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[ Committees | Officers and Members | Guidelines ]

Introduction General Matters (applicable to all officers and committee members) Officers The Governing Board Standing Committees Technical Committees Appendices

Guidelines for IAPR Officers and Committee Members

(Revision Date: 13 April 2000)

1. Introduction

The IAPR Constitution & Bylaws (C&B) provide a definitive set of regulations concerning the election of officers, the appointment of Committee members and the statutory duties of officers, Committee members and Committees as a whole. Experience has shown that whilst these regulations broadly define what is required of individuals and Committees, it would be helpful if much more detailed guidance could be given, especially after new appointments have been made. At the same time, it has often been said that further elaboration of the already complex C&B should be avoided. The Guidelines in this document are intended to assist new officers to work effectively for IAPR but should not be seen as having the authority of the C&B; all the Guidelines are open for discussion and liberal interpretation. They should be seen as recommendations rather than instructions.

2. General Matters
(applicable to all officers and committee members)

2.1 Communication

IAPR's members are widely distributed throughout the world and most IAPR business is conducted by email, phone/fax or post. Only rarely do most Committees meet, sometimes only once every second year, at the ICPR. It is therefore vitally important that individuals' addresses should be maintained in an up-to-date database which is generally accessible. The Secretariat holds such a database and will, from time to time, request updates from all listed Committee members and officers. This information is published regularly in the IAPR World Wide Web Home Page as the IAPR Directory. Any changes in these data should be notified to the Secretariat (and to other members of the relevant Committees) as soon as possible. It is also sensible to test email lines of communication within the group needing to communicate since it has sometimes been found that certain routes are virtually unusable. Committee chairmen are advised to try to make email or fax contact with all members of their Committees immediately after appointment.

2.2 Activities

According to the C&B, almost all appointments and Committee memberships lapse at the end of each two year period. New appointments are made following the Governing Board meeting at the ICPR and, of course, many of these will be re-appointments. Nevertheless, it is easy to forget that time passes alarmingly quickly and a term of membership can soon be over. It is the responsibility of every officer and Committee chairman (including Technical Committee chairmen) to generate activity as soon as possible within their sphere of influence and the reciprocal responsibility of every Committee member to assist their chairman to achieve the Committee's aims.

2.3 Reporting

The principal media through which IAPR's activities are publicised are the Newsletter, which is published quarterly, and the IAPR WWW Home Page. As well as listing sponsored scientific meetings and address information, reviewing conferences and books and publishing articles of general interest to our community, the Newsletter tries to keep its readership informed as to the work being carried out in the wide range of IAPR Committees. This latter function is dependent on the receipt of regular reports from the Committees. Committee chairmen should ensure that suitable reports are generated and sent to the Editor at not too infrequent intervals. The Home Page keeps information less suited for the Newsletter, i.e., permanent IAPR information (e.g. organisation structure and addresses) and serves as the source of IAPR related links (Member Societies, Technical Committees, conference home pages, etc.).

2.4 Archives

The Secretariat is required to maintain the IAPR Archive. At the end of a period of office, key documents should be deposited in the Archive and, where appropriate, photocopies passed on to successors in the post concerned. General correspondence should not be archived but should be retained, whilst still of interest, in each officer's or Committee chairman's files (which should also be passed on to successors).

3. Officers

The Officers of IAPR are the President, the First and Second Vice-Presidents, the Secretary and the Treasurer. All of these are subject to election at the Governing Board meeting at the ICPR. The Past President assumes this role for the two years following presidency,. The Officers, together with the Past President, form the Executive Committee. It has been the experience of most Presidents that the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer between them maintain continuity of IAPR's affairs and without their continual efforts very little will happen. Even a cursory inspection of the C&B shows clearly that the President, in particular, must be prepared to take ultimate administrative and financial responsibility for most things that IAPR does or tries to do and must therefore be willing to make decisions (after due consultation) in all IAPR's affairs.

The duties of each of the officers (and the Past President) are discussed in the following paragraphs.

3.1 The President

The statutory powers and duties of the President are laid down in the Constitution in Sections 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.6, 5.1, 6.1 and 8.1, and in the Bylaws in Sections 5.5, 6.4, 6.6, 6.9, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.11, 9.2, 9.3 and 9.5. Additional duties occur as a result of membership (and chairmanship) of both the Executive Committee and the Governing Board; these are described later.

An informal summary of the President's duties is:

  1. To appoint all Committee chairmen, including TC chairmen, except that the Nominating and K-S Fu Prize Committee chairmen and members are nominated by the President and elected by the Governing Board;
  2. To serve on the Executive Committee and the Governing Board and to chair their meetings;
  3. To be generally responsible for the overall administration and leadership of the Association.

3.2 The Vice-Presidents

The statutory powers and duties of the Vice-Presidents are laid down in the Constitution in Sections 4.1, 4.3, 4.6, 5.1 and 5.2 and in Section 9.3 of the Bylaws. Since Section 5.2 of the Constitution states that:

The First Vice-President, or in his absence, the Second Vice- President, shall be responsible for the duties of the President in case of the latter's absence.

then the duties of the President may devolve to either of the Vice-Presidents. In practice, the phrase 'in case of the latter's absence' is hard to interpret when dealing with an international association that rarely meets as an association and in which meetings of the Executive Committee are unlikely to be called if the President is temporarily unavailable. It has therefore been the practice for the President to assign specific responsibilities to each of the Vice-Presidents, as may be appropriate. Apart from these, their main task is to take part in all discussions of the Executive Committee and to give their advice as requested. Additional duties occur as a result of membership of both the Executive Committee and the Governing Board; these are described later. Recently, the practice has been followed in which the First Vice-President takes charge of the Technical Committees and the Second Vice-President acts as a liaison between the ICPR organisers and the Executive Committee.

