SMaRT (Semantic Multimedia Research and Technology) Association

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The SMaRT (Semantic Multimedia Research and Technology) association aimed at offering an integrative scientific platform bringing together the leading researchers from the fields of Semantic Web, Multimedia and Signal Analysis.
This was their website.
Content is from the site's 2009 - 2014 archived pages.

In recent years the Semantic Web has emerged as one of the most essential achievements for the future of the World Wide Web (WWW). Semantic Web technology extends the WWW but also enables to improve applications which are related to other fields such as communication, information, knowledge, media, and interaction technologies. Semantic Web provides not just new technologies and tools but also new paradigms and ways of thinking, to make information processing more efficient and more structured.
 

SMaRT will be involved in the organisation of the yearly SAMT conference, the 5th edition of which will be organized by DFKI in Saarbrücken, Germany - Dec 1-3 2010.

The international conference on Semantics And digital Media Technologies (SAMT) targets to narrow the large disparity between the low-level descriptors that can be computed automatically from multimedia content and the richness and subjectivity of semantics in user queries and human interpretations of audiovisual media - The Semantic Gap.

SAMT started out as two workshops, EWIMT 2004 and EWIMT 2005, that quickly achieved enormous success in attracting high-quality papers and over 100 participants from across Europe and beyond. In 2006 EWIMT turned into the full-fledged conference SAMT, addressing integrative research on new knowledge-based forms of digital media systems. SAMT brings together those forums, projects, institutions and individuals investigating the integration of knowledge, semantics and low-level multimedia processing, and links them with industrial research and development engineers who exploit the underlying emerging technology.

The first international conference on Semantics And digital Media Technology (SAMT 2006) took place at 6-8 December 2006, Athens, Greece, gathering 130 participants. It was hosted by the Image, Video and Multimedia Systems Laboratory of the National Technical University of Athens (IVML/NTUA), collaborating with CERTH/ITI. See www.samt2006.org

The 2nd international conference on Semantics And digital Media Technologies (SAMT 2007) was held in Genova from the 5th to the 7th December 2007, at the Jolly Hotel Marina (see samt2007.ge.imati.cnr.it) and was co-orgnized by the project AIM@SHAPE and IMATI-CNR

The third international conference on Semantics And digital Media Technologies (SAMT 2008) has been organized and hosted by the University of Koblenz, from 3rd to 5th of December 2008 (see http://samt2008.uni-koblenz.de/), in collaboration with the project SALERO, and for the first time with the SMaRT society.

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Global research on multimedia semantics is carried out to enable possibilities for human-computer interaction or computer-computer interaction, such as multimedia management, knowledge management or e-business. Semantic Multimedia will also spread up the development of new personalised services.

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An aside. My brother was trying to explain to me Semantic Multimedia. He was in my studio reading a book titled Semantic Multimedia Analysis and Processing. Affecting his best professorial voice: "Broad in scope, Semantic Multimedia Analysis and Processing provides a complete reference of techniques, algorithms, and solutions for the design and the implementation of contemporary multimedia systems. "I was lost, right there. On the other hand if you want to know about Italian furniture designers or where to look at modern dining room furniture designs I'm the expert. I have spent years studying furniture design and its evolution. My area of expertise is Italian furniture. Right now I am consulting for a client who wants a complete change in the interior design of his very contemporary Washington DC penthouse condo. I am the point person for the furniture. My go to showroom for the most well respected Italian furniture designers is in Philadelphia. Room service 360 has a huge showroom full of the collections from such manufacturers as Bonaldo, Cattelan Italia, Fiam Italia, Foscarini, Gamma Arredamenti, Pianca, Presotto Italia, Tonelli and Tonin Casa. These are the top manufactures of modern Italian furniture. I finally admit to my brother that I am totally lost regarding his dissertation on semantics and digital media technology. He apologized laughing and our discussion moved onto more mundane things such as womens glasses styles. He had noticed I was wearing new glasses. Pretty trendy he said regarding the Dolce & Gabbana eyeglasses I was wearing. The Italian fashion duo design eyewear as interesting as works of art and mine had a leo-print design on the frames. Everything Italian I said. My Italian furniture customers notice things like that. Now, let's just sip our wine, enjoy the the sunset, and discuss where we want to eat dinner tonight.

