Frequently asked questions

1. Is there an overall "theme" for Alife XII?
2. Why invite two kinds of submission: "full papers" and "abstracts"?
3. Should I submit an abstract or a full paper?
4. Why run multiple parallel tracks?
5. Will there be any plenary sessions?
6. Will there be workshops, posters, tutorials?
7. How to apply for and organize contributed sessions at AlifeXII?
8. How to apply for and organize satellite events at AlifeXII?
9. Will there be any financial support for delegates that need it?
10. How will the proceedings be published?
11. Which papers will be published in the Artificial Life journal?

If you have any other questions, please contact questions@alifexii.org.

1. Is there an overall "theme" for Alife XII?

The conference will be organized around the theme of identifying and synthesizing the critical properties of living and life-like systems (e.g., self-replication, self-assembly, self-organization, metabolism, adaptation, evolution). The meeting will reflect all of the main areas of artificial life research, including “wet” systems based on carbon chemistry, “soft” systems realized in software, “hard” systems consisting of autonomous robotic agents, integration of the above area, as well as a variety of social and technical systems that embody the critical properties of living systems. The conference will have broad interdisciplinary interest, because “living” processes are found virtually everywhere.

It has been a decade since the last organized effort to identify the key open problems in artificial life. An important goal of the workshop is to review progress on the open problems and re-evaluate what are the key open problems in artificial life today.

2. Why invite two kinds of submission: "full papers" and "abstracts"?

The principal driver is a desire to involve as many relevant kinds of academics as possible at Alife XII (see 1, above). In addition to Alife's established core community, we hope to engage researchers from disciplines where conferences are not associated with published proceedings, e.g., many parts of biology, chemistry, and physics. For such conferences it is standard practice to submit abstracts which are primarily filtered only for relevance (and perhaps sanity). We also appreciate that there are many Alife academics for whom a full conference paper may not look like a good return on the investment of time and effort required. For both of these groups of people, the opportunity to make a presentation based on a 500-word abstract may make the difference between attending the conference or not. We believe that this format — that had been already installed for Alife XI in 2008 — will maintain the character and quality of Alife whilst opening it up to a more diverse and representative community of researchers.

3. Should I submit an abstract or a full paper?

The short answer is that you should submit a full paper if a peer-reviewed published permanent record of the research is important to you. If it isn't, an abstract may be a more attractive option.

Some situations in which a full paper might be the right option:

You work within a discipline where full paper submission is the norm.
Financial support for your attendance at the conference would be easier to secure if it leads to full paper publication.
A piece of your research is not ready for journal publication but you wish to present it fully and in detail.
You are at a stage in your career when conference papers are valuable for your CV.
You would value the full peer review of your work that full paper submission guarantees.

Some situations in which an abstract might be the right option:

You work within a discipline where abstract submission is the norm.
You would like to present a piece of mature work, but it is already ready for journal submission, or is already submitted to a journal.

Note that, if accepted, both abstracts and full papers will be allocated equal time for oral presentation, and both are expected to present mature, high-quality pieces of relevant work. The introduction of abstract submissions is not intended to solicit work that is low quality, incomplete or merely speculative, or to encourage multiple related submissions from the same author.

Finally, please note that where the peer review process concludes that a submitted full paper is not suitable for full publication, but nonetheless contains high-quality content, the paper will automatically be reconsidered as an abstract submission.

4. Why run multiple parallel tracks?

It is not ideal to have to choose between competing parallel sessions. However, with the expected volume of submissions in within the main areas we feel that allocating a balanced number of submissions oral presentations in focused session offers the best opportunities both for the presenters and for the interested delegates to exchange ideas. As a complement to the oral presentations ample of time is allocated for scientific exchanges at the poster sessions.

5. Will there be any plenary sessions?

Yes. There will be a small number of keynote addresses delivered by internationally leading researchers. Please see the list, here. A small number of contributed talks may be selected for plenary session presentations in the peer review process.

6. Will there be workshops, posters, tutorials?

As Alife has matured, the high quality of thematic sessions has become a key feature of the conferences. The current format also follows the workshop-style sessions (i.e., containing a small number of thematically linked talks and discussion) to take place over the whole course of the conference. Alife XII will also host a poster session for peer-to-peer presentation of selected works. Satellite workshops will be organized both the day before the start of Alife XII, during Alife XII and after the conclusion of Alife XII. There are currently no plans for tutorials within the conference, but tutorials could be organized in the satellite workshops.

7. How to apply for and organize contributed sessions at AlifeXII?

Contributed sessions are scheduled within the conference tracks and should be organized around a special theme or topic connected to Artificial Life research. Session organizers will invite their own speakers whose contributions (abstract or paper) undergo regular peer review with submission deadline April 9, 2010.

For contributed sessions, please submit a maximum half page application including a short abstract describing the session topic/theme, a potential list of speakers, and the estimated number of participants. Please send your application via email to events@alifexii.org. Organizers will be informed about the acceptance/rejection as well as event date and time by January 15, 2010. Since the actual composition of speakers in part depends of the peer review process the Organizing Committee with assist the session organizers to assemble the best possible session.

8. How to apply for and organize satellite events at AlifeXII?

Satellite events (e.g. workshops or tutorials) are scheduled outside the conference program and their organization is entirely relaying on the applying event organizer. Contributions to satellite events do not undergo peer review. by the Alife XII Program Committee.

Applications for satellite events (1-page max) must include an abstract describing the workshop idea, a tentative list of speakers, a preferred time slot (date and time) as well as the projected size of the event (number of people attending). Please send your application via email to events@alifexii.org. Satellite workshop organizers will be informed about the acceptance/rejection as well as event date and time by January 15, 2010.

Rooms and facilities for satellite events will be provided free of charge, but AlifeXII will not cover any additional expenses (e.g. for travel and proceedings). Participants of satellite events have to register for AlifeXII either for the full extent of the conference, or for the day the satellite event takes place. Please note that this AlifeXII registration fee cannot be used to pay for additional expenses associated with the satellite events. All attendees of AlifeXII are granted access to the satellite event free of additional charge and the event participants can freely attend the other AlifeXII activities.

9. Will there be any financial support for delegates that need it?

We are planning to offer travel bursaries for students and delegates that are otherwise unable to attend Alife XII. Please stay tuned for more information.

10. How will the proceedings be published?

Please stay tuned for more information.

11. Which papers will be published in the Artificial Life journal?