3.3 The Past President

The Past President has no formal duties (unless specifically assigned them by the President) but, by custom, will often be elected chairman of the Nominating Committee. The Past President is a member of the Executive Committee and can be expected to bring valuable experience to bear on the Committee's many discussions.

Additional duties occur as a result of membership of both the Executive Committee and the Governing Board; these are described later.

3.4 The Secretary

The statutory powers and duties of the Secretary are laid down in the Constitution in Sections 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.6 and 5.3 and in the Bylaws in Sections 3.1, 5.5, 8.6, 8.9, 8.11 and 9.5. Additional duties occur as a result of membership (and secretaryship) of both the Executive Committee and the Governing Board; these are described later.

Although not explicitly stated in the C&B, it is usual for the Secretary to be responsible for all the administrative details of the IAPR, in contrast to the President who is more concerned with matters of policy. Close contact between the President and Secretary is vital to the organisation. The Secretary will be required to organise all meetings which are, strictly speaking, convened by the President (especially meetings of the Executive Committee and Governing Board) and to conduct postal ballots of the Governing Board whenever required. The Secretary prepares and distributes minutes of the Executive Committee and of the Governing Board and is expected to be familiar with the C&B and their many implications.

Correspondence from outside IAPR is usually addressed to and answered by the Secretary who also serves as a 'postbox' for communications between IAPR organisations. Close contact between the Secretary and the Secretariat (who are often geographically far apart) is an obvious necessity.

The decision powers of the Secretary are mostly limited to administrative matters since more significant matters usually need Presidential or Executive Committee approval. The extent to which the President is prepared to delegate decision making to the Secretary is a matter for personal preference and can greatly affect the workload of the Secretary.

3.5 The Treasurer

The statutory powers and duties of the Treasurer are laid down in the Constitution in Sections 4.1, 4.3, 4.6 and 5.4 and in the Bylaws in Sections 6.2 - 6.7, 6.9 and 6.10. Additional duties occur as a result of membership of both the Executive Committee and the Governing Board; these are described later.

Informally, the Treasurer's duties can be summarised as invoicing the members for annual dues (or directing the Secretariat to do so), paying the bills, keeping (and having reviewed) the accounts and preparing budgets. The Treasurer must operate the IAPR's bank accounts and investments and should be prepared to give financial advice on the management of assets and the expenditure of funds. This is particularly important with reference to the Technical Committees and sponsored meetings.

In general, the Treasurer's budget, once approved by the Governing Board, authorises future expenditure (without reference to other officers). Extra-budgetary expenditure in excess of US$500 needs Presidential approval.

4. The Governing Board

Governing Board (GB) members are representatives of the IAPR national Member Associations and are elected or appointed by each Association concerned. Their formal duties are described in the Sections of the C&B relating to the GB, i.e., 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.6, 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 9.1, 11.1, 12.1 and 13.1 of the Constitution and in the Bylaws, Sections 2.2, 3.3, all of 4. and 5., 6.1, 6.3, 6.5, 6.7 - 6.9, 6.11, 8.1 - 8.3, 8.5, 8.6, 8.10 - 8.12, 9.1, 9.2, 9.5, 9.6, 10.1, 10.2, all of 11., 12. and 13. The GB is also concerned with the King-Sun Fu Prize discussed in Statute S.3.

The prime duties of all GB members are to elect the IAPR Officers and the members of the Nominating and King-Sun Fu Prize Committees, to attend meetings of the GB, to vote in postal ballots organised for the GB, to represent views of the national associations at the meetings of the GB and to convey decisions of the GB to their national associations. All IAPR's affairs and powers assigned to individuals or Committees are subject to the GB's continuing approval, including rewriting the C&B, so it is not sensible to try to define each specific duty.

The GB will only meet once every two years (at the ICPR) and so it is particularly important that members respond to ballots and other correspondence sent by the Secretary. Ballots are associated with a latest date for response which clearly must be observed. GB members should ensure that the Secretariat has up-to-date addresses and is notified whenever a national association changes its representative. The Secretary should always be advised of any temporary changes of address so that ballot papers and other urgent material can be correctly dispatched.

5. Standing Committees

The list of Standing Committees is determined by the GB, as described in Section 8.1 of the Constitution. Additions to or deletions from the list require GB approval. With the exception of the Executive Committee, the K-S Fu Prize Committee and the Nominating Committee, Standing Committee chairmen are appointed by the President and the Committees' duties are all defined in Section 13 of the Bylaws. The C&B do not state who should appoint the members of the various Standing Committees; practice has varied in the past and the membership lists have been drawn up either by the President, by the respective chairman or, more usually, by both, in consultation.

Committee appointments can be made at any time, as appropriate, but most chairmen will need to be appointed within a few weeks of the ICPR in order that work can commence. Some degree of national balance is to be recommended but the main consideration is that appointees will be those willing to accept and capable of executing the full duties of their office.

