ISI - International Statistical Institute Newsletter Volume 25, no. 3 (75) 2001
Reflection on the 53rd Session of the ISI
The 53rd Session of the ISI organized by the Korea National Statistical Office, Korean
Statistical Society, Korean Statistical Association and International Statistical
Institute was held at COEX in Seoul, Korea, 22-29 August 2001.
The total number of registered participants was 2,439 from 116 different countries,
excluding 189 accompanying persons. The number of local participants was 1,097. The number
of overseas participants was 1,342, including 204 participants from the United States, 194
from Japan and 127 from China. Each of the delegations from Germany, United Kingdom and
Canada were also over 40 persons. The foreign participants were composed of about 35%
university professors, 28% government statisticians and around 20% participants from
institutes, banks, companies and so on. Student participants accounted for 12%, and 5%
were from international organizations.
This was the largest turnout of registrants to attend an ISI Session. Taking into
consideration that participants were willing to come such long distances for the Session
and provide their own financial resources, we can see that the ISI Sessions are becoming
more and more popular and attractive to many people. It also seems to be a result that the
contents and the quality of the Sessions were well publicized in advance.
The scientific program of the ISI Seoul Session consisted of 84 Invited Paper Meetings and
105 Contributed Paper Meetings. The total number of papers presented was 938, which
includes 250 Invited Papers and 688 Contributed Papers. The papers from overseas numbered
787, and 151 were from local participants. There were three time-slots for scientific
meetings on a regular working day. Of 14 parallel meetings, 6 were Invited Paper Meetings
and 8 were Contributed Paper Meetings. Out of 189 IP and CP topics, IPM No. 43, 'IAOS
Forum: Enhancing Statistical Capabilities in Developing/Transition Countries' gathered the
largest audience, 410 people. The second most popularly attended topic was the IPM No. 12,
'Quality Programs in Statistical Agencies' with 250 persons, which was followed by IPM No.
1, 'President's Invited Paper Meeting' with about 200 people. Topics such as 'The Role of
Survey Sampling in the 21st Century', 'Asian Statistical Forum', 'Contemporary Methods in
Quality Management', 'Millennium Anniversary: Thomas Bayes, b. 1701' had over 150
attendees.
Special Keynote Addresses by the two Nobel Prize laureates in Economics in 2000 were held
as plenary invited paper meetings in COEX Auditorium on August 27. The auditorium was
completely filled with 1,050 people attending to listen to these addresses. The tutorial
on Data Mining also gathered around 230 people in spite of the fact that it was scheduled
as an evening lecture.
Administrative Meetings were also held in early morning and lunchtime and were catered to
with sandwiches and donuts. The total number of official administrative meetings was 59,
excluding a few informal ones.
One of the highlights of the 53rd ISI Session was the Social Programs such as Welcome
Reception, Seoul City Mayor Reception, Korean Night, Farewell Party and Saturday and
Sunday Tours. Through these programs, participants had an opportunity to meet a large
number of colleagues and see old friends and make new ones. These programs also helped the
participants to appreciate Korea's unique culture and history.
An exhibition also was held at COEX in conjunction with the 53rd Session of the ISI. There
were 40 booths from 10 different countries.
The Daily Bulletin was published every day during the Session to provide the participants
with information on overall shape of the Session, changes in the program and announcements
of the ISI, ISI Sections and the local organizers. The Bulletin also included information
on Korea, its culture and nature and other various interesting topics.
In an effort to provide a more convenient and rewarding experience for the attendees, the
National Organizing Committee took advantage of the recent information technology provided
by computer and Internet services as listed below:
Official e-mail address isi2001@nso.go.kr
The large amount of inquiries regarding registration, paper submission, invitation
letters, fees, etc. made it very cumbersome for one person to handle all of the inquiries
on a personal basis. To solve this problem, the NOC opened an official e-mail account on
all the staffs' PCs in the Executive Secretariat, the Local Program Committee and the
Congress Office, so they could have access to this e-mail everyday. This e-mail sharing
system enabled many staff to share the correspondences and also let the appropriate staff
member quickly reply to the inquiries. This e-mail service was also used to receive
participants' registration forms and papers.
Official website of the Session www.nso.go.kr/isi2001
All information regarding the Session was posted on the homepage of the Session,
www.nso.go.kr/isi2001
Participants could transmit their Preliminary and Final Registration Forms on this
homepage. They could also submit their papers on this website. The template for creating
their papers could be downloaded from the homepage. Participants could read the papers
they were interested in before coming to the Session through the Paper Search System. All
papers were classified into 15 subjects that were further divided into several
sub-subjects. This system helped users to schedule participation in the scientific
sessions during the Session by using the basket function. A number of PCs were available
for use in the Internet Café and the Internet Lounge at the Session venue. The Web Board
on the homepage enabled internal communication among participants in the conference.
Please note that the homepage of the Session will be maintained until the 55th ISI Session
in Sydney, 2005.
The Proceedings of the 53rd ISI Session are published in six volumes. Two contain
abstracts of the Invited Papers and three contain the abstracts of the Contributed Papers.
Participants of the Session were provided with these five volumes at the registration
desk. The proceedings were also published on CD-ROM and distributed to all participants.
The 6th volume (Post-Session Proceedings) is under preparation and will be published by
the end of 2001. It will contain Invited Discussants' Papers, Invited and Contributed
Papers received after production of the five volumes of the Pre-Session Proceedings, and
some other contents. This final volume will be sent to all registered participants by
airmail.
The registered members of the ISI, who did not attend the ISI Seoul Session but want to
have a complimentary copy of the Proceedings are kindly asked to contact Mr. Bong-Ho Choi
(isi2001@nso.go.kr), Chief of the Executive
Secretariat of the 53rd ISI Session by 15 November 2001. Please note that the
complimentary copy is available only in print (CD-ROM is not available) and it will be
mailed by surface mail.
Finally, the NOC would like to express its deep gratitude for the devoted contributions of
the Seoul ISI Session's Programme Committees as well as the ISI and its Permanent Office.
The NOC would also like to thank all the participants who made the conference a successful
event. Last, we are grateful that the weather was so nice throughout the Session without
any rain, which greatly helped the operation of the many social programs.
Bong-Ho Choi
Chief of Executive Secretariat
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