VAST Challenge 2021 Submission Instructions

Note on GitHub Entries

In recent years there has been an increase in submissions though github including links to live demonstrations. This is great! However, please submit your entry with a github tag or as a release. In addition, entry forms must be submitted in full prior to the deadline. It is not permissible to provide a link to an entry form in gitub. Entries cannot be updated once submitted unless specifically requested by the VAST Challenge committee.

Required Materials

Your completed submission package is due on July 12, 2021. Your submission package consists of a completed summary form and a four-minute video showing your visual analytics software in operation.

Please complete the summary form as follows:

Rename the summary form file to “index.htm”. Make sure to leave the form in “.htm” format. Use Microsoft Word or other word processor to edit the form.
Name your entry using a composite of your team’s organization, primary contact’s last name, and the challenge you are entering. For example, for a submission from the University of Maryland for Mini-Challenge 2, from a team led by Dr. Jones, please use UMD-Jones-MC2. If you are submitting multiple entries, please add a number to the end of the file name (e.g. UMD-Jones-MC2-1).
Provide a list of team members, their affiliation, and email addresses. Designate one team member as the Primary Contact. The primary contact must be able to respond to questions and communications related to the submission.
Indicate if this is a student team. A student team is defined as one led by a student and worked on by students. Class projects are good examples of submissions that would be provided by student teams.
Provide a list of analytic tools used in developing your solution. Commercially available tools like Tableau or SAS can be mentioned by name. For tools not commercially available, please provide a tool name, developer name (or a company name), and any links to the tool that can provide us more information about it. For tools developed by the submitting team, additional information such as where it was developed (e.g., “SPINVIZ was developed by the University of West Birmingham CS 459 Information Visualization class, taught Spring 2011 by Dr. Smith, and adapted by the student team for the challenge.”)
Provide an estimate of the number of hours spent by the entire team working on this submission. If you are submitting multiple entries, this number should reflect the time spent on this specific entry.
Indicate whether you give your permission for your submission to be posted in the publicly accessible Visual Analytics Benchmark Repository.
Provide your explanatory video with voice narration. Participants are required to include a video of no more than four minutes in length. This video is your chance to fully explain your entry. The video should be in .wmv format. If size permits, include this video in your electronic submission package. If not, post it on the internet and provide a link. Verify the link is active throughout the contest period, as it may be downloaded at various times by different VAST Challenge Committee members and reviewers. If you do not have a site on which you can post your video, please contact vast-challenge@ieeevis.org to discuss other approaches. You will also be asked to provide an electronic copy of the video for the archive repository. The following tips may be helpful in creating your video:
Provide a clear explanation how the visual analytics software you developed or used helped you analyze the data.
- Give a clear explanation of your starting point for analysis and how you selected it
- Explain your rationale for important design decisions.
- Explain how the visualization and interactions helped in the analysis.
- If filters or transformations are applied, explain what was used and in what sequence they were applied.
- If there are anomalies shown in a visualization, explain how they are factored into the analysis.
- Give a careful definition of terms used such as “uncertainty.”
- Describe any important assumptions you made.
- Answer the specific questions for this mini-challenge. These questions appear in the submission form.

Packaging and Submitting Your Entry

Rename the summary form to “index.htm” and save it on your local computer. Use this form to provide your answers either by adding text to the form itself or by linking to the separate files you need to provide.

Note: GitHub based entries must also provide a PDF of their entry form

Create a folder on your computer with the same name as your entry name. Save the completed answer form (index.htm), your design image, your optional video and storyboards, and your other images in this folder as well. The index.htm file should contain link to all your materials. Use relative links so they will still work when your materials are moved to another folder.
Zip the entire directory and save it in a file using the same entry name, for example, UMD-Jones-MC2.zip. If your zip file is greater than 50 MB in size, please post your video or other large materials on the internet instead of including it in your zip file. The submission system can only accept files smaller than 50 MB. > Note: Entries must be packaged using ZIP. Other formats such as rar and tar are not acceptable.
IEEE VAST Challenge 2021 uses the Precision Conference System (PCS) to handle the submission and reviewing process. PCS is available at https://new.precisionconference.com/~vgtc/. If you do not already have a login for the system, you must register first. This can be done using the links on the sign in page. Once you are logged into your account, please click the “Submissions” button, and then select Society: VGTC, Conference/Journal: VIS 2021, and Track: VIS 2021 VAST Challenge.

Optional Two-Page Summaries

Participants may publish two page summaries of their submission in the Conference Proceedings. These summaries allow the contestant to give a general overview of their approach and tools, highlight novel features, provide references to papers and other relevant work and describe any new discoveries made while working through the Challenge problem.

The two-page summary must be formatted according to the IEEE VGTC Guidelines. They are submitted separately from your entry. They are due on August 22, 2021.

Optional Poster

Award and Honorable Mention winners may present a poster describing their submission during the workshop and (we expect) during the conference days. The posters will allow contestants to explain their work more fully to a live audience. Posters encourage explorations of new, related ideas with other conference attendees and may result in linkages to collaborators for follow on efforts.