SIGIR WORKSHOP REPORTThe SIGIR 2005 Workshop Program
Douglas W. Oard
College of Information Studies and UMIACS
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USAoard@umd.edu

The SIGIR 2005 workshop program included seven workshops that were competitively selectedfrom among eight proposals. Organizers of SIGIR 2004 workshops had reported that tighttimelines for publicizing workshops and reviewing submissions had resulted in some workshop
participants not being notified that a workshop paper had been accepted until the deadline forregistration at regular prices had passed. The submission date for SIGIR 2005 workshop
proposals was therefore advanced to occur one week after full papers were due. Expedited
reviews of all workshop proposals were performed by a committee consisting of recent
workshops chairs, augmented where necessary with additional reviewers to ensure that expertisein the topic of each workshop proposal was available. The review results were summarized in anemail to the organizing committee and area chairs, and decisions were made by the PC chairs
after an email discussion. Workshop organizers were notified of their selection shortly after theposter deadline, about 5 weeks earlier than in previous years. As a result, workshop organizers
were generally able to solicit and review submissions sufficiently rapidly to permit workshop
participants to qualify for discounted early registration rates.
The selected workshops included five that built on successful workshop program in prior years,
and workshops on stylistic analysis and lexical cohesion that were new to SIGIR. The
workshops were well subscribed, with a total of 149 participants registering. That works out toabout 44% of the total paid registration for the main conference. A substantial fraction of thisregistration reflects workshop presenters who were not also presenting in other venues (papers,posters, demos, or tutorials). The workshops program therefore contributes significantly to thevibrancy and viability of the main conference each year by attracting participants who otherwise
might otherwise not have reason to attend.
Several participants remarked on the strong emphasis on interaction among the participants thatwas evident in this year’s workshop program. Workshop organizers used poster sessions, demo
sessions, and breakout rooms to foster small group discussions, they augmented presentations
with panel discussions, and they selected seating layouts and scheduling options that maximizedinteraction opportunities. Some specifics are described in the papers describing individual
workshops in this volume.

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I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to two groups without whim theworkshops program simply would not have happened. The first is the creative and hard working
workshop organizers that started with a vision and turned it into reality in just six short months.
They did a remarkable job! The other indispensable element is, of course, the local
arrangements staff, and most especially Nivio Ziviani. Never have I worked with a more
professional an capable group!

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