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SMaRT will among others organize conferences on Multimedia Semantics (like the future editions of the International conference on Semantics And digital Media Technologies -- SAMT) & summer schools (like the future edition of the Summer School on Multimedia Semantics -- SSMS), publish newsletters and course materials, support the exchange of students and young researchers, etc. It will also assist in the implementation of interactive support systems, like Zendesk by making available knowledgeable Zendesk developers to advise on the best techniques to both implement and customize this important service. Any website or conference management team that would like to learn more about state of the art customer service techniques can tap this important resource to improve their ability to communicate with relevant partners, customers, or students.

The association has been established within the European Network of Excellence K-Space (Knowledge Space of semantic inference for automatic annotation and retrieval of multimedia content, Contract no.: FP6 – 027026

 

 

The SMaRT society will act as the umbrella organization of the the Summer School on Multimedia Semantics (SSMS), which has been initiated by the K-Space project in 2006, in collaboration with other projects and institutions.

The Summer School is bringing together leading researchers and practitioners, provides postgraduate students the opportunity to gain deeper insight into the challenges related to multimedia semantics and the increasingly emerging applications relying on multimedia understanding, and to familiarize themselves with the diverse disciplines involved. SSMS include lectures, discussions and interactions with guest lecturers recognised as experts in their fields, as well as demonstrations and panels.

The first edition of SSMS was held in Kallithea, Chalkidiki, Greece, during 4-8 September 2006, and was mainly organized by the Multimedia Knowledge Group of the Informatics and Telematics Institute and was technically and financially supported by the aceMedia and K-Space projects (see mkg.iti.gr/ssms2006/)

The second edition was held in Glasgow in 2007. It was organised by the Information Retrieval Group of the Department of Computing Science at Glasgow University and had financial and technical support from the aceMedia, K-Space, Salero and IP-RACINE projects.

The third edition has been organised by the European R&D; project MESH in Chania, ,Crete, Greece, and included a special programme for profesionals in the field of journalism. Addtional scientific, technological suppert was given by the COST 292 action, PetaMedia - P2P Tagged Media and the K-Space Project.

• The first pleanry session of SMaRT will take place on the 2nd of December 2008, in Koblenz, in connection with the 3rd International Conference on Semantic and Digital Media Technologies.

• At this occasion the members of boards for the next period will be elected. Interested members of SMaRT can notify their wish to be candidates to the contact persons (listed in the corresponding menu point on this page).

 

The fourth edition of SSMS will be organized by the Univesity of Koblenz and will take place in Koblenz, 24.-28. August 2009. More information is given in http://www.smart-society.net/ssms09/

The fifth edition of SSMS will be organized by the Centrum for Wiskunde & Informatica and will take place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 30 - September 3 2010.

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1) Article 1: References

1. Full name of the Association: Semantic MultimediA Research and Technology e.V.
2. Short Name of the Association: SMaRT e.V.
3. Administrative address of the Association (provisional):
   c/o Thierry Declerck,
   DFKI GmbH, Stuhlsatzenhausweg, 3
   D-66123 Saarbrücken (Germany).
4. Webpage of the Association: www.smart-society.org, www.smart-society.net, www.smart-society.net, www.smart-society.de.
5. Contact email (provisional): declerck@dfki.de
6. Specification of the fiscal year: (to be checked)
7. Register Location and Number: Amtsgericht Saarbrücken (Number to be filled)

2) Article 2: Purposes of SMaRT

The SMaRT e.V. is a scientific forum, which mission consists mainly in supporting and disseminating achievements in the field of multimedia knowledge extraction and analysis. SMaRT is aiming at the realization of the following objectives (this list being not exclusive):

• Organization of the yearly conference on Semantics And digital Media Technology (SAMT), of which the first edition was co-organized by the European Network of Excellence “K-Space” in 2006.
• Organization of the yearly Summer School on Multimedia Semantics (SSMS), of which the first edition was co-organized by the European Network of Excellence “K-Space” in 2006.
• Knowledge brokering services in the realm of semantic multimedia
• Training services in the field of semantic multimedia
• Others (for example production of newsletters and other publications, organization of PhD exchanges, industrial placements of PhD students, etc. …)

3) Article 3: Actions of SMaRT

1. Co-organization of the yearly conference on Semantics And digital Media Technology (SAMT)
2. Co-organization of the yearly Summer School on Multimedia Semantics (SSMS)
3. Organization of the yearly General Assembly (probably during the SAMT conference)
4. Special Assemblies (to be specified individually by the different boards constituted within SMaRT)
5. Maintenance of course materials
6. Supervision of PhD Exchanges
7. Further actions of SMaRT can be determined at the General Assemblies of the Association.