5.1 Executive Committee

As discussed earlier, this Committee comprises all the IAPR Officers and is chaired by the President. It is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Association and it is customary for most of its work to be done by email or post. It provides a forum for discussion and to advise each of the Officers in matters relating to IAPR duties. Most matters of importance are discussed using email, with copies of correspondence being copied to all members of the Committee. Because of this, it would be inconvenient and probably even inappropriate to elect to the Executive Committee any individual unable to access email. The Committee always meets before and after each ICPR and endeavours to meet at least twice more in the period between ICPRs. These meetings are usually arranged to coincide with international meetings in PRIP so that the cost of attendance can be minimised. In recent years, IAPR has borne the cost of members attending the Executive Committee when alternative sources of funding have been unavailable.

The statutory powers and duties of the Executive Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Sections 4.1, 4.3, 6.1, 9.1, 12.1 and 13.1 and in the Bylaws in Sections 5.5, 6.7, 6.11, all of 7., 8.6 - 8.9, 8.11, 8.12, 9.5, 9.6, 10.2, 11.1, 11.3, 11.4 and Statute S.3.3. As with the Governing Board, it is not sensible to try to define specific duties of this Committee since it is completely responsible for the running of the Association as the Governing Board's and President's executive arm. It should be noted, however, that the Committee is absolutely constrained by the C&B which it may not change in any way without permission from the GB.

5.2 Nominating Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Nominating Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1 and in the Bylaws in Sections 5.2 and all of 7.

In general terms, the role of this Committee is to present to the GB, via the Secretary, a list of all the nominations by the GB members for IAPR offices, together with short reports on each candidate. Members of the Committee may also nominate candidates themselves. The extent to which the Committee should actively seek nominations and should recommend some candidates over others has been a matter for debate for many years and the rules governing procedure have recently been incorporated in revised Bylaws with, of course, the statutory approval of the Governing Board.

5.2.1 Guidelines for the Nominating Committee

The nomination process will begin 9 months prior to the GB meeting and it will continue until the election time. The process will provide three ways in which a person may be nominated for a given office. Three distinct manners are provided so that a free and an open election may be held at the GB meeting.

Time -9 months The NC will seek informal suggestions from the GB and other members of the IAPR community for various positions to be filled at the forthcoming election at the GB meeting. A GB member or other person need provide only the name, the office for which the person should be considered and a brief case for support (person's qualification for the office). These suggestions, which are not considered as formal nominations, should reach the Chairman of the NC by -8 months.

(Explanation: The purpose of the solicitation is to canvass the IAPR community and the GB for their thoughts and suggestions. The NC will do the leg-work and formalise the nominations.)

Time -7 months The NC prepares a list of candidates proposed for various offices. NC will informally discuss the candidates with the members of the GB making an assessment of the support of GB for the candidates. Based upon the support expressed by the GB, and taking into account the ability of the candidates, geographical distribution and other relevant information available, NC prepares a slate of officers for Nomination. The preparation of the nomination includes the consent of the individuals, and the compilation of the CVs of the candidates.

(Explanation: This is the value added step by the NC. The collective thoughts of the NC are embodied in this list.)

Time -6 Months The NC distributes the slate of officers to the Exco and the GB. The slate may consist of multiple or single candidates for each office. At this stage the obligation of the NC is complete.

After the announcement of the slate of officers by the NC, the President seeks/invites additional formal nominations from the GB. A member of the GB may make a formal nomination by providing the following information to the President:

  1. Name of the candidate and the office
  2. Consent of the candidate in writing
  3. CV of the candidate
  4. Seconding letter from another GB member
This nomination should reach the President at -3 months. On receipt, the President will decide if the nomination is in order. If the nomination is not in order, the President will inform the nominator, allowing the nominator to make up the deficiency. However, the completed/corrected nomination should reach the President by -2 months.

(Explanation: The purpose of this step is to avoid any last minute conflicts. If any member of the GB feels that certain names should complement the nomination list, they are free to make formal nomination. This step avoids the controversy that has led to nominations on the floor.)

Time 0 months At the GB meeting, additional nominations from the floor may be made if they conform to the following rules:

  1. Each nomination will consist of the name of the candidate and the name of the office.
  2. The nomination will have four seconders.
  3. No more than one seconder from may be from the country same as the candidate.
  4. No more than two seconders from the any given country.
  5. At least two distinct regions of the world are represented among the seconders.
  6. If the candidate being nominated is not present at the meeting, a written consent from the candidate will be provided to the President.
  7. If a seconder is not present at the meeting, a written letter seconding the nomination will be provided to the President.
  8. The President decides if the nomination is in order.
At the time of election, the candidates nominated by the NC, the candidates nominated by the GB members and the candidates nominated from the floor will be considered as candidates for election. The election will proceed according to the set forth in the C&B of the association.

(Explanation: The above process is designed to achieve input from all members of the GB at various stages of the nomination process. At earlier stages the nomination process depends upon the NC whereas at later stages, it depends upon the participation of the GB in the nomination process. The chairman of the NC (often the Past President) and the President are the main persons involved in evaluating and preparing the slate and other materials, and they are unlikely to stand as candidates for any office.)

5.3 Membership Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Membership Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1 and in the Bylaws in Sections 2. - 3 and 4.3. This Committee is expected to try to encourage nationals from countries not yet belonging to IAPR to persuade their local national organisations to apply for membership and to help them to make applications. The Committee is also responsible for checking whether applicants meet the Criteria for Membership (Bylaws Section 2) and to assess the effective size of the applicant's association (so that annual dues and the permitted number of GB representatives can be determined). The Committee should review effective sizes from time to time and should be prepared to consider the appropriateness of the way in which this parameter is defined in Bylaw 3.2.

5.4 King-Sun Fu Prize Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the King-Sun Fu Prize Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1 and in the Bylaws in Section 13.5 of the Bylaws; this Committee is responsible for the King-Sun Fu Prize and the regulations for this are listed in Statute S.3. Guidelines for the Committee in relation to the King-Sun Fu Prize are detailed in full in section 7.1.

