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This is a summary of the key actions that have informed this strategy since ICDAR 2017.
ICDAR 2017 - Future of DAR Workshop
ICDAR 2017 - Future of DAR Workshop
The first edition of the "Future of DAR" workshop was organized as a satellite event of ICDAR 2017 at Osaka, Japan, by Prof Koichi Kise and Prof Andreas Dengel.
The workshop was organized as a participatory event. First, a number of invited speakers shared their views on the future of Document Analysis and Recognition through short presentations. This was followed by group discussions on topics selected by the participants.
Short presentations and group discussions during the Future of DAR workshop at ICDAR 2017 (Osaka, Japan)
The workshop was followed by a panel discussion at the end of the conference, chaired by Prof A. Dengel, with the participation of D. Karatzas, M. Blumenstein, S. Uchida and C.V. Jawahar. The panel discussion allowed to summarize key outcomes of the workshop, and open the stage to all conference participants.
Panel discussion at ICDAR 2017 (Osaka, Japan)
ICDAR 2019 - Future of DAR Workshop
ICDAR 2019 - Future of DAR Workshop
The Future of DAR Workshop was organized for second time during ICDAR 2019, by Profs Koichi Kise, C.V. Jawahar and Dimosthenis Karatzas.
This time, the workshop started long before the event itself. Armed with key conclusions from the previous edition, a number of online discussion spaces were defined on the Kialo platform. The discussions were focused on key issues that came up during the previous edition of the workshop, and were staged around a series of bold statements in order to receive useful feedback.
The Kialo discussions were not designed as voting mechanisms, but to collect arguments for and against the statements exposed. You can still participate in these discussions and add your views. The discussions hosted were on the following statements:
We should fuse ICDAR / ICFHR / DAS / GREC into a single, annual conference [link]
We should adopt a decision making process in the community involving increased direct participation of a general assembly, like the model of TC PAMI's CVPR / ICCV [link]
A journal publication should be linked with the ICDAR conference. The ICDAR / IJDAR track introduced in 2019 is a good idea [link]
ICDAR is still a good name for the conference. It projects well our activity to the rest of the research community [link]
Papers that do not explicitly involve image analysis should NOT be accepted in ICDAR [link]
In addition, to get the discussion going, the organizers prepared a white paper titled "Document Analysis and Recognition: Towards a Vision for the Future", in which they analyzed historical data from our community and they offered their personal view on the future. You can read the white paper here.
The workshop itself was a fully participatory experience. First, a couple of ice-breaking activities took place that allowed participants to familiarize themselves with key facts and data about the community, and get to know each other.
Just a small sample of the brainstorming that led to our common vision. Ideas covered everything, from ensuring free publications and defining grand challenges to restructuring our events and allowing online participation (yes, that was before the pandemic:))
Following that, we collectively defined a common vision, assuming everything is possible (no stoppers). The synthesized version of our common vision was:
We envisage a DIVERSE community, with good links with the INDUSTRY, attracting YOUNG researchers.
Our research is driven by INTERESTING PROBLEMS, and leads to HIGH QUALITY PUBLICATIONS.
Our events are WELL KNOWN outside the document analysis community, well PARTICIPATED, by academic researchers and industry alike, and welcome researchers from DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES.
Finally, we let reality kick in, and we worked in groups to define the supports and challenges towards reaching our vision, and coming up with bold steps (actions) to get there.
The results of all the groups were presented in the workshop to the rest of the participants, allowing for a final debate before the workshop closed.
As physical participation at satellite workshops tends to be limited, an informative session was also organized during one of the coffee breaks of the main conference, seeking wider participation. The results were summarized in the TC10/11 meeting at the end of ICDAR 2019.
Task Force Meeting - 2020
Task Force Meeting - 2020
At ICDAR 2019 we decided to form a small and agile Task Force to structure all the feedback received into a mid/long term strategic plan for the community. The TC10 and TC11 chairs (A. Fornés and D. Karatzas) were tasked with setting this up.
We tried for the Task Force to be a representative cross-cut of the membership of TC10 and TC11 and the attendants of our conference. We included senior members of the community that have organised our events in the past, future organisers, young researchers (recent ICDAR young research awardees), members of the various steering committees, etc. We tried to have a representative group in terms of geographic coverage, industry and academia participants, etc. The Task Force has the following composition:
The task force met for three days in Barcelona, Spain, in January 2020. In preparation to this meeting, we collected more data and launched a questionnaire to collect some further input for our discussions. The questionnaire is now closed, but you can access it here.
During this meeting, the task force took some time to analyze all data we had put together. You can access this information here.
Following this, we created empathy maps trying to capture all the different profiles of people that typically attend to our events and participate to our activities. The key idea here is to relate to the people we are designing a strategy for, and make sure that all types of members are represented. A number of fictitious characters were created, through the eyes of whom the strategy should be designed.
Once this was done, we started from the results of the Future of DAR workshop and questionnaires, and did a SWOT analysis. Finally, we worked in groups to define specific actions under the topics identified. This led to a very early draft of the strategic plan.
The Task Force meeting at the Computer Vision Centre, Barcelona, Spain, in January 2020. Standing: C.V.Jawahar, D. Doermann, V. Poulain, G. Fink, A. Fornés, A. Antonacopoulos, J.C. Burie, S. Uchida; seated: K. Kise, A. Fischer, R. Manmatha, J. Lladós; front: D.Karatzas; not in the photo: F. Shafait.
Informative sessions during DAS and ICFHR 2020
Informative sessions during DAS and ICFHR 2020
During 2020 progress has been slow, but constant. The TC10 and TC11 chairs, A. Fornés and D. Karatzas along with J. Lladós worked on restructuring the main document, in various iterations, in collaboration with the rest of the task force and discussed the plan with the TC10 and TC11 teams. Our progress has been presented during DAS 2020 and during ICFHR 2020. You can see the video of the DAS 2020 presentation here.
DAR Strategy Web site
DAR Strategy Web site
Finally, in December 2020, we setup this Web site, where we have collected all information related to the Strategic Plan.
Importantly, you can find the summary of actions here.
What happens now?
What happens now?
The strategy is quite advanced already, but it is not a closed document.
Please look at all the information available and feel free to send us your comments through the contact form. You can always email directly the TC10 and TC11 chairs, but using the form will allow us to receive your feedback in a more structured way.
For some key aspects of the strategy, we have set up further discussions in Kialo. Please add your opinion.
As we are coming closer to a finalized version of the strategic plan, we have already started working in the direction of some of the actions of the strategic plan with a view to implement certain aspects in ICDAR 2021. In addition, there will be a new edition of the Future of DAR workshop in 2021, to which you are welcome to participate.
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