expense; each accepted course receives recognition as specified in the SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 Recognition Policy.

 

Presenter and Contributor Recognition
Please see the Recognition Policy for a summary of what you will receive if your work and/or proposal are accepted by SIGGRAPH Asia 2014.

You can apply for a 100% discount for up to one presenter per half-day course or per short course via the submission system. One presenter per half-day course, and one presenter per short course can apply for travel reimbursement of up to USD $1,000. Only presenters whose permanent residence is outside of Shenzhen can apply for travel reimbursement.

FAQS

 

Deadlines
Nature of Content
Completeness, Work in Progress
Work Submitted Elsewhere
Review and Upon Acceptance

Deadlines

 

Can I submit after the deadline?
No. The deadlines are absolute. All submissions receive equal consideration up to the published deadline. Please respect other contributors and allow time for unforeseen circumstances in your submission, including (but not limited to) network connectivity, equipment failures, job impacts, life or family events, etc. These are outside of SIGGRAPH Asia 2014's direct control and cannot be accommodated fairly.

 

Why is this so absolute?
Firstly, the answer is fairness and equal opportunity for consideration. This respects the contribution process for all submissions. Secondly, the deadline was set as late as possible while still allowing sufficient time for quality review, production, and delivery at SIGGRAPH Asia 2014. Immediately after the submission deadline, we start processing and reviewing the submissions on a very tight time schedule, and we cannot accommodate exceptions.

How will SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 address server-side network failures?
SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 is only responsible for the availability of the submission server. If necessary, the conference chair will authorize an appropriate adjustment (and will prominently post notices at several locations online). All other network failures between your location and the SIGGRAPH Asia server will not affect the submission deadlines. Please submit early to avoid connectivity-support problems or last-minute submission-server performance issues.

The SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 English Review Service failed our schedule, so it is SIGGRAPH Asia's fault that our proposal is late. Can I have an extension?
No. The English Review Service makes no guarantee for service turn-around. It is also administered separately from the conference program. Please schedule your work appropriately. For the best chance of having your submission reviewed by the English Review Service, please make sure it is submitted and marked "complete" in the submission system at least 14 days before your program's submission deadline.

Back to FAQs links

Nature of Content

 

My company sells educational software. Can we make a sales presentation?
No. The exhibition is the best place for that.

I have a great idea for a presentation, but I am not sure if it is appropriate (too basic, advanced, fuzzy, etc.) for SIGGRAPH Asia 2014.
Please send it in and let the SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 jury make the decision.

Can my company have a dedicated session in which we present a collection of talks about various aspects of a large project?
Possibly. You are welcome to submit a collection of related submissions. However, the scheduling and grouping of accepted material will ultimately be decided by the SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 committee.

My company has a great new product that is of general interest to the SIGGRAPH Asia community. Can I submit an abstract about it?
A simple product announcement or sales pitch would not be appropriate for the conference program. However, a methods or systems description that presents the engineering design and algorithms behind the product could be appropriate. If you are an exhibitor, and you are interested in a presentation on all aspects of your new product, please contact Exhibition Management about organizing an Exhibitor Talk.

English is not my first language. Can I submit and present in another language?
No, but ACM SIGGRAPH's International Committee can provide some help with English. Please see the English Review Service.

I am a sixth-grade teacher, not an expert in computer graphics or interactive techniques, but I have designed something using computer graphics software, interactive techniques, games, etc. that really helps my math, English, dance, etc. students. Should I submit it?
Yes. SIGGRAPH Asia educators are very interested in how new techniques can be used for pedagogical purposes. Submissions in this area that have the best chance for acceptance demonstrate clearly how learning is improved with computer graphics or interactive techniques.

Why is it necessary to specify an intended audience for a course? The intended audience should be the average SIGGRAPH Asia conference attendee, no?
No. The attendee population is very diverse. Your detailed audience identification helps both proposal evaluation by the review committee (program balancing) and proper marketing to interested conference attendees.

We have a great idea for an educational session on an unusual topic. Should we submit it?
SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 seeks innovation both in topic and presentation! New ideas that relate to some aspect of computer graphics and interactive techniques are most welcome. Your proposal should clearly explain this relevance.

Should all submissions be prepared anonymously, like Technical Papers?
No. The review process is single blind, which means the reviewers will know who the authors are, but the authors will not know who the reviewers are. Your submission should be as close to its final form as possible (see Completeness, Work in Progress), including the names of all collaborators on the work and their institutions. Potential conflicts of interest are taken into account when submissions are assigned to reviewers.

Back to FAQs links

Completeness, Work in Progress

 

Are partial or incomplete submissions considered?
Incomplete submissions will not be reviewed. Contributors are required to minimally meet all submission requirements by the published deadline. The jury will evaluate the merit of each completed proposal as it was submitted at the deadline, even if it does not meet the author's personal quality objectives. Please allow enough time to meet your own quality goals.

 

Back to FAQs links

Work Submitted Elsewhere

 

Can I submit work that I have published or presented, or has been accepted for publication or presentation, elsewhere?
Yes, though with some caveats. First, you must indicate the prior appearance via the checkbox on the submission form and provide a description of how and where the work appeared. Second, be aware that SIGGRAPH Asia attendees expect to see things they have never seen before. The jury will decide if the novelty and impact of the submission warrant acceptance despite its appearance elsewhere.

Can I submit work to SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 and also submit a more complete description to other conferences (for example EGSR, SGP, or SCA) while the submission is still in review?
The other conference or journal is likely to consider this an unacceptable "dual submission", so you must check with them. If they are OK with it, SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 is OK with it. But if you intend to submit this work elsewhere before the conference, you must indicate this intent via the checkbox on the submission form and provide a description of where you intend to submit and when it would appear.

Can I submit work that was presented at a previous SIGGRAPH conference?
The submission form has a checkbox that requires you to indicate this fact. The jury will decide if the novelty of the submission warrants acceptance regardless of prior presentation or publication. Courses may remain valuable from year to year and will be considered by the jury, but proposals should clearly offer compelling reasons for repetition.

 

Back to FAQs links

 

Review and Upon Acceptance

 

How does the jury select pieces?
All submissions are juried together, and there are no strict rules for acceptance. The jury primarily looks for a combination of innovation and excellence. A longer list of traits the jury typically looks for includes originality, artistic achievement, technical accomplishment, technical innovation, production value, creativity, design, educational value, aesthetic appeal, community building, and social responsibility.

What makes a proposal great?
Topics and proposals come in all shapes and sizes. Well-written proposals effectively communicate their ideas so that reviewers can assess the submission's benefits to SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 attendees. Strong proposals clearly answer questions regarding relevance, content, and background.

The reviews we received from the jury were highly positive and outstanding, and we still did not get accepted. Why is this?
Ideally, everyone would have a chance to present their best work at the conference. It would certainly make the selection process easier! Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many great proposals do not make the cut because we lack rooms, resources, and schedule time. Here are some possible reasons for rejection:

• The work is not sufficiently outstanding to justify its presentation length.
• The submission did not show enough improvement over previous presentations.
• The submission overlapped with better proposals in a similar area.
• The submission overlapped with topics that have bigger anticipated attendance in a similar area.
• The work was not strong or relevant.

 

Back to FAQs links

Timeline

 

All deadlines are 23:59 UTC/GMT.

10 June 2014
Submission deadline

June - July 2014
Jury reviews

Late July 2014
Acceptance notification

August - September 2014
Final Course Notes submission

3 - 6 December 2014
SIGGRAPH Asia 2014

 

*Publications content will be available in the ACM Digital Library two weeks prior to the conference.

end faq