5.4.1 The Prize

The Prize is granted in recognition of an outstanding technical contribution to the field of pattern recognition.
  1. It is awarded biennially.
  2. Presentation is made by the President of IAPR at the ICPR.
  3. The Prize consists of a certificate or plaque and a cash prize.
  4. The name of the recipient is announced in Pattern Recognition Letters.
  5. Neither members of the IAPR Executive Committee nor members of the Prize Committee are eligible for the Prize nor may they act as nominators or endorsers.
  6. The presentation of the Prize is followed by a K-S Fu Lecture presented by the recipient. This lecture will be published in Pattern Recognition Letters.
  7. The Committee should be alert to and resolve potential conflicts of interest.

5.4.2 The Committee

Composition The Committee shall consist of six members, each serving for six years, two new members being elected every two years.

Responsibilities of the Prize Committee The King-Sun Fu Prize Committee shall administer the King-Sun Fu Prize, as per the rules established by the Governing Board:

5.4.3 Procedures for Selection of Recipients

Call for nominations At the appropriate time the Committee Chairman issues a call for nomination, including an announcement of the deadline for receipt of the nomination and the endorsements. This deadline should be about eight months, but no later than seven months before the presentation of the Prize.

Every submitted nomination and endorsement should be checked to ensure that the nominations and the endorsements conform with the IAPR Bylaws. In particular the nominator or endorser must be a member of one of the member societies of IAPR; and at least five qualified endorsements must be received for each nomination. Nominations and endorsements may not be made by members of the IAPR Executive Committee nor by the Prize Committee.

The submitted nomination forms and endorsements are mailed by the Committee Chairman to the Committee members for ranking. In the evaluation the primary consideration is the impact of the candidate's technical contribution to the field of pattern recognition. The Chairman will review the composite rankings, and summarise them for the Committee. The Chairman will then submit to the Committee a mail ballot, accompanied by a summary of the rankings. Three of the four Committee members must vote in favour of the selected candidate in order to reach a final selection. Consequently more than one mail ballot may be needed. If the Committee cannot achieve such a vote, the Committee will choose the top two or more candidates. The Committee Chairman will send a description of these candidates' technical contributions and the endorsers' evaluations to the IAPR GB for their final selection.

The IAPR GB votes on the recipient from the material provided by the Prize Committee.

5.4.4 Responsibilities of the Prize Committee Chairman

5.4.5 Timetable for the Prize Committee

19 months before ICPR Send announcement to journals and the IAPR Newsletter. Ask these publications to publish the announcement no later than ten months before the next ICPR.
7/8 months before ICPR Deadline for receipt of nominations
6 months before ICPR Deadline for preparation of mail ballot
4 months before ICPR Deadline for final selection of recommended recipient, or preparation of short slate of candidates for the GB
3.5 months before ICPR Deadline for selection of recipient by the GB
3 months before ICPR President of the IAPR notifies the recipient. Committee Chairman obtains a good copy of the IAPR President's signature, and arranges for engraving and framing of the Prize certificate. The President's signature will be engraved or copied onto the certificate.
2 months before ICPR Chairman of the Prize Committee notifies all of the current nominators of the name of the recipient, and thanks them for contributing to the effectiveness of the Prize process. The Committee Chairman asks the IAPR Treasurer to prepare a cheque for the Prize recipient. The amount of the cheque is determined by the IAPR Treasurer in consultation with the IAPR President.
At the ICPR The Prize ceremony takes place at the ICPR, preferably at the Opening Session or the banquet. The Committee Chairman describes the technical contributions of the Prize recipient. The IAPR President presents the Prize. The Prize recipient presents the King-Sun Fu Lecture. An upper limit on the length of the Lecture is determined by the Conference Chairman in consultation with the IAPR President and the Committee Chairman. A copy of the Lecture is sent to the editor of Pattern Recognition Letters for publication in that journal. The Prize Committee meets at the IAPR. The Committee in consultation with the current President of IAPR recommends to the IAPR President-elect a Chairman for the next Prize cycle. If possible this meeting of the Prize Committee will take place before the GB meets at the ICPR.

5.4.6 Suggested Journals for Announcing the Call for Nominations for the King-Sun Fu Prize

IAPR Newsletter
Optics News
Machine Vision and Applications
Pattern Recognition Letters
International Journal on Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence
Journal of the Optical Society of America
Pattern Recognition
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics
Optical Engineering
IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation
Image and Vision Computing
International Journal of Computer Vision
Computer
Communications of the ACM
International Journal of Imaging Systems & Technology
Spatial Vision
Machine Learning
Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence
Neural Networks
Biological Cybernetics

5.5 Conferences and Meetings Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Conferences and Meetings Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1 and in the Bylaws in Section 13.4. There is no specific mention of this Committee's involvement in the ICPRs (all of Section 10.) nor in the sponsorship of conferences, workshops and so on (Bylaw 8.11). Guidelines for bidding to host ICPRs have already been produced by this Committee, also guidelines for applying for sponsorship. These two documents specify the role of the Committee and its Chairman in these respects (see sections 7.1 and 7.3 of these Guidelines).

It has been suggested that this Committee should assume responsibility for ensuring that the arrangements for an ICPR approved by the Governing Board are, in fact, put into effect once the detailed planning is in progress. Specifically, matters such as reviewing procedures, publication of proceedings and special arrangements for plenary sessions have been mentioned. This proposed additional responsibility would require careful planning and changes to the Bylaws so cannot yet be dealt with in these Guidelines.

