Program: Keynotes, Research Presentations, Demos

Submissions due: November 26, 2012
Workshop date: 2 days between April 3-7, 2013

- INVITED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Antony Galton (University of Exeter, United Kingdom) Barbara Tversky (Stanford University, and 
Columbia Teachers College, United States) Roberto Casati (Institut Nicod, France) Roberto M. 
Cesar Jr (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) Simon Colton (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)

- ORGANISING COMMITTEE:
Oliver Kutz (University of Bremen, Germany) Mehul Bhatt (University of Bremen, Germany) Paulo 
Santos (Centro Universitario da FEI, Sao Paulo, Brazil) Stefano Borgo (LOA, ISTC-CNR, Trento; 
KRDB Free University of Bolzano, Italy)

Sponsorships.
- CAPES - Brazilian Federal Agency
- IAOA - International Association for Ontology and its Application
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SHAPE, FORM, and STRUCTURE are some of the most elusive notions within many different disciplines 
ranging from the natural sciences through engineering to art.  Several approaches have been 
proposed to study notions of shape, form and structure from different viewpoints, yet a 
comprehensive formal treatment of these notions is currently lacking and an interdisciplinary 
perspective has not yet been put forward.

This workshop serves as an interdisciplinary platform for the discussion of all topics connected 
to shape (broadly understood): perspectives from psycho-linguistics, ontology, logic, computer 
science, mathematics, aesthetics, cognitive science and beyond are welcome to contribute and 
participate.

We seek to provide a forum to stimulate and facilitate an active exchange on interdisciplinary 
ideas, methods, and applications in the area of modelling shape, form, pattern and function. The 
format of the workshop will combine invited speakers, peer-reviewed full contributions, as well 
as short position papers and demos, and will allow ample time for open discussions amongst the 
participants.


TOPICS INCLUDE:


LINGUISTICS / PHILOSOPHY
shape and form in natural language
differences between shape, form, structure, and pattern shape in natural and artificial objects

COGNITION
shape perception and mental representation gestalt vs. structuralist understanding of shape 
cognition perception and shape (e.g. identifying objects from incomplete visual information) 
affordances, dispositions, and shape

LOGICS, SPATIAL REPRESENTATIONS
formal characterisations of shape and form logics for shape: e.g. fuzzy, modal, intensional, etc.
logics for topology, symmetry, shape similarity etc.

design semantics, spatial semantics
shape and 3D space
shape and space in creative assistance systems

ONTOLOGY
ontologies and classifications of shapes ontological relations among shape, objects and functions 
patterns as shapes of processes forms and patterns in ontology

APPLICATIONS
biology & chemistry: molecular shapes, shape in anatomy and phenotype definitions, shape in 
medical image analysis and annotation visual art and aesthetics; shape in Film and Photography; 
shape in computational creativity naive physics and geography: e.g. qualitative classifications 
of shapes of geographic objects design & architecture: shape grammars; CAD, symmetry and beauty
in architectural design engineering: formal shape analysis in engineering processes


KEY DATES:

Paper, Abstract, and Demo submissions:  November 26
Notification of paper acceptance:   December 21
Camera-ready copies:   January 25
Online papers/proceedings:   February 28
Workshop date:  between April 3-7, 2013


SUBMISSION POSSIBILITIES AND GUIDELINES:

http://cindy.informatik.uni-bremen.de/cosy/events/shapes2/submissions/


ONLINE SUBMISSIONS VIA:

http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=shapes20


SPECIAL STUDENT SESSION AND SCHOLARSHIPS:

In addition to full paper contributions, extended abstracts or work-in-progress short papers are 
invited. Such papers may be allotted a regular or a short presentation slot. Please refer to the 
online submission guidelines. We especially encourage young students or doctoral researchers to 
make use of the short submission format. However, the short paper format is open to all researchers.

Limited number of student scholarships will be competitively made available to assist students to 
participate in the workshop.


DEMOS:

We also invite proposals to present a system demonstration. Proposals should address the relevance 
of the demo to the topics of the workshop. Demos are not restricted to scientific projects; 
interdisciplinary collaborations involving partnerships, e.g., between artists, designers, 
researchers, are welcome to apply too.


PROGRAM COMMITTEE:

Colin Batchelor (RSC, Cambridge, United Kingdom) John Bateman (University of Bremen, Germany) 
Thomas Bittner (SUNY, Buffalo, United States) Walter Carnielli (State Uni. of Campinas, Brazil) 
Hannah Dee (Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom) Christian Freksa (University of Bremen, 
Germany) George Gkoutos (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) Michael Gruninger (University
 of Toronto, Canada) Giancarlo Guizzardi (Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil) Janna 
Hastings (University of Geneva, Switzerland) Shyamanta Hazarika (Tezpur University, India) 
Roberto Hirata Jr. (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) Ingvar Johansson (Umea University, Sweden) 
Joao Kogler (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) Kai-Uwe Kuehnberger (University of Osnabrueck,
Germany) Frieder Nake (University of Bremen, Germany) Susanna Siegel (Harvard University, United 
States) Achille Varzi (Columbia University, United States) Pieter Vermass (Delft University of 
Technology, Netherlands)


For more information, the workshop website can be accessed at:

http://cindy.informatik.uni-bremen.de/cosy/events/shapes2/


Organisers can be contacted by email at: shapes.workshop@gmail.com