***************************************************************************** Call for Participation Swarmfest '98 - The Second Annual Meeting of the Swarm Users Group Hotel Santa Fe Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA March 23 - 24, 1998 ***************************************************************************** The Swarm Development Program at the Santa Fe Institute is proud to announce Swarmfest '98, the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Swarm Users Group. Swarmfest attracts researchers from diverse disciplines who have a common interest in multi-agent modelling using Swarm. Past and present Swarm developers will also be participating in the conference. This year we will be holding a series of talks including time for discussion following each presentation. We aim to create a cross discipline environment in which attendees can hear what is going on in other fields and extrapolate lessons they can apply in their environment. If you wish to make a presentation or organize a discussion, please submit an abstract or a title to me (lee@santafe.edu). New to Swarmfest, we will be offering a tutorial session, "An Introduction to Swarm" taught by Benedikt Stefansson, the Sunday prior to the kick-off of Swarmfest. (see details below). We will also meet to discuss the future direction of Swarm development, the formation of the Swarm Advisory Board, and the results of the Annual Swarm Survey. We may form special interest groups to discuss specific problems. Attached below is logistics and transportation information provided by Andi Sutherland, the Events Manager at SFI, along wih a registration form to be returned to Andi by fax (505) 982-0565 or by email (ars@santafe.edu). Please return your registration by February 19, 1998. We hope to see you at Swarmfest '98! --Irene Lee **************************************************************************** Logistical Details Participants will be expected to arrive on Sunday, March 22. (Those attending the tutorial session need to arrive early in the day). There will be a welcome reception held at the Hotel Santa Fe on Sunday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The conference will begin with continental breakfast at the Hotel Santa Fe at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, March 23. We will conclude at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24. Accommodations have been reserved for the group at the Hotel Santa Fe, a lovely hotel near downtown Santa Fe located at 1501 Paseo de Peralta, (505) 982-1200 phone, (505) 986-8756 fax, from Sunday night, March 22 through Tuesday night, March 24. All rooms will be guaranteed for late arrival. Please be certain to return the attached registration form to me either by fax (505) 982-0565 Information about travelling to Santa Fe follows. Air: The major airport connection to Santa Fe is Albuquerque, New Mexico; approximately 60 miles from Santa Fe. Most major airlines fly into Albuquerque. There is also a small airport in Santa Fe which is serviced by Mesa Airlines (10-seat planes) from both Albuquerque and Denver; for information call 1-800-637-2247. Ground: You can reach downtown Santa Fe from the Albuquerque airport using a bus service called Shuttlejack which runs approximately every two hours. The cost is $20 each way and reservations are required; call (505) 982-4311 for reservations and information. The Shuttle stops at the Hotel Santa Fe. The Road Runner Shuttle runs between the Santa Fe airport and the hotel. Please call (505) 424-3367 for reservations. Car rental is available at the Albuquerque and Santa Fe airports and in downtown Santa Fe. To reserve a car, call 1-800-828-3438 and reference the Santa Fe Institute corporate account number T475500. If your credit card or personal insurance policy does not provide insurance for rental car damage or liability, we advise you to accept LDW and SLI at the counter. Santa Fe is a wonderful, small city with excellent cultural opportunities and restaurants. We are at an altitude of 7,000 feet. In March, temperatures will range from 20 - 60 degrees. Snow is possible. For additional information about Santa Fe, please access the Santa Fe Visitors Bureau web site at http://www.santafe.org. If you have questions about logistical details, please contact me at SFI at (505) 989-7372 or ars@santafe.edu; I'll be happy to help you with any problems or special arrangements. For answers to questions about conference substance, please contact Chris Langton at cgl@santafe.edu. We're looking forward to seeing you. Regards, Andi Sutherland Events Manager ***************************************************************************** Additional Travel Information: We recommend that you use the Shuttlejack service from the Albuquerque airport (505) 982-4311 to the hotel or the Road Runner shuttle from the Santa Fe airport (505) 424-3367. Travel Instructions from the Albuquerque Airport to the Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo de Peralta >From the airport, take Sunport to I-25 North, the main highway to Santa Fe. Travel approximately one hour on I-25 to the Old Pecos Trail Exit (#284). Take a left on Old Pecos Trail. After the light at Zia, stay in the right lane and veer to the right onto Old Pecos Trail. Old Pecos Trail changes in name only to Old Santa Fe Trail as you approach the downtown area. At the large intersection of Old Santa Fe Trail and Paseo de Peralta take a left. The hotel entry is on the right just past the intersection of Cerrillos Road and Paseo de Peralta. Additional travel information can be found at http://www.santafe.edu/sfi/directions/. ***************************************************************************** "Swarmfest '98" March 23-24, 1998 Hotel Santa Fe Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Participant Registration/Housing Form Name: Ms. ___ Mr. ___ Dr. ___ Prof. ___ ________________________________________ Address:______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Telephone: (office)_______________ Fax #: _________________ e-mail address:_________________________________________ Name you'd prefer on your nametag:__________________________ Participant Registration Rate (please check one of the categories) ___ Student $100.00 ___ Academic $150.00 ___ Corporate $200.00 Housing Request: Hotel Santa Fe 1501 Paseo de Peralta, (505) 982-1200 Arrival: Date_____________ Time in Santa Fe_______________ Departure: Date______________ Time from Santa Fe_____________ Will you be alone, or are you planning to bring spouse and/or family? ____________________________________________________ Would you care to share a room? Yes ______ No _____ With whom?__________________________________________ Any Dietary Restrictions? Special A/V needs? ____________________________________________________ ***************************************************************************** Swarmfest '98 Tutorial Session: An Introduction to Swarm taught by Benedikt Stefansson of UCLA March 22, 1998 Description of the tutorial: The target audience of this tutorial are users who have limited or no experience with the Swarm system, but would like to create their own simulation programs. Our emphasis will be on examples of working models and modeling solutions in Swarm. We will offer a general overview of the Swarm libraries, and a more detailed look at the major contributions of Swarm to simulation programming: A user friendly set of Graphical User Interface components and Object Oriented libraries to control events and manage agents in the model world. Because of time constraints, we will expect some prior knowledge of programming. Familiarity with C, Objective-C or C++ will be helpful, but not essential. There will be two sessions, from 9-12 AM and 1-4 PM, with short coffee breaks in the morning and afternoon. A rough outline of the tutorial follows (this schedule is quite ambitious so some of the topics may be covered with broad strokes): I. Overview. Background Implementation issues, system requirements, languages etc. General structure of simulations written in Swarm. Documentation, resources II. Modeling examples: Creating and managing objects in Swarm Detailed look at tutorial application Modeling issues, with examples from business, economics and biology. Lunch (discussion) III. The Swarm libraries Arrays, Lists and other sets Probing agents and relaying information Schedule and control of events IV. The Swarm libraries (continued) Data gathering and analysis Managing and displaying 2D spaces Graphs Random number library The fee for this tutorial is $50.00 (There may be an additional fee for the lunch) Do you wish to attend the tutorial session? Yes ______ No ______ *****************************************************************************