The emergence of the computer as an essential tool in scientific research and as an essential ingredient in commercial systems has led to the generation of massive amounts of data. These data sets are of critical importance for a broad variety of scientific and technological applications, including but not limited to astronomy, biology, medicine, ecological monitoring and weather prediction, information retrieval, and telecommunications. To help focus research activity on the daunting computational and mathematical problems of organizing and using these data, DIMACS is conducting a Special Year on Massive Data Sets in 1997-98.
Telecommunications systems pose some of the most challenging massive data set problems and present many opportunities for researchers in the mathematical sciences. Sources of data include switch-generated call-detail records, customer billing records, customer service-call records, IP headers, and WWW ``click streams.'' Uses and potential uses of data include network operations and management, billing, fraud detection, quality control, marketing, information retrieval, and law enforcement. Many classical algorithmic and mathematical problems are relevant, including clustering, compression, error-detection and -correction, nearest-neighbor searching, and shortest-path and connectivity computations. Note that some types of data are obviously proprietary and sensitive and that the ``privacy status'' and ``ownership status'' of others is currently the subject of policy debate. Thus there is a pressing need for both technical mechanisms and social policies that support privacy protection without destroying the usefulness of data sets.
DIMACS will hold a Special Year workshop on all aspects of massive data sets in telecommunications systems on October 13-15, 1997. If you would like to attend the workshop, please contact Pat Pravato at the DIMACS center: pravato@dimacs.rutgers.edu, 732-445-5930.
Presentations are solicited on all aspects of massive data sets that are relevant to telecommunications systems, including but not limited to the mathematical, algorithmic, infrastructural, application, and policy aspects mentioned above. If you would like to give a talk or a demo, please send an abstract of your proposed presentation (at most one page in length) to the workshop chair:
The deadline for submissions is August 15, 1997.
The workshop will be informal, and there will be no published proceedings. You are encouraged to submit an abstract on any material that you think would be of interest to the participants, including material that has been or will be published elsewhere. A limited amount of travel support is available for participants who can demonstrate need and who apply early. Please contact the workshop chair if you would like to apply for travel money.
For more information about the Special Year on Massive Data Sets, visit the DIMACS web site: http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/SpecialYears/1997_1998/.
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