Call for Participation

Theme: “Sounding Board”

The Conference will be held virtually, June 25-28

In addition to being part of the resonating chamber in a musical instrument, the term sounding board is also a metaphor for a channel through which ideas are discussed and disseminated. ICAD, established in 1992 has, through its 25 conference meetings, shared over 1,150 papers with the auditory display community. This year, the conference will offer itself as a sounding board for the community, allowing time to pause and reflect on the history of auditory display research, review how research has changed throughout the years, and discuss future areas of inquiry as well as how to adapt our research during these challenging times. Therefore, the ICAD 2021 committee is seeking full papers, abstracts, concert pieces, demos, installations, workshops, and tutorials from across the full spectrum of auditory display research and practice. From discussions and reflections on the history of auditory display research with a view to generating new ways of thinking about how we as practitioners should go about things, to speculative ideas or news of late-breaking work, submissions are sought across all the categories. We are particularly interested in hearing from researchers who have never considered themselves to be part of the community before, or whose work sits at the periphery of the field.

Important Dates

Full Papers – March 31st Abstract submission: March 31st, Full paper submission April 11th * Notification date June 2nd
Abstract Only Submissions (no paper published) -submission April 30th extended to May 7th Notification date June 2nd
Workshops/Tutorials/Panels- submission April 30th
Live Concert Performances (June 26th) /Installations – submission April 30th extended to May 7th
Doctoral Consortium/Thinktank – submission April 30th

  • Submit an abstract by March 31st and you will be allowed to upload your full paper by April 11th.

Conference times and registration information here: FOR ATTENDEES

Where to Submit

ICAD 2021 will be using the EasyChair system for managing all submissions categories except for ThinkTank applications. 

The EasyChair link can be found here

Topics of Interest Include

(but are not limited to):

  • Sonification-inspired music composition, integrative arts, and performing arts.
  • Culture-specific sonification
  • Speculative, aspirational, and prototype designs
  • Sonic information design paradigm, theory, and taxonomy
  • Design methodology, design examples, case studies, and real-world applications
  • Users, experiences, and contexts of using sonification
  • Aesthetics of auditory displays and sonification
  • Methods, processes, and tools for sonification
  • Participatory approaches
  • Auditory user interfaces
  • Psychology, cognition, perception and psychoacoustics
  • Computational/algorithmic approaches·
  • Accessibility, inclusive design, and assistive technologies
  • Human Factors, Ergonomics and Usability
  • Spatial and 3D sound
  • Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality audio
  • Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality auditory designs and evaluation
  • Auditory Display designs for effective telecommunication
  • Soundscapes and auditory scene analysis
  • Sonification in Health and Environmental Data (soniHED)
  • Sonification in the Internet of things, big data, & cybersecurity
  • Sonification in automated vehicles

Form of Submission and Assessment Criteria

Submission Templates

For Paper, Poster and other written material:
The safest way to obtain the correct format is to paste your text, etc. into a copy of the template. Please ensure that your submission is formatted correctly, with the headers and footers included in the template. For reference, please consult the PDF of the .doc template (coming soon.)

Download .doc template.
Download Latex template (.zip archive).

Audio and other Media files

Submissions should contain a link to audio and other media files in Dropbox, iCloud Soundcloud, Vimeo or other online site, and provide a password if the link is not public.

Submission Accessibility

Making conference materials accessible promotes equal access for researchers in our field. We highly encourage researchers to provide accessible submissions and require that camera-ready papers be accessible.

Checking Your PDF is Accessible

If you can, use the Adobe Acrobat Pro Accessibility Checker (Full Check) to verify the accessibility of your PDF. See Adobe’s detailed instructions for more information.

If you don’t have access to Adobe Acrobat Pro, there are some free accessibility checkers available online that may be able to help.

Fixing Accessibility Problems

A lot of accessibility problems can be fixed directly in Acrobat’s Accessibility Checker. However, Microsoft Word for PC can generate PDFs with many accessibility features and it’s often easier to correct issues in the Word source file. SIGACCESS provides detailed instructions. Unfortunately, Word for Mac and Latex users will need to manually add accessibility features.

At a minimum, make sure your document is tagged, tab order follows the document structure, figures and inaccessible equations have alternative text, table headers are marked, and the document language is specified. As a note, the built-in auto-tagging feature of Acrobat is not 100% reliable with our templates. Please manually check that any auto-generated tags are logical.

More Information

ACM SIGACCESS has a number of resources http://www.sigaccess.org/welcome-to-sigaccess/resources/ for making conference materials and presentations more accessible.

