AAAI-15 AI Video Competition
Date: January 25-29, 2015
Place: Austin Texas, USA
Website: http://www.aaaivideos.org
Submission Deadline: October 15, 2014

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Dear Colleagues,

AAAI is pleased to announce the continuation of the AAAI Video Competition, now entering its ninth year. The video competition will be held in conjunction with the AAAI-15 conference in Austin Texas, USA, January 25-29, 2015. At the main AAAI-15 awards ceremony, authors of award-winning videos will be presented with "Shakeys", trophies named in honour of SRI's Shakey robot and its pioneering video. Top videos will be screened during the award ceremony and during a dedicated session. All videos will also be visible throughout the conference.

The goal of the competition is to show the world how much fun AI is by documenting exciting artificial intelligence advances in research, education, and application. View previous entries and award winners at http://www.aaaivideos.org/past_competitions or watch last year’s videos on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aaaivideocompetition.

The rules are simple: Compose a short video about an exciting AI project, and narrate it so that it is accessible to a broad online audience. We strongly encourage student participation.

To increase reach, select videos will be uploaded to YouTube and promoted through social media (twitter, facebook, g+) and major blogs in AI and robotics. Last year’s videos were viewed over 10 000 times.

This year, we will also be running a People’s Choice Award on Robohub (http://robohub.org) where viewers on internet can vote for their favorite AI video.

The AAAI Video Competition is also an ideal opportunity to give further visibility to contributions presented at AAAI-15. We therefore welcome videos associated with manuscripts submitted to AAAI-15 or with entries submitted to the Demo Track and to the Robotics Exhibitions. We will make sure to publicize your paper/demo/exhibit in the video proceedings and during the award ceremony. More information on these events can be found here: http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/2015/

SOCIAL MEDIA

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VIDEO FORMAT AND CONTENT

Either a 1 minute (max) short video or a 5 minute (max) long video, with English narration (or English subtitles). Consider combining screenshots, interviews, and videos of a system in action. Make the video self-contained, so that newcomers to AI can understand and learn from it. We encourage a good sense of humor, but will only accept submissions with serious AI content. For example, we welcome submissions of videos that:

* Highlight a research topic - contemporary or historic, your own or from another group
* Introduce viewers to an exciting new AI-related technology
* Provide a window into the research activities of a laboratory and/or senior researcher
* Attract prospective students to the field of AI
* Explain AI concepts - your video could be used in the classroom

Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Novel ideas for AI-based videos, including those not necessarily based on a "system in action", are encouraged. No matter what your choice is, creativity is encouraged! (Please note: The authors of previous, award-winning videos typically used humor, background music, and carefully selected movie clips to make their contributions come alive.)

Please also note that videos should only contain material for which the authors own copyright. Clips from films or television and music for the soundtrack should only be used if copyright permission has been granted by the copyright holders, and this written permission accompanies the video submission.


SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Submit your video by making it available for download on a (preferably password-protected) dropbox, ftp or website. Once you have done so, please fill out the submission form (http://www.aaaivideos.org/submission_form.txt) and send it to us by email (submission@aaaivideos.org). All submissions are due no later than October 15, 2014.


REVIEW AND AWARD PROCESS

Submitted videos will be peer-reviewed by members of the programme committee according to the criteria below. Videos that receive positive reviews will be accepted for publication in the AAAI Video Competition proceedings. Select videos will also be uploaded to Youtube, promoted through social media, and featured on the dedicated website (http://www.aaaivideos.org). The best videos will be nominated for awards. Winners will be revealed at the award ceremony during AAAI-15.

All authors of accepted videos will be asked to sign a distribution license form.


Review criteria:

1. Relevance to AI (research or application)
2. Excitement generated by the technology presented
3. Educational content
4. Entertainment value
5. Presentation (cinematography, narration, soundtrack, production values)


AWARD CATEGORIES

Best Video, Best Short Video, Best Student Video, Best Robot Video, and Most Entertaining Video. (Categories may be changed at the discretion of the chairs.)


AWARDS

Trophies ("Shakeys").


KEY DATES

* Submission Deadline: October 15, 2014
* Reviewing Decision Notifications & Award Nominations: November 15, 2014
* Final Version Due: December 15, 2014
* Screening and Award Presentations: January 25-29, 2015


FOR MORE INFORMATION

Please contact us at info@aaaivideos.org

We look forward to your participation in this exciting event!

Sabine Hauert and Mauro Birattari
AAAI Video Competition 2015