We welcome 2-page extended abstracts on one of the topics of the workshop. 

The abstracts should be submitted before October 9th, 2014 by email to nips2014@chalearn.org. 

Topics of interest:

Methods:
- Novel or atypical challenge protocols, particularly to tackle complex tasks with very large datasets, multi-modal data, and data streams.
- Methods and metrics of entry evaluation, quantitative and qualitative challenges.
- Methods of data collection, "ground-truthing", and preparation including bifurcation/anonymization, data generating models.
- Teaching challenge organization.
- Hackatons and on-site challenges.
- Challenge indexing and retrieval, challenge recommenders.

Theory:
- Experimental design, size data set, data split, error bounds, statistical significance, violation of typical assumptions (e.g. i.i.d. data).
- Game theory applied to the analysis of challenge participation, competition and collaboration among participants.
- Diagnosis of data sanity, artifacts in data, data leakage.

Implementation:
- Re-usable challenge platforms, innovative software environments.
- Linking data and software repositories to challenges.
- Security/privacy, intellectual property, licenses.
- Cheating prevention and remedies.
- Issues raised by requiring code submission.
- Challenges requiring user interaction with the platform (active learning, reinforcement learning).
- Dissemination, fact sheets, proceedings, crowsourced papers, indexing post-challenge publications.
- Long term impact, on-going benchmarks, metrics of impact.
- Participant rewards, stimulation of participation, advertising, sponsors.
- Profiling participants, improving participant professional and social benefits.

Applications:
- Where to venture next: opportunities for challenge organizers to organize challenges in new domains with high societal impact.
- Successful challenge leading to significant breakthrough or improvement over the state-of-the-art or unexpected interesting results.
- Rigorous study of the impact of challenges, analyzing topics and tasks lending themselves to high impact machine learning challenges.
- Challenges as an educational tool.
- Challenges organized or supported by Government agencies, funding opportunities.