IVOA-Interoperability Meeting, Pune, September 2004.

[Ajit Kembhavi]

Please find appended below the first announcement of the
IVOA-Interoperability Meeting to be held at IUCAA, Pune, India in
September 2004.

Please send any queries that you may have to

      vomeet at iucaa.ernet.in


Regards,


Professor Ajit Kembhavi
(On behalf of the Organizing Committee)
===============================================================

Subject :   International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA)-
Interoperability Meeting, Pune, September 2004


First Announcement

The next  IVOA- Interoperability Meeting will be held at the
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune,
India, during September 27 - 29, 2004. This will be followed by an IVOA
Small Projects Meeting, covering the Asia Pacific region, during September
30 - October 1, 2004. Both the meetings will be open for those interested
in Virtual Observatory (VO) related activities.

The Interoperability Meeting will have a small number of Plenary Talks and
Working Group meetings according to the usual pattern of the
Interoperability meetings. The theme of the regional meeting will be
"Building Partnerships : VOs and New Telescopes", and it will consist of a
series of invited talks, and short presentations and demonstrations. A
detailed programme of the technical sessions of the meeting will be
announced shortly on the meeting web site.

The meeting will take place on the campus of IUCAA and is being organized
as a part of the activities of the Virtual Observatory-India (VO-I)
project, of which IUCAA and Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd. (PSPL) are the
main collaborators. The project is supported by the Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology of the Government of India.

Registration:  An online registration form will be available on the
meeting web site from Monday, June 14, 2004. Everyone interested in
attending the meeting is requested to kindly submit the registration form
just as soon as possible, to enable adequate arrangements to be made.
There will be no registration fee.

Location :  Pune is a medium sized city (population ~ 3.5 million) located
about 160 km from Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). Pune can be reached
by road and train from Mumbai in a few hours and by air in about 20
minutes. Detailed information about reaching Pune will be provided on the
web site, and organizers of the meeting will help in making arrangements
for the journeys between Mumbai and Pune. Participants from other
countries can also use Delhi for their arrival and departure. Direct
flights are available between Delhi and Pune, the distance being about
1300 kms.

Accommodation :  A hotel within a few kilometers of the IUCAA campus is
being identified to accommodate the participants. The room rent is
expected to be around US $ 60 per day, including breakfast. Free transport
between the hotel and IUCAA will be provided. Some accommodation will also
be available in the IUCAA Guest House. Detailed information about the
hotel and the procedure for making reservations will soon be announced on
the meeting web site.

Food :  Lunch and dinner will be provided on the
IUCAA campus with complements of the organizers. There are a number of
eating places within a reasonable distance of the IUCAA campus, which can
be conveniently visited in the evenings. A conference banquet will be
arranged.

Travel arrangements :  All those who are planning to attend the meeting
are urged to book their flights at an early date, since seats on flights
to and from India can be difficult to get. The end of September is not the
most crowded season, but early bookings are strongly advised.

Visas :  All foreign nationals visiting India will need a visa, which has
to be obtained from the Indian Consulate/Embassy nearest to them.
Registered participants will be sent a letter of invitation which would
help them to get a visa. It is advisable to apply for a visa sufficiently
early. Foreign nationals coming to the meeting will have to provide
details about their passport, etc. through the personal particulars form,
which will be on the web site.

Web site :  Further information will be made available on the meeting web
site : http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~vomeet/,  beginning Monday, June 14,
2004.