Courses: Special Features
SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Courses will have several special features that should make our presentations unique, interesting, and truly memorable. Please read through this information and consider how you can take advantage of these features to customize your course proposals and make the best possible presentation in Yokohama.
Asia-Centric Subject Matter
The interests and expertise of the large Japanese and Asian audience expected at SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 don't necessarily match exactly those of a typical North American SIGGRAPH conference. We expect to see a large number of conference attendees with interests specifically in high-end gaming, ubiquitous computing, robotics, and other state-of-the-art devices and applications. We are actively encouraging proposals for SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 courses that would otherwise typically appear in conferences such as GDC, SIGCHI, and IEEE VR in North America.
Massive Internet Connectivity
For SIGGRAPH Asia 2009, Pacifico Yokohama will provide a significantly higher bandwidth intranet and internet infrastructure than has been available at any previous SIGGRAPH conference. Tens of Gbits of Internet-2 bandwidth will be available to course presenters and attendees. Consider how this resource might be used to enhance your course presentation, such as live streaming of visualizations from large servers, real-time collaboration with all audience members, or interaction with Emerging Technologies or the Art Gallery in other parts of the convention center.
Remote Presentation
With the availability of such extreme bandwidth comes the possibility of remote presentation. Speakers who cannot attend the conference in person could present via teleconferencing, or courses could be simulcast to other venues worldwide (such as to students in a foreign university). Consider this possibility when deciding whether it is practical for you or your speakers to commit to presenting in person at SIGGRAPH Asia 2009.
Language Choices
The official language of SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 is English. All spoken presentations, slide presentations, and course notes are expected by default to be in English. The Courses program is interested, however, in experimenting with a small number of courses presented in Japanese if there are compelling reasons that the course presenters and the course audience would prefer this. We are also interested in the possibility of simultaneous presentation in multiple languages. SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 will have a small number of bilingual Interns to assist in translation of audience interactions during question-and-answer sessions. If course presenters are interested in participating in these programs, they should contact the Courses Committee before the course submission deadline to discuss the possibilities.