The Secretariat maintains a database containing details of all IAPR sponsored meetings thought to be of interest to IAPR members. One of the duties of this Committee is therefore to provide information to the Secretariat for entry in the database.

5.6 Constitution & Bylaws Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1 and in the Bylaws in Section 13.2, which specifies duties fairly completely. This Committee and particularly its chairman should expect to be asked to assess the potential impact of new articles which may be presented to the GB for approval but should also take a proactive role by making proposals for changes and amendments as might seem necessary. It should be noticed that an apparently simple change in one Bylaw might render others meaningless or mutually contradictory.

5.7 Education Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Education Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1 and in the Bylaws in Section 13.7. The aim of the Committee is to search out, collect together and develop educational material (texts, films and videos, lists of speakers, etc.) for the information of IAPR members and their associates. It should be a relatively large Committee so as to widen the net for information collection. The geographic dispersion of its members are both its strength and its weakness since it is difficult to maintain co-operative activity over long distances. Thus good communication is a particularly important factor in this Committee.

The committee attends to three major items of business:

  1. Selection of the winning paper for the Piero Zamperoni Best Student Paper Award (see Appendix 7.6).
  2. Support of special meetings related to education in pattern recognition, image processing, and closely related areas. The organisation of workshops, about educational issues in pattern recognition, co-ordinated with the ICPR is within the scope of the committee.
  3. Development and/or Review of Curricula. The committee is the natural body within the IAPR to collect and review syllabi and other course material for the field of pattern recognition. The committee should help to maintain a web page with information for teachers and students who wish to find out about the typical or recommended order of topics for courses on pattern recognition. A way for the IAPR Education Committee to be effective is to maintain awareness, and if possible, personal contacts with members of committees of large societies such as the IEEE and ACM who have major curriculum efforts involved with pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, robotics, image processing, and computer vision.

5.8 Fellow Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Fellow Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1 and in the Bylaws in Section 13.8. At the time of writing, this Committee has completed only a few terms of office and although the rules for the election of Fellows had been devised after many long discussions between the Executive Committee and the newly- formed Fellow Committee, neither these rules nor the general procedures for the Committee could be said to have stabilised. Furthermore, the initial set of rules has been accepted by the GB and the GB voted to establish the ad hoc Committee as a Standing Committee, but the rules are not yet written into either Bylaws or Statutes. In an area which is inclined to be sensitive, it would seem prudent not to rush into firm legislation until more experience has been obtained

5.9 Industrial Liaison Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Industrial Liaison Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Section 8.1, in the Bylaws in Section 13.6 and in Statute S.4 (relating to the Best Industry-Related Paper Award at each ICPR; this Award is organised by the Industrial Relations Committee according to guidelines given in section 7.2 below).

The Committee has a broad brief to 'improve IAPR's interface with Industry, and [for] facilitating the involvement of industrialists in IAPR'. In general terms this implies that the Chairman should ensure that the Committee contains individuals who hold responsible posts in Industry or who have good contacts with such people. An Industrial Affiliates Membership programme has been established and this Committee is expected to encourage appropriate companies to take part.

5.10 Publications & Publicity Committee

The statutory powers and duties of the Publications & Publicity Committee are laid down in the Constitution in Sections 8.1 and 12.1 and in the Bylaws in Section 13.3. The editors of all IAPR publications are ex officio members of this Committee (currently Pattern Recognition Letters, Machine Vision & Applications, IJDAR, the IAPR Newsletter and the IAPR WWW site).

The Committee, particularly through the various editors, will largely determine what IAPR publishes and information leaflets are also within the sphere of influence of the Committee. In the past, the Committee has tended to neglect the wider implications of its title and there have been very few deliberate attempts to arrange IAPR publicity at conferences (other than the ICPRs) and in non-IAPR publications. Activities of this sort initiated by the Chairman would clearly be welcomed by IAPR.

6. Technical Committees

Although not mentioned in the Constitution, the (currently) sixteen Technical Committees form an important part of the IAPR structure. The role of the TCs and their organisation is described in Sections 9.1 - 9.6 of the Bylaws and comprehensive Guidelines have already been drawn up by previous Vice-Presidents responsible for the TCs (see section 6.1). The GB sets up new TCs and key officers (Chairmen and Secretaries) are appointed by the President. These appointments are for a two year period but might be extended by re- appointment by the next President, especially in the case of any new TC. TC members are appointed by each TC Chairman, once again, for a period of two years in the first instance.. Sadly, experience over the years has shown that some TC Chairmen have found it impossible to stimulate activity in their Committees, sometimes because of an over-wide distribution of membership but sometimes because of lack of drive on the part of the Chairman. It is an obvious duty of the Vice-President (or other officer) in charge of the TCs to review continually the effectiveness of each TC and its Chairman and to make recommendations to the President and to the GB if changes are thought to be necessary.

6.1 Introduction

IAPR Technical Committees provide the focus for technical activities of IAPR members in the key areas of pattern recognition, computer vision and image processing. The aim of this document is to define the terms of reference, aims and the procedures for the operation of IAPR Technical Committees.

6.2 Organisation

The leading role of each technical committee is played by its Chairman who is appointed by the President of IAPR. The appointment is for a period of about two years to coincide with the IAPR President's term of office. The appointment is normally extended for one additional two year period.

A TC Chairman reports to the Chairman of IAPR Technical Committees who is normally a member of the Executive Committee of IAPR (either First Vice-President, Second Vice- President or the President).

