MAP4VIP 2013 - IEEE Workshop on Multimodal and Alternative Perception for Visually Impaired People (MAP4VIP)

The workshop aims to bring researchers and practitioners from multiple disciplines (computer vision, neuroscience, multimedia computing, sensor technologies and assistive technology applications) to discuss fundamental issues in visual perception, computational intelligence, neuroscience and visual prosthesis for helping blind and visually impaired people and people working in visually challenged environments. Based on the World Health Organization 2012 Report, there are more than 285 million visually impaired people, of which 39 million are blind. About 65 % of all people who are visually impaired are aged 50 and older, while this age group comprises about 20 % of the world's population. With an increasing elderly population in many countries, more people will be at risk of age-related visual impairment. Research on multimodal and alternative perception will have a long term impact on the health and wellness of society, not only for the visually challenged, but for people who often work in dangerous environments, such as firefighters, drivers and soldiers. This is the first IEEE workshop on this topic, but we have had two very successful internal workshops with similar multidisciplinary features (one at Georgia Tech and one at The City University of New York - CUNY). This workshop coordinates with the main conference theme on "Multimedia for Humanity". We hope this workshop will attract attention of the multimedia community in understanding human perception, human brain, and human-machine interaction issues for assisting the visually impaired and challenged individuals.
Specific topics include but not limited to:
Computer vision, sensing and learning algorithms for helping visually challenged people, including electronic travel aids, electronic orientation aids, signage detection, tactile display, face recognition, road and obstacle detection;
Visual prosthesis and human-computer interaction, including retinal implants, visual cortex stimulation, biomimetics, and bio-system engineering issues;
Neuroscience/biomechanical/psychological/societal studies, including human perception study, neuro computing, visual coding, sensorimotor models, multisensory integration, system evaluation, and science/technology policy and future trends.
Workshop Format and Paper Selection Process
The workshop will include the following events (the numbers are just for planning, and they are up to change based on responses):
Keynote Speeches (1 focusing more on human vision, 1 focusing more on computer vision)
Panel Discussions (about 6 panelists from academia, industry, government and community)
Oral Presentations (3-4 invited presentations, one per technical session; 10-15 oral presentations from open call for papers with double-blind reviews)
Poster Presentations (submitted papers from young/student researchers, approximately 20 posters)
To encourage high quality submissions and student involvements, we plan to give one or more best paper and/or best student paper awards. Sponsorships from the National Science Foundation (pending) and possibly other parties could allow us to support both paper awards and travels of a number of invited participants (including domain experts and students) who otherwise would not attend ICME.