Reynard Proposers’ Day Conference



The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) will host a Proposers’ Day Conference for the Reynard Program on April 3, 2009 in anticipation of the release of a new solicitation in support of the program. The Conference will be held from 8:00am to 4:00pm in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The purpose of the conference will be to provide information on the Reynard Program, to address questions from potential proposers, and to provide a forum for potential proposers to present their capabilities for teaming opportunities.



SYNOPSIS

This announcement serves as a pre-solicitation notice and is issued solely for information and planning purposes. The Proposers’ Day Conference does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. Conference attendance is voluntary and is not required to propose to future solicitations (if any) associated with this program. The Reynard Proposers’ Day is open to all researchers interested in submitting to the anticipated Reynard Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). Note that the Proposers’ Day is intended for participants from industry and academia; it is not intended for parties who are not interested in bidding or participating on a bidding team, e.g. the public or members of the press. Government attendees will be invited separately.



PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND GOALS

Events in today’s world move at an accelerating pace, and are often shaped by information (whether correct or incorrect) that is communicated by diverse and increasingly novel means. A nuanced picture of events and attitudes is required to inform policy developers and other decision-makers in this complex and fast-paced environment. IARPA sponsors leading-edge research to help the Intelligence Community keep abreast of the many sources of information needed to inform our nation’s leadership. A new channel for information exchange and social interaction is emerging with the growing popularity of Virtual Worlds (VWs) and Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). Industry experts predict the number of VW users will exceed a half billion by the end of 2009. As participation in these VWs broadens and deepens, the need for understanding the nature of interactions in these worlds arises.

Starting from the premise that Real World (RW) characteristics are reflected in VW behavior, the IARPA Reynard program seeks to identify behavioral indicators in VWs and MMOGs that are related to the RW characteristics of the users. Performers in the Reynard program will be expected to produce one or more VW behavioral indicators that serve to identify RW attributes of individuals or groups. Attributes of interest include the following: gender, approximate age, economic status, educational level, occupation, ideology or “world view”, degree of influence, “digital native” vs “digital immigrant,” approximate physical geographic location, native language, and culture. Other RW characteristics might also be empirically deduced through behavioral indicators. VW behavioral indicators may be examined in the areas of Avatars and Representation, Communication, Things That Avatars Do, Group Formation and Dynamics, Money and Economics, and Cultural Differences.



Collaborative efforts/teaming among potential performers will be strongly encouraged. It is anticipated that teams will be multidisciplinary with social scientists, computer scientists, statisticians, gaming and virtual world experts, and multi-cultural experts, as appropriate. IARPA anticipates that universities and companies from around the world will participate in this fascinating area of research. Researchers will be able to publish their findings in publicly-available, academic journals.



REGISTRATION INFORMATION

If you would like to attend, please submit your request to the Proposers’ Day Website: http://conference.brtrc.com/reynard. Attendees must register no later than 5:00pm EST March 30, 2009. Directions to the conference facility and other materials are available on the website.

Due to space limitations, attendance will be limited to the first 200 registrants and to no more than 2 representatives per organization. All attendees will be required to present a government-issued photo identification to enter the conference.



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Attendees who wish to present organization capabilities for potential teaming opportunities may request to do so by sending an e-mail to dni-iarpa-baa-09-05@ugov.gov. Presentations will be limited to 5 minutes with a maximum of 5 slides that must follow a template that will be provided (MS PowerPoint or PDF format). Only one presentation per organization will be allowed. Deadline for requests is close of business (5:00pm EST) March 27, 2009. It is the presenter’s responsibility to ensure that all materials briefed are appropriately marked and approved for presentation by their organization. The IARPA Program Manager will review all materials in the order received and approve all presentations. Opportunities to present will be limited by time and will therefore be limited to the first 20 respondents with approved presentations.



All slides presented by the Program Manager and by the potential proposers will be posted on www.iarpa.gov as soon as possible after the event. Presentations should not include proprietary materials. Submission of an organizational presentation to IARPA for this event will constitute permission to post the materials on the website.



The afternoon will be reserved for networking among the prospective proposers for the purpose of identifying teaming partners. Government personnel will not be present during this session.



IARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this conference.



Questions concerning the conference & registration can be sent to IARPAevents@brtrc.com.



Questions regarding the program can be sent to dni-iarpa-baa-09-05@ugov.gov.