A TC Chairman appoints members of the Technical Committee. In practice membership of Technical Committees is open to any IAPR member. Thus in practice, the appointment of members is a formality and amounts to nothing more than maintaining an up-to-date list of IAPR members with interests in the TC activities.

6.3 Scope of Activities

The main tasks of IAPR Technical Committees include:
  1. To plan workshops
  2. To provide useful information to IAPR members, such as surveys of software systems for computer vision and image processing, organise common image data bases, sponsor systematic evaluation of algorithms, etc.

6.4 Administrative Procedures

6.4.1 Workshops

Proposals for workshops, including the budget, should be submitted to the Chairman of Technical Committees who will forward them, together with his recommendation, for approval by the Executive Committee. The budget should aim at zero balance or, if need be, a modest surplus to generate a TC operating fund to cover TC's routine administrative expenses.

A loan of up to US$ 3,000 can be made available as a start-up float to cover workshop organisation expenses. Any surplus generated by a TC workshop can be retained by the TC, provided it is used for future workshops or other activities of the TC. Any losses made by a workshop will be covered by the IAPR up to the amount of the loan made available. The balance of the workshop final account must be reported to the IAPR Treasurer immediately after the workshop.

6.4.2 Responsibilities of the TC Chairman

  1. Establish TC membership list (addresses, telephone numbers, email, etc.).
  2. Organise TC planning meetings at IAPR events or other events frequented by IAPR members.
  3. Regularly update the IAPR Newsletter Editor on TC activities (plan of activities, call for papers for workshops, reports on workshops held, etc.).
  4. Report on TC activities to the Chairman of Technical Committees twice per term (before the Executive Committee meeting in late Spring of the first year of the term and before the ICPR. In addition to all the activities carried out and planned, the second report should also submit nominations for a TC chairman successor, if the current TC Chairman's period of office is terminating.
  5. Make available the data base of TC members, workshop mailing lists and any other useful information to the Chairman of Technical Committees to facilitate TC continuity of operation and assist in compiling comprehensive mailing lists for publicising future IAPR technical activities.
  6. Produce a TC activity flyer for distribution at the ICPR.
  7. Attend the meeting of TC Chairmen held on the first day of ICPR.
  8. Maintain the TC WWW Home Page.

7. Appendices

7.1 Guidelines for bidding to host and organize ICPRs

The International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR) is the major scientific event organized under the auspices of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR). The aim of this conference is to bring together international experts to share their experiences and to promote research and development in Pattern Recognition.

The conference is held every two years, on different continents, preferably with a rotation from one continent to another. Any national association interested in making a proposal shall proceed according to these guidelines. The selection of the conference venue is made by the Governing Board (GB) during its meeting at the ICPR four years prior to the proposed conference.

7.1.1 Procedure

7.1.2 Contents of a proposal

The proposal must provide detailed information about the conference location, the group of organizers in charge of the event, the scientific and social program and the financial arrangements. It is essential that, in accordance with article 10.5 of the Bylaws, the conference must be open for attendance to all members of all IAPR member societies. The organizers must guarantee that the hosting country does not have any visa regulations, which would forbid the application of this article.

Specifically, the following points must be addressed in the proposal:

7.1.3 General conference schedule

When preparing the schedule for an ICPR, it should be taken into account that traditionally a number of events and meetings take place, which must be accommodated. Time slots for such events and meetings should be allocated in consultation with the IAPR Second Vice-President. It is the responsibility of the organizers to reserve rooms for these events and meetings.

7.1.4 Budget and other financial matters

Upon request, the Conferences & Meetings Committee will issue a spreadsheet according to which the budget for an ICPR can be presented. When presenting the budget, the following points must be addressed:

Income:

Expenditure:

Costs borne by the organizers and other parties:

The organizers shall bear the cost of:

Costs for hire of meeting rooms and for catering of meetings shall be borne by the party requesting the meeting.

Notes:

  1. Full registration shall include proceedings and banquet;
  2. Discount on registration fee for IAPR members shall be at least 5%;
  3. There shall be a reduced student fee, excluding proceedings and banquet.

7.1.5 Paper review protocol

Typically, the protocol for the paper review should be as follows:

7.1.6 Proceedings

Proceedings should be published by a major publisher under an ISBN number. The publisher will store copies of the proceedings and will issue copies on request to libraries and other requesting parties. The publisher should ensure that ICPR papers are listed in major engineering and science databases such as INSPEC. The publisher is expected to pay royalties to IAPR for any copies sold after the conference.

7.1.7 Time table

The following table provides some guidelines for the nominal time to start strategic actions:
Months prior to conference
Selection of various committees and track chairs 54
Proposal to Conf & Meetings Committee and to GB members 51
Selection of venue by Governing Board 48
Approaching industry, government and other parties for donations 36
First call for papers * (email, IAPR website, IAPR Newsletter, IEEE calendar, etc.), poster of conference 24
Final call for papers 12
Deadline for paper submission 10
Notification to authors concerning acceptance 5
Publication of authors and titles of accepted papers on website 5
Detailed program on website 4
Deadline for camera-ready paper 3
Months after conference
Report for inclusion in Newsletter due 1
Financial report due 6
Return of loan and payment of IAPR levy 6

The information included with the Call for Papers should include instructions for entering papers for the various awards or prizes currently available (for example, the Piero Zamperoni Best Student Paper Award and the Best Industrial Paper Award). All track chairs are required to liaise with the relevant IAPR committees to ensure that an appropriate reviewing strategy is undertaken to establish award winners.

