Today's digital world increasingly brings with it large quantities of digital multimedia, combining image, sound, text and other modes of communication. In order to organise, find and make this information usable, smart technology is needed. From 15-19 October, Amsterdam plays host to the 24th International ACM Multimedia Conference, where more than 500 international experts from the academic world and industry will meet to share the latest research developments in this field. The event is being organised by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA). By Roy Meijer

The main organisers of the conference, now in its 24th year, are Prof. Alan Hanjalic (TU Delft), Dr Cees Snoek (UvA) and Prof. Marcel Worring (UvA). Divided into four key themes – Systems, Experience, Engagement and Understanding – the conference will focus on all aspects of multimedia: ranging from methods for representing information in multimedia to the latest interactive ways in which users can explore multimedia.

Beyond cat videos

This is multimedia that goes far beyond watching cat videos on your computer. Alongside sound and image, there is an increasing focus on parallel information from wearable devices equipped with sensors. In addition to the conventional computer, multimedia is increasingly being consumed on the move, which calls for the development of new strategies for the ways in which information is requested by the user and subsequently transmitted and presented.
This year's conference features a special session devoted to the use of multimedia technology for social themes, including disaster relief, water management, monitoring biodiversity and supporting medical diagnosis.

Multimedia Technology Expo

For people not attending the conference, a special Multimedia Technology Expo will be held on the afternoon of Monday, 17 October, at De Bazel in Amsterdam. It will feature a compact overview of all the work presented during the conference. There will also be plenty of opportunity for trying out interactive demos and networking.

Recognising young talent

Every year, the ACM Multimedia Conference also pays tribute to up-and-coming talent through a series of special awards and presentation sessions. At this year's conference, Dr Bart Thomee, who obtained his doctorate at the University of Leiden and has gone on from a career at Yahoo Labs to his current position at YouTube in Silicon Valley, will be awarded the ACM SIGMM Multimedia Rising Stars Award 2016 for his contributions to technology in the field of geographic multimedia, evaluation techniques and open datasets for research.
Dr Christoph Kofler, recently awarded his doctorate at TU Delft (part-funded by a Google European Doctoral Fellowship) and now working at Bloomberg L.P. in New York, will also be awarded the SIGMM Best PhD Thesis Award 2016.

As 'Rising Stars', Dr Hayley Hung (assistant professor at TU Delft), Dr Xirong Li (awarded a doctorate at UvA), Dr Cynthia Liem (doctorate at TU Delft and now assistant professor there) and Dr Judith Redi (assistant professor at TU Delft) have also all been invited to address the conference delegates about their work at a plenary session.

More information

ACM Multimedia Conference is held under the auspices of the Special Interest Group on Multimedia (SIGMM) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), one of the largest international trade associations in computer science.
The conference is sponsored by Qualcomm Research, FXPal, COMMIT/, Facebook, Microsoft Research, Google, Unified Streaming Platform and ViSENZE.

Note for journalists

To arrange interviews and/or a visit to the conference and/or Multimedia Technology Expo, please contact Prof. Marcel Worring: m.worring@uva.nl
TU Delft contact person: Roy Meijer, r.e.t.meijer@tudelft.nl, +31 (0)15 -2781751