Introduction

SIGGRAPH has re-established a budget for worthy special projects. The Special Projects Committee seeks new and innovative projects that are of benefit to the SIGGRAPH membership and to the computer graphics community. The modest budget for this year, $50,000, will fund small, interesting projects, or seed potentially large projects.

Special Projects Awarded During 1995-1996

June 19, 1996

1. White paper on the role of Computer Graphics and Visualization in the GII,
Nahum Gershon, $5,000. approved, 11/12/95

This white paper will discuss the state of the art, the importance of the GII (Global Information Infrastructure) to Computer Graphics, the importance of Computer Graphics to the GII, and what the needs for computer graphics on the GII are. The project was discussed by the SIGGRAPH Public Policy task force at their S 94 and S 95 meetings. The purpose is to inform policy makers of the importance of computer graphics and the GII. The $5,000 is for a discussion meeting of the project committee.

2. Support for Birds-of-a-Feather on Information Visualization at S 96,
Nahum Gershon, $3,000, approved 11/29/95.

This funding will cover travel and per diem expenses for a distinguished speaker and AV Costs. Funds will come from the FY 97 budget.

Project description: This is an emerging area and we feel that SIGGRAPH 96 attendees would like to learn and discuss the recent advances of information visualization and how it is implemented in commerce, government, academia, and the information tchnology world. The proposed BOF will consists of a Keynote-like Address and an active discussion on the state of the art and challenges of this emerging area (possibly include short presentations). This BOF will take 3-4 hours (.5 a day).

Project Organizers: Nahum Gershon (MITRE), Stephen G. Eick (AT&T Bell Labs), andStuart Card (Xerox PARC).

3. Carto Project: Integrating Computer Graphics and Spatial Data,
(The 1997 Carto Project Survey)
Theresa Marie Rhyne, $14,750 over 3 year period ($6,250 in year 1), pending review at the end of years 1 and 2, approved 5/30/96

This project will explore how viewpoints and techniques from the computer graphics community can be effectively applied to cartographic and spatial data sets. The "Carto Project" is in collaboration with the International Cartographic Association's (ICA) Commission on Visualization. The project seeks viewpoints from the computer graphics community on technology (including hardware and software) and techniques that will impact and can be applied to cartographic visualization.

4. SIGGRAPH Publications Outreach,
Stephen Spencer and Alain Chesnais, $2,500, approved 6/20/96.

This project is to distribute SIGGRAPH publications to economically- challenged educational institutions to further educational causes and foster interest in the SIGGRAPH organization and the field of computer graphics. Upon approval of a request from an educational institution, said educational institution will receive the SIGGRAPH Technical Conference publications for a period of two years from date of request. As of 1996, this set of publications includes the Conference Proceedings book and CD- ROM and Visual Proceedings book and CD-ROM. Approval of requests received will be based on evaluation of economic hardship experienced by the candidate institution and on the computer graphics-related work done at the institution. These funds will provide for shipping the first 50 sets of publications.

Procedures

The following procedures will be used to evaluate projects that are proposed to the Special Projects Committee:

• Areas of proposals: Interest is mainly in projects that have promise in promoting or advancing computer graphics generally. Local projects are only interesting if they offer a replicable model for others to follow. Projects in the areas deemed to be important in SIGGRAPH's strategic plans are of interest.
• The review will be based on several factors:
  • Need for the project
  • Effect of the project on the computer graphics industry
  • Breadth of the project's application in computer graphics and interactive techniques
  • Organization of the project and its likelihood of success
  • Strategic plans and directions of SIGGRAPH. At the last strategic planning meeting, May, 1994, the areas of online information, education, public policy, SIGGRAPH structure, diversity of the conference, SIGGRAPH relationship with ACM and small conferences, were identified as particularly important to the organization. Since only online information and public policy activities do not already fit within a specific area in the current SIGGRAPH structure, appropriate online and public policy projects would be of interest.
• Projects related to education are handled in a similar manner by the Education Committee, and requests to run a workshop are handled by the Small Conferences Coordinator. Requests regarding these types of activities should be made directly to the appropriate groups, not the Special Projects Committee.
• In consideration for Special Projects funding, negative factors would be: copyrighted proposals, salary requests for volunteers (i.e. people who should be donating their time), clearly commercial requests, requests where there are financial returns to the proposer, and requests that benefit only a local group of people.
• While SIGGRAPH respects the patents and copyrights of a proposer's work, SIGGRAPH reserves the right to a license of the product of a Special Project for distribution through SIGGRAPH channels at SIGGRAPH's expense. This may include, but is not limited to: reports, video tapes, films, slides, books, articles, and art work.
• To be considered by the Special Projects Committee, five copies of a written proposal must be sent to the Committee Chair. E-mail propospals are preferred if the proposal does not require special formatting or images. The application form is available here. The proposal:
  • should be short, yet describe the project fully
  • should emphasize the special results and describe all activities and/or products of the project
  • should include a complete budget with justifications as necessary
  • should include information on all persons who are proposed to work on the project.

There will be no schedule of proposal deadlines, but proposals will be examined as they are received. A complete evaluation of a successful proposal may take two to six months to process, so a proposer must include lead time plus whatever start-up time might be necessary in a proposal. If a proposal comes in late in the fiscal year, it may be approved in principle, but contingent on the overall budget for the next fiscal year.

The committee realizes that some work must precede any written proposal, and will be happy to discuss a potential proposal with anyone considering one. The committee will also consider revised proposals in case an original proposal is not supported.

Special Project Committee Members:

Judy Brown SIGGRAPH Special Projects Chair e-mail: jbrown@siggraph.org phone: +1-319-335-5552 fax: +1-319-335-5505	Oscar Garcia e-mail: garcia@siggraph.org phone: +1-513-873-5134 fax: +1-513-873-5133
Mike McGrath e-mail: mcgrath@siggraph.org phone: +1-303-273-3434	Bob Powell e-mail: powell@siggraph.org phone: +1-310-448-7595 fax: +1-310-448-7600

	ACM SIGGRAPH Online! http://www.siggraph.org Special Projects Contact: jbrown@siggraph.org		Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics. Last Updated: March 30, 1997