7.2 Guidelines for the Best Industrial Paper Award

7.2.1

About 10 papers are selected by the chair of the Systems & Applications Track of ICPR (or the nearest comparable track) with the following criteria:

7.2.2

A single copy of each of these papers is sent to the chair of the Industrial Liaison Committee

7.2.3

The chair of the Industrial Liaison Committee examines the papers to see if they are appropriate, then sends out all copies to each member of the Committee

Members of the Committee are instructed to rank the papers on the basis of "best industrial paper"; since members of the Committee are senior researchers, they are free to apply their own criteria, however guidelines are:

7.2.4

Members return rankings to chairman, who accumulates scores and determines best paper

7.2.5

Chairman communicates winning paper to Secretariat

7.2.6

Framed award certificates are produced for each author

7.2.7

Award presentation is made at ICPR banquet

7.3 Guidelines for applying for meeting sponsorship

IAPR is a non-profit organisation whose goal is to promote better worldwide communication by sponsoring Conferences and Meetings in the field of Pattern Recognition. Sponsorship entitles organisers to use the IAPR name and logo on all official announcements and documents. IAPR promotes the meetings.

There are four types of meetings involving IAPR:

Category A: Meetings endorsed by IAPR
These meetings are completely organised under the umbrella of an autonomous and independent organisation. The topics of the meeting is of interest for IAPR members, and IAPR is only involved indirectly in terms of publicity and promotion in its Newsletter. The name of the meeting does not generally refer to IAPR directly.

Category A/B: Meetings co-sponsored by IAPR
These meetings are organized under the umbrella of an autonomous and independent organization where the quality, visibility, and maturity of the event as assessed by the IAPR C&M committee is such the IAPR allows the name of the meeting to refer to the IAPR directly (i.e., IAPR Conference on..., IAPR Workshop on ...). . The topics of the meeting are of interest to IAPR members, and the IAPR is only involved indirectly in terms of publicity and promotion in its newsletter.

Category B: Meetings organised by IAPR
These meetings are initiated either by the Governing Board or its committees, principally IAPR Technical Committees. The meetings in this category should bear the name of IAPR (i.e. IAPR Conference on..., IAPR Workshop on ...). In some cases such a meeting may be organised jointly with other learned societies.

These meetings automatically qualify for loan facilities and for enhanced publicity outlets (for example, announcements in Pattern Recognition Letters or Machine Vision and Applications). The size of loan is determined by the Treasurer and for a TC organised event would typically not exceed US$ 3000. The main financial responsibility for such meetings normally rest with the bodies accepting to host them.

Category AF/BF - Meetings underwritten financially by IAPR
These meetings are either of Category A or B but the Society provides substantial amounts of money to support the activities and is committed to share any deficits but entitled to share any profits with co-sponsors.

LEVY RULES

Category A Meetings
For any meeting co-sponsored by IAPR a flat fee is payable to IAPR according to the following scales:

Category A/B Meetings

For any meeting co-sponsored by IAPR, a fee is payable to IAPR according to the following scale:

Category B Meetings
For any meeting organized by IAPR, a maximum of 10% levy on the meeting participation fee for every participant is payable to IAPR. For major regular Governing Board initiated conferences, this percentage is fixed by the Governing Board. For TC organized events, the per capita payment is 10% up to a maximum of US$ 20 per participant. For joint events (organized jointly by several learned Societies), the appropriate levy is determined by Treasurer at the recommendation of the Chairman of the Conferences and Meetings Committee and the Technical Committee Chairman. IAPR-TC is not liable for more than the amount of the loan, in case of a deficit.

Category AF/BF
For any meeting underwritten financially by IAPR, a share of any profits generated by the meeting is payable to IAPR, in addition to any charges that may be payable depending on the meeting category type. This share is in proportion to the share of the potential losses that IAPR has agreed to underwrite. A signed contract between different co-sponsors is required before the preregistration deadline concerning the sharing of any deficit.

Any deviation from the above charges will require approval of the executive committee

HOW TO GET A SPONSORSHIP

The procedure that is followed is set up to allow an efficient and fast decision by IAPR. Please provide the necessary information promptly to enable quick reactions of the IAPR Conferences & Meetings Committee. Make sure to indicate which type of meeting category you are applying for.

Category A Meetings
Requests should be submitted to the Chairman of the Conferences and Meetings Committee. All requests should contain the following information:

Category B Meetings
Requests should be submitted to the Chairman of the Conferences and Meetings Committee by the TC Chairman. All requests should contain the following information:

Category A/F, B/F Meetings
Requests should be submitted to the Chairman of the Conferences and Meetings Committee and to the IAPR President and should contain the previously mentioned items according to the category A or B of meetings.

After the Chairman has preliminary approved sponsorship, the IAPR Treasurer will evaluate the budget and will discuss with the members of the steering committee to come up with a signed contract about the profit/deficit sharing of the different co-organisers. In light of the available funds, the Treasurer may consult with other members of the Executive Committee to determine if such an underwriting can be made.

On top of the specific levy previously described for category A or B meetings, organisers must promptly return the profits to the Treasurer with a list of registered participants and a copy of the final financial report of actual income and expenditure. If there is any deficit, IAPR will be part of it, as stipulated in the contract.

After the meeting, the organisers should submit a short report, extracts of which may be used in the Newsletter, and send information of how to obtain Proceedings to the Secretariat.

