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International Conference VSMM 2008 - Call for Participation

Digital Heritage: Our Hi-tech-STORY for the Future

Technologies to Document, Preserve, Communicate,
and Prevent the Destruction of our Fragile Cultural Heritage
October 20. - 25th, 2008
Limassol, Cyprus

http://www.vsmm2008.org
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Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 14th
International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia - VSMM2008:

"Digital Heritage 2.0: Our Hi-tech-story for the Future".
Technologies to Document, Preserve, Communicate,
and Prevent the Destruction of our Fragile Cultural Heritage

The conference, held under the Patronage of H.E. the President of the
Republic of Cyprus and UNESCO, will take place in the 5-star beachfront
Amathus Hotel in Limassol, Cyprus from October 20-25th, 2008.

Leading heritage, digital technology, and policy leaders from around the
world in libraries and archives, museums, virtual reality and multimedia,
and heritage documentation and presentation, will be converging to share
ideas, present their latest findings, and develop new initiatives.

Conference registration, and air and hotel discounts are all now available
on the conference website http://www.vsmm2008.org

Centered on the key themes of Digital Libraries, Digital Museums, Digital
Recording, and Virtual Systems, some 180 papers have been selected by a
100-member program committee from over 300 submissions from across the
world. The papers will be available in proceedings, which will be
complimentary with conference registration. The 10 best papers presented at
the conference will be published in a Special Edition of the International
Journal of Architectural Computing, while the 11 special panels and
workshops will be published in a unique book edition to be published in
early 2009.

In addition to the many papers, across its multiple days the Conference will
feature 7 plenary talks by leading experts, and a rich variety of workshops,
and special sessions.

Conference Highlights:

Digital Heritage Information: Libraries and Archives
    Keynotes
i2010 Digital Libraries' Initiative - Europe's Cultural Heritage at the
Click of a Mouse
Javier Hernandez-Ros, Head of Unit, Information Society & Media DG, The
European Commission

The World Digital Library Initiative
Dr. John Van Oudenaren, Director, World Digital Library, The Library of
Congress

    Panels & Workshops
. Open Content - Maximizing Usability of Digital Heritage (Alexandria
Archive)
. Archives Infrastructure for Digitized Cultural Content in Europe (Rob
Davies, Romana Krizova)
. Multilingual & Multimedia Access to Cultural Heritage Digital Objects (the
EU MultiMatch Project)
. The EU Michael / Minerva Projects (Rosella Caffo, Italian Ministry of
Culture)
. Preparing the Cultural Heritage Research Agenda of Tomorrow ( Sorin
Hermon, EU Cultural Heritage Informatics Research Oriented Network)

Digital Museums, Interpretation and Presentation
    Keynote
Libraries, Monuments, Archives, Museums: European heritage facing the
digital challenge, Prof. Massimo Negri, Director, European Museum Forum and
Board of the European Digital Library

    Showcases & Panels
. NODEM: Nordic Excellence in Digital Museums (Halina Gottlieb, The
Interactive Institute)
. COINS: Automated tools to trace stolen collections (Franco Niccolucci, EU
COINS Project)
. EPOCH KnowHow Books: Knowledge Transfer (Halina Gottlieb & Daniel
Pletinckx, EPOCH Project)

Digital Heritage Documentation
    Keynote
The Acropolis of Athens: From Ancient Greece to the Digital Age, Vassilios
Tsingas, Elliniki Photogrammetriki Ltd

Workshops and Panels
. Terrestrial Laser Scanning Essentials (Andreas Georgopoulos, National
Tech. Univ. of Athens)
. Digital Tools for Recording Heritage Places (Mario Santana, KU Leuven)

Virtual Systems and Multimedia
    Keynote
Designing the Digital Imaginary: a Convergence of Art and Supercomputer
Science, Prof. Donna J. Cox, Advanced Visualization Laboratory, National
Center for Supercomputing Applications, Univ. of Illinois at
Urbana-Champagne

Panels and Workshops
. Virtual Reality: Communities and 3D Worlds (Maurizio Forte and Lily Diaz)
. FocusK3D: Promoting Semantic 3D Media (Manolis Vavalis, Marios Pitikakis)