Full Papers (5-8 pages)

  • Full papers represent the core of the ICAD conference and they are judged accordingly. Works in any content category should be self-contained, and withstand objective criticism.
  • At least two external reviews, by reviewers outside of the Program Committee, will be carried out.
  • Acceptance is determined solely on the merits of the submitted work.
  • In the review process, there is no distinction between whether the presentation mode will be oral or a poster.
  • Attribution of accepted papers to either oral or poster presentation is determined by the Program Committee although submissions may indicate a preferred method of presentation.
  • Accepted papers will appear in the proceedings and will be archived accordingly.
  • Accepted Full Paper submissions will be assigned DOI numbers.
  • Please note, presentations of sonification research work so much better when accompanied by relevant audio or audio-visual material, therefore, the review criteria will include an assessment of the quality and relevance of media files (or links) included in the submission. Submissions without accompanying media may not be reviewed as favourably as those that do (though this will depend on the type of paper being submitted).

Abstract-only Submissions

(200 word abstract)

  • Abstract Only Submissions are used to present “works in progress” for which a discussion with the community is of interest and could be beneficial to the development of the work in question.
  • No full papers will be associated with this type of submission.
  • Authors are not allowed to anonymize the submission for reviews.
  • Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Committee.
  • Abstract Only Submissions will not be assigned DOI numbers.
  • Accepted proposals will be assigned to the either oral or poster presentation mode.
  • Please note, presentations of sonification research work so much better when accompanied by relevant audio or audio-visual material, therefore, the review criteria will include an assessment of the quality and relevance of media files (or links) included in the submission. Submissions without accompanying media may not be reviewed as favourably as those that do (though this will depend on the type of paper being submitted).

Workshop, Tutorial and Panel sessions 

Summary:

  • Tutorials workshops and panels should provide in-depth opportunities to discuss, explore, and learn about aspects of the field of auditory display with like-minded researchers and practitioners. 
  • Sessions can be conducted as lectures, (submitted) presentations, panel discussions, and/or interactive learning sessions with participants.
  • Topics can range from applications and programming methodologies to interdisciplinary research skills, emerging research areas, and challenge problems.
  • Session durations should range from 1 to 4 hours, but more creative schedules are possible (e.g. preparatory meeting, main session, follow-up meeting beyond end of ICAD)

Important dates: 

  • 2021-04-30 Submission of proposals
  • 2021-05-21 In-person, online proposal presentation/Q&A meeting with workshop/tutorial chairs
  • 2021-05-28 Decisions communicated to workshop/tutorial organizers 
  • Workshop/tutorial day at conference to be determined – conference dates: 25 to 28 June 2021
  • 2021-06-28 Option for brief reports of workshop and tutorial outcomes at conference “open mic” session

Submission information and format:

Proposals should be about one page in length and include at least the following:

  • Title, brief abstract, outline of objectives (e.g., tutorial syllabus, organized discussion, presentations, submissions, etc.), and relevance for ICAD attendees
  • Proposed duration and preferred number or range of participants
  • Invited speakers (if any)
  • List of organizers, a designated contact person, and contact information for all organizers (address, email, and phone)
  • Technical requirements

Organizers should also create a short (3 to 7 slide) outline of their proposal and plan on meeting online with the workshop/tutorial chairs on May 21 for a brief Q&A session

Proposals should be submitted through EasyChair

Additional considerations:

  • Symposia-style workshops with submissions are eligible to have their (non-refereed) resulting tutorial and workshop materials added to the ICAD 2021 proceedings 
  • Proposers interested in organizing longer and/or multi-day sessions (e.g., for tutorial/maker content) are encouraged to contact the ICAD 2021 Workshop Chairs

Suggested topic areas:

General topic areas for focused workshops and tutorial sessions include, but are not limited to: 

  • Applications, usability, accessibility
  • Evaluation of auditory displays and sonifications
  • Auditory rendering techniques, technologies, and tools
  • Design theory, methods, philosophy, and culture 
  • Psychology, Cognition, Perception, and Psychoacoustics
  • Sonification: Motivations, frameworks, methodologies, and techniques
  • Tools
  • Special topics, including the exploration of sonification for sustainability
  • Sonifications in service of improving civil rights, global warming, etc.

Sonification Concert (1-2 pages)

This submission category is intended to provide a framework for the presentation of artistic works involving sonification. The sonification concert will be held on 26th June, 2021. Because the concert will be virtual, selected submissions will have the choice of presenting live in real-time streaming format or playback of previously recorded video. ICAD is working on supporting works for up to 16 separate channels of audio, with video resolutions still TBD. On the audience end, however, experience will be limited to each listener’s playback setup.

