Dates: Sunday, June 13th, to Tuesday, June 15th, 2004
Venue: Chicago Hilton and Towers
The conference hotel was the Chicago Hilton and Towers, located at 720 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago. Their telephone number is 1-312-922-4400 and their FAX number is 1-312-922-5240. The rates negotiated were US$159/night for a single or double, US$179/night for a triple, and US$199/night for a quad. This does not include the 14.9% tax added to downtown Chicago hotel bills.
In order to get the conference rate, one must usually tell the reservations clerk the name of the conference or a special code. In the continuing saga of what to say, I have been told by reputable sources that each of the following utterances has worked at various times:
"SIGACT STOC conference"
"ACMCSCW".
"SGT"
If you find that none of these work, please let me know.
Note that the conference rates are in effect until the block is sold out or Friday May 28th, whichever occurs first.
Registration fees were as follows:
Click the header to go to the page. To help in planning your attendance, please see the conference program. The deadline for early registration is Thursday, May 20th.
If you have had problems registering, please try again. A couple of bugs were finally fixed. We expect that all should work smoothly now. We offer apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
If you have had problems registering, please try again. A
couple of bugs were finally fixed. We expect that all should work
smoothly now. We offer apologies for any inconvenience this may have
caused.
For visa requests,
please send your name, complete mailing address, and fax number to Irene
Frawley. Her e-mail address is
frawley@acm.org.
The hotel is located just southeast of the "loop," the heart of Chicago's downtown district. The loop is bounded by Wabash Avenue on the east, Van Buren Street on the south, Wells Street on the west, and Lake Street on the north. O'Hare Airport is located 17 miles northwest of the loop. Midway Airport is 10 miles southwest. AmTrak trains arrive at Union Station, which is three blocks west. Commuter trains arrive at a variety of stations, all on or near the loop's periphery.
By public transportation (the "El"): The Chicago Transit Authority runs rapid transit trains from O'Hare to downtown on the Blue Line, which runs 24 hours a day. The CTA station is located at the lowest level of the Main Parking Garage next to elevator center 4 and is accessible by pedestrian tunnels located in Terminals 1, 2, and 3. From Terminal 5 (where most international flights arrive), take the Airport Transit System (ATS) to Terminal 3 and follow the signs. The fare is $1.75. You need a transit card to ride and these are available from machines in every station.
Ride to the station at Jackson and Dearborn, a trip lasting approximately 45 minutes. This station is underground so, once there, ascend to street level and locate Jackson Blvd. From there, you can:
By cab: Cabs are easily hailed on the lower level (Arrivals and Baggage Claim) of every terminal. A ride to downtown costs about $40.
By rental car: Please ask for directions at the rental desk. If you wish to get directions ahead of time, please send e-mail to John Rogers.
By public transportation (the "El"): The Chicago Transit Authority runs rapid transit trains from Midway to downtown on the Orange Line. Trains run on weekdays from 4 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. On weekends the hours are slightly shorter. The fare is $1.75. You need a transit card to ride and these are available from machines in every station. The transit station is located at the southeast corner of the parking garage. Follow the signs from the terminal and be prepared for a bit of a walk.
Ride to the Library station, a trip lasting approximately 45 minutes. The station is elevated so descend from it to Van Buren St. From there, you can:
By cab: Cabs are easily hailed just outside the main terminal. A ride to downtown costs about $25.
By rental car: Please ask for directions at the rental desk. If you wish to get directions ahead of time, please send e-mail to John Rogers.
Use one of the driving directions web sites. The hotel's address is 720 S. Michigan, Chicago, Illinois. Parking at the hotel is $30/day. It is not easy to find on-street parking in that area.
Please be aware that Meigs Field is now closed and will soon be a lovely park. You will have to land and disembark at the general aviation terminals at either O'Hare or Midway (see above). Smaller airports in the Chicago area abound but most are quite far from downtown.
Please contact John Rogers for directions.
Chicago offers many diversions, especially in the summer. Listed here are a few that might be of interest. Links to many more can be found starting at the City of Chicago's web site.
Ravinia Music Festival: The Ravinia Music Festival is one of Chicago's outdoor music festivals. It is located north of the city. Its web site explains how to get there by public transportation.
Museum Campus: The Museum Campus is about a kilometer from the hotel and is the location of three museums: the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium. It's a pleasant walk affording good views of the lake and the downtown skyline.
Other large museums include the Art Institute of Chicago, located at 111 S. Michigan (about 1/2 mile north of the hotel), the Museum of Contemporary Art (about 2 miles north of the hotel at 220 E. Chicago Ave.) and the Museum of Science and Industry, found in the Hyde Park neighborhood and reachable by CTA bus or by a commuter train run by Metra on the Metra Electric line. There are numerous smaller museums around the city, including the Mexican Fine Arts Museum and the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Chicago is known for its theatre scene and is especially noted for the numerous small companies on stages and in storefronts throughout the city. The city also abounds with live music in venues all over the city. The Chicago Reader, a free weekly newspaper, lists many of the performance events happening each week. The city is well known for its blues and we have provided a page about where to find the Blues (thanks to Janos Simon).
SIGACT supports student travel to STOC. For STOC 2004 a total of $10,000 of Student Travel Awards will be made. These awards are for needy students to help cover expenses related to attending STOC 2004. Preference will be given to students who are STOC authors. To apply send the following information to secretary@sigact.acm.org by March 30th, 2004:
This information will be used to prioritize the awards. The awards will be announced shortly after the deadline. Late applications will not be accepted.
SIGACT supports travel of faculty and researchers from developing countries to STOC. Developing Country Travel Awards will be made each year up to a total of $5,000. These awards are for needy faculty and researchers to help cover expenses related to attending STOC. Applicants should be STOC authors or co-authors, or be contributing to the conference in some other way. To apply send the information outlined above in the Student Travel Award section under items 1 thought 4 (item 5 is not required) to secretary@sigact.acm.org by March 30th, 2004. If you are applying for a Developing Country Travel Award please explicitly mention in your application that you are applying for this award and not the regular award. This award was begun in 2003 on a trial basis and may be discontinued.
This web site was created and is maintained by John Rogers. It was last updated Tuesday, June 15th, 