4) Article 4: Membership:

1. A person or an institution becomes a member (referred to as the “Member” or the “Members” in this document) of the Association upon receipt of an application for membership and payment of dues.
2. Each Member shall be entitled to one vote on any vote of the membership.
3. The Management Board (as defined in Article 5 below) may suspend or expel a Member after written prior notice to the Member, stating the reasons therefore, and after providing an opportunity for the Member within one year to be heard on the matter. The terms for suspension or expulsion should be decided and sent by written notice to the Member.
4. Any Member may resign by writing to the administrative address. Resignation does not relieve the resigning Member from any obligation owed to the Association.
5. Membership in this Association is not transferable or assignable.
6. No Member shall be personally liable for any indebtedness, obligation or liability of the Association.
7. Dues and fees will be fixed at the General Assemblies of the SMaRT society.

5) Article 5: Management Board

The Management Board (MB) of SMaRT consists of three committees:

1. Executive Committee
2. Scientific Advisory Board
3. Industrial Advisory Board

The members of these committees are elected by the membership. The first Management Board will be elected at the constitutive meeting of SMaRT. The future modus of the election will be fixed at General Assemblies of SMaRT. The elected committees will in the future enter officially their function at the yearly General Assembly, where they will confirm their acceptance of the results of the election.

6) Article 6: Executive Committee

The Executive Committee (EC) of SMaRT consists of 5 members, who are elected for a period of 3 years:

1. President,
2. First Vice-President
3. Second Vice-President
4. Treasurer
5. Secretary and Portal Editor

The business and affairs of the Association shall be managed by its Executive Committee. The EC shall be responsible for the actions performed on behalf of the Association. The EC may delegate the management of the activities of the Association to any person or committee however composed, provided that the activities shall be managed under the ultimate direction of the EC.

If not specifically delegated otherwise, the EC shall delegate the management of the scientific and of the industrial activities to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and to the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) respectively. The First Vice-President will be in charge of the communication with the SAB and the Second Vice President will be in charge of the communication with the IAB. The SAB and IAB require approval of initiating actions that are not implied by earlier decisions, statutes or customs from the EC. This approval may be obtained post-hoc, but not later than six weeks after the decision has been made.

Members of the EC (the “EC Members”) must also be members of the Association

7) Article 7: Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) consists of minimally three and maximally five members, who are elected on a yearly basis. The SAB will elect one (or two) speaker(s) of the board who will be in charge of the formal communication with the EC and of the reporting of the activities of the SAB to the General Assembly. Main activities of the SAB are among others:

1. The co-organisation of the SAMT conference
2. The co-organisation of the SSMS summer school
3. The supervision of PhD exchanges, including PhD workshops
4. The supervision of the repository of teaching materials
5. Etc.

8) Article 8: Industrial Advisory Board

The Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) consists of minimally one and maximally three members, who are elected on a yearly basis. The IAB will elect one (or two) speaker(s) of the board who will in charge of the formal communication with the EC and of the reporting of the activities of the IAB to the General Assembly. Main activities of the IAB are among others

1. Supervision of Technology Transfer from Research to Industry (?)
2. Supervision of placement of students and researchers to industry
3. Co-supervision of market studies
4. Etc.

9) Article 9: Meetings

Notice of the meeting shall be given in an appropriate Association publication and via electronic mail. Such notice shall set forth those matters, which the EC intends to present for action by the Members. These matters include the annual reports, the budgets and the voting of the new MB members shall be on the agenda, when this point applies.