The peer review is of the combination of written and media submission.

  • Written content (required)
    The written component of the submission should include a discussion of the goals and aesthetics of the work and the motivations for the design/compositional choices. A review should be made of other relevant works and how the submitted work fits into these references. Details of the underlying dataset should be provided together with an outline of the sonification approach/methodology used. A technical discussion should be provided concerning computational or display issues. User reactions, experience, and feedback should be discussed. Any other forms of representation necessary for reviewers to obtain an understanding of the logistical and contextual issues involved and an evaluation of the perception difficulty may be included. You should use the ICAD 2021 papers format.
  • Media content (optional)
    Submissions will be stronger if they contain at least one link to sample media that will give reviewers a clearer understanding of the nature of the work. Links can be provided to audio or video and other media files in Dropbox, iCloud, Soundcloud, Vimeo or other online sites. Please provide a password if the link is not public. Sample media can be of work you have done that is similar, but not necessarily identical to the work proposed. For review purposes, audio should be limited to 2-channel audio. If accepted, a copy of the submitted file may be included in the proceedings archive, unless specifically requested for it not to be. Review of the work will consider the “coherence” of the sound with the practitioner’s explanation of what was intended.
  • Important considerations
    • If the concert piece involves any live performance elements, these must be indicated in the written content, and authors must make their own arrangements to arrange performers and any necessary instruments or required equipment themselves. Every effort will be made in advance to support performers technically to present their work virtually, given the limitations of our streaming and screen-sharing options. We anticipate that the most common mode of presentation for the concert will be live Zoom presentations for camera or screensharing using ListenTo or some similar technology for high-quality multichannel audio streaming.
    • Concert pieces should last no longer than 15 minutes; note, this is a maximum duration and not an expectation — short compositions are as welcome as longer ones.
    • To be accepted for the concert and to be included in the proceedings, authors agree to register for and attend ICAD 2021. No concert pieces will be played in the author’s absence.

Authors should not anonymize the submission for reviews.

Due Dates

* 31 March 2021 Notice of intent to propose due (Performers and Title)

* 30 April 7th May 2021 Full written proposal due

Please provide notice of your intent by beginning your submission by 31st March, 2021 to https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=icad2021web. NOTE: please ensure you choose ‘Concert’ in the Category selection drop-down list in the ‘Other Information and Files’ section of the submission form.

If you have any queries about the concert please contact the Concert Committee at concert@icad2021.icad.org

Installations (1-2 pages)

The peer review considers the combination of the written and media submission.

  • Written content statement
    The context statement should include a discussion of the goals and aesthetics of the work and the motivations for the design/compositional choices. A review should be made of other relevant works and how the submitted work fits into these references. A technical discussion should be provided concerning computational or performance issues. Listener reactions, experience, or feedback should be discussed. Any other forms of representation necessary for reviewers to obtain an understanding of the logistical and contextual issues involved in the public presentation of the work: manuscript scores and an evaluation of the performance difficulty, spatial layout diagrams, sound levels and ideal ambient noise and isolation conditions etc. may be included. You should use the ICAD 2021 papers format.
  • Media content
    An example representing the work must be provided. Submissions should contain a link to audio and other media files in Dropbox, iCloud Soundcloud, Vimeo or other online site, and provide a password if the link is not public. For review purposes this file should be limited to 2-channel audio.
    Review of the work will consider the “coherence” of the sound with the practitioner’s explanation of what was intended. It must be noted that it may not be practical for aural submissions to be performed, played, or rendered at or during the conference due to complexity, length, or other factors determined by the Program Committee. If the submission is accepted, the submitted file will be included in the proceedings archive. Acceptance of the submission does not imply an obligation of host organization to perform the work.
  • Important considerations
    1. To assist with the reviewing and curation process, authors must also make clear what their expectations are in terms of the kind and size of space required for the installation. Installations cannot be accepted until the exact requirements are agreed with the organisers.
    2. The presentation of the installation will be discussed with the authors on acceptance.

Authors should not anonymize the submission for reviews.

Please submit your proposal by 7th May, 2021 to https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=icad2021web. NOTE: please ensure you choose ‘Installation’ in the Category selection drop-down list in the ‘Other Information and Files’ section of the submission form.

If you have any queries about the installations please contact the Concert Committee at concert@icad2021.icad.org