7.4 Guidelines for the World Wide Web Home Page

The Home Page is the complementary information source to the Newsletter. The Home Page keeps information not suited for the Newsletter either because of its permanent character, or because it serves as a hyperlink to some WWW site with IAPR relevant hypermedia data.

The IAPR Home Page Editor and Manager are responsible for the IAPR Home Page and its child nodes (general IAPR information) stored on the IAPR WWW server. Materials connected by links from the IAPR Home Page structure and residing outside the IAPR WWW server (e.g. IAPR Member Societies Home Pages) are maintained by their corresponding editors.

Material is submitted to the editor in the HTML form, embedded images in GIF or XBM formats. HTML files should be already previewed and debugged, together with embedded images. Material to be included in the main IAPR pages, rather than referred to from them, can be also submitted as LaTeX, in a form compatible with LATEX2HTML converter.

Preferably, materials should be submitted via email together with their recommended position in the server data structure and their temporal validity (e.g. call for papers valid until). Single files should be compressed using gzip and coded with uuencode. File sets should be submitted as compressed uuencoded tar file. Large materials can also be submitted via the proposer's public ftp site or 3.5" floppy disk (MS DOS file-system).

A submitted parent HTML document should be called root-subject.html and its related files should be named subject1.html, subject2.gif, subject3.mpeg, etc. The subject should be an appropriate short acronym. Submitted files should be linked together using relative links. Data formats presented through external viewers (dynamic data, JPEG, TIFF, PostScript, etc.) should be used with restraint to spare server data space.

Absolute links should point to unrestricted targets and the proposer is assumed to inform the editor about any change in link URL or its accessibility during the root document's life-time.

Requested links to and from specific sections in an existing IAPR Home Page document (either inside the submitted material or isolated links to e.g. Member Societies Home Pages) or shared embedded images should be separately notified to the editor with clear specification of both link ends.

The editor will confirm data acceptance together with possible new file names (to maintain the unique name-space) for future reference. The editor will carry out any necessary editing and upgrading of material and supply any new or edited material to the manager via email. Outdated material will be deleted by the editor according to the temporal information supplied with each document.

7.5 Guidelines on How to Join IAPR

The members of IAPR are national or multinational non-profit scientific societies. If there already exists a Society within the IAPR area of interest in your country it can apply for membership, either in its entirety or - in some special cases - a sub-group of the Society can apply. The smallest membership size for the IAPR members is about 25 persons.

Application for IAPR membership

  1. Send a description of your organisation to the Chairman of the Membership Committee. This description should contain enough information to decide if the organisation meets the requirements of Bylaw 2.1. Also send an English translation of the constitution of the organisation and a description of the field of interest it covers and of what activities it conducts.
  2. Information on the effective size of the organisation is also required. If the organisation is completely devoted to pattern recognition or one of its sub-fields, its effective size is equal to the number of members. If the scope of activity is broader, the number of members actively interested in IAPR-related activities must be determined. If there is no other indication, such as a defined subgroup within the organisation, a reasonable criterion is the number of members that would be interested to receive the IAPR Newsletter regularly.
  3. After this information has been received, the Membership Committee will consider if the organisation is suitable for IAPR membership. If we decide it is, you will be invited to send to the Chairman of the Membership Committee a formal application for membership, signed by an authorised representative of the organisation.
  4. On receipt of this application, a ballot will be held by the IAPR Governing Board. This can be done by mail, so there is no need to wait for the next Governing Board meeting. If and when a majority of the Governing Board votes for your admittance to the IAPR, you will be informed of this decision and asked to provide a list of members (names and short affiliations only) in ASCII format.
  5. After you have paid your dues and have provided the list of members, you should elect your member(s) of the Governing Board, who will represent you at and between the Governing Board meetings. Also you will receive the Newsletter and all other information distributed by the IAPR. The Newsletter is either mailed individually (if you provide an address list) or in bulk. All other information will be sent to an address of your choice, except what goes to the Governing Board member(s) directly.

7.6 Guidelines for the Piero Zamperoni Best Student Paper Award

It is the policy of the IAPR to make an award at each ICPR for the best paper authored by a student. The primary purpose of this award is to acknowledge and encourage excellence in pattern recognition research by students, and to help assure the future livelihood of the field. The award also honours the memory of Dr. Piero Zamperoni, an outstanding educator in pattern recognition.

Eligibility for the award is restricted to papers authored or co-authored by a student. There must be no more than two authors, and if only one author of a co-authored paper is a student, then the other author must certify that the work presented in the paper is primarily the work of the student. The student author must have been a registered student at the time of paper submission.

When submitting their contributions, students should make known that they satisfy the education criteria. Students should receive, together with the acceptance notification, a request to provide two extra copies of their camera-ready contribution (for the Education Committee, who will also be sent all the relevant review forms from the conference papers reviewing bodies).

The selection of the award winner is made by the IAPR Education Committee. The selection criteria include the following:

  1. topic: the paper should make its contribution in the field of pattern recognition;
  2. technical quality: the paper's technical contribution should be as important as possible, highly original and technically sound;
  3. presentation: the paper should communicate its results in an exemplary style, with strong organisation, appropriate discussion of prior work, and general clarity and integrity.
It is the responsibility of The Education Committee to try to find suitable sponsorship for the award so as to fund some token to be presented to the winner.

The rules for the competition for the award will be published on the ICPR web site. The name of the winner will be announced both in the IAPR Newsletter and on the IAPR web site and the award will be presented at the ICPR conference banquet.
These Guidelines have been prepared by the Constitution & Bylaws Committee
in association with other IAPR Committee Chairmen, past or present