 

1. The Association shall meet annually, either
   1. At the Conference;
   2. At another occasion, approved by the EC at least six months in advance;
   3. Via electronic mail, organized by the EC.
2. The meeting shall be held at a specific time and place, and five per cent of the Members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of the Members, provided, however, that if less than one-third of the Members attend then the only matters that may be voted on at that meeting are those of which notice was given. If the meeting and/or ballot are held by electronic means, one-third of the Members shall constitute a quorum.
3. Voting may take place by a show of hands at a meeting of the Members or by electronic, paper or mixed ballot. Approval at a meeting shall be by majority vote. Approval by ballot shall be by majority vote provided that the number of votes cast exceeds that which would constitute a quorum at a meeting of the Members.
4. Electronic, paper or mixed ballots shall be organised by the EC, who shall distribute one ballot to each Member, specifying the time by which the ballot must be received in order to be counted.
5. Agenda, reports, budget and other relevant documentation for the meetings should be available to the Members at least two weeks before the actual meeting or the ballot (by electronic mail) takes place. During this period all Members are allowed to comment on this documentation and specifically propose additional topics for the agenda or candidates for the EC. The EC should enable the dissemination of these comments to all other Members:
6. A meeting of MB Members may be held immediately before or after an annual meeting of Members, if requested by an EC Member.
7. The decisions made by majority vote at a Meeting of Members overrule decisions made by the EC or the MB.

10) Article 10: Financial Resources

The financial sustainability of the SMaRT association and some of its activities will be ensured by:

• Fees from its academic and industrial members
• Possible benefits from the SAMT conference and the SSMS summer school
• Knowledge brokering services: companies that want to make use of such services pay for access to these services
• Training services: participants pay small fees in order to access training materials; update of training
• Materials will be provided by members of the association; motivation for contributors and users will be the quality stamp assigned by the association
• Etc.

In the first year of the Association, the EC will investigate which activities of the Association can be ensured on a voluntary basis, or covered by external funds, and which activities will have to be financed by the funds of the Association.

Following rules applies to the budget of the Association:

1. Contracts on behalf of the Association shall be signed by the President and one Vice President.
2. All payments by the Association shall be made by or signed by the Secretary and by the Treasurer. For payments which are not implied by the approved budget and which are beyond the maximum amount to which the EC has given its authorization, advance permission by the EC is required.
3. The financial report and the budget for the next calendar year have to be approved by the EC before three months have passed in the calendar year of the budget.
4. The budget for the SAMT Conference shall be approved by the EC, the SAB and the host institution (the “Organization Chair”). A distribution of profits and losses between the Organization Chair and the Association shall be an appendix to the agreement between the Association and the Organization Chair. The budget of the Conference is not part of the budget of the Association
5. The budget for the SSMS Summer School shall be approved by the EC, the SAB and the host institution (the “Organization Chair”). A distribution of profits and losses between the Organization Chair and the Association shall be an appendix to the agreement between the Association and the Organization Chair. The budget of the SSMS Summer School is not part of the budget of the Association
6. The EC shall on an annual basis confirm or update the existing membership dues of the Association, as well as the method and time of payment.
7. Any person acting in good faith for or on behalf of the Association and with the approval of the EC, shall be indemnified by the Association against any expenses incurred in connection with any claim or suit arising from that action.

11) Article 11: Amendment of the Constitution of the Association

Any Member may propose to the EC to amend, adopt or repeal any clause of this constitution. Upon a vote by two thirds of the EC, the SAB and the IAB in favour of such a proposal, it shall be placed on the agenda of the next General Assembly of the membership of the Association. Amendments shall be accepted by a ballot when more than two thirds of the votes of the Members are in favour.

12) Article 12: Dissolution

A two-third majority of the membership is needed for dissolving the Association.

13) Article 13: The first Management Board of SMaRT

Final decision: The first EC, SAB and IAB of SMaRT will be confirmed by the constitutive Meeting.of SMaRT, which will take place in Berlin on thethe 7th of March 2008 in Berlin, Germany.

The revision of the constitution of SMaRT and fixing a date for the first General Assembly of SMaRT e.V. will be an immediate task for the MB. The first MB will also have to decide on the exact duration of the mandates of the first members of the MB: if the time between the constitutive meeting and the first General Assembly should be ignored for the first period of the distinct Boards. The date for the first general assembly has been fixed to the 2nd of December 2008 in Berlin.