Dear colleagues, (Apologize if you received multiple emails from different mailing lists)

We are delighted to announce the call for task proposal of NTCIR-18. NTCIR (NII Testbeds and Community for Information Access Research) is a series of evaluation conferences that mainly focus on information access with East Asian languages and English. The first NTCIR conference (NTCIR-1) took place in August/September 1999, and the latest NTCIR-17 conference was held in December 2023. Research teams from all over the world participate in one or more NTCIR tasks to advance the state of the art and to learn from one another's experiences.

We invite new task proposals within the expansive field of information access. Organizing an evaluation task entails pinpointing significant research challenges, strategically addressing them through collaboration with fellow researchers (including co-organizers and participants), developing the requisite evaluation framework to propel advancements in the state of the art, and generating a meaningful impact on both the research community and future developments. Prospective applicants are urged to underscore the real-world applicability of their proposed tasks by utilizing authentic data, focusing on practical tasks, and solving tangible problems. Additionally, they should confront challenges in evaluating information access technology, such as the extensive number of assessments needed for evaluation, ensuring privacy while using proprietary data, and conducting live tests with actual users.

*Task Proposal Submission Due: Feb 9, 2024 (Anywhere on Earth)SUBMISSION LINK: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ntcir18proposal https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ntcir18proposal*

Below are more details, and please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Happy holidays, and happy new year.

Warm regards, NTCIR-18 Program Committee Co-Chairs Qingyao Ai, Chung-Chi Chen, and Shoko Wakamiya