A conference worth attending

In the past I have been a little scathing of some of the North American machine vision shows. Frankly I find the conference sessions to be little more than opportunities for product and self promotion with very little “red meat” for anyone who wants to get into serious technical detail. So, it’s only fair that I tell you about a conference that I think is worth the cost of airfare and hotel.

Now in fairness, I have never had the opportunity to visit the IS&T/SPIE “Electronic Imaging” conference, (San Jose, CA, January 17-21, 2010,) chiefly because the big guy in the corner office thinks it’s just an excuse to dodge our Midwestern snow for a few days. But every year I read the conference program and dream.

This year the tracks are:

• 3D Imaging, Interaction and Measurement
• Imaging, Visualization and Perception
• Image Processing
• Digital Imaging Sensors and Applications
• Multimedia Processing and Applications
• Visual Information Processing and Communication

I think that looks a fascinating list. Now if they’d just move the conference to say, Cleveland, then my boss would understand it’s not just an excuse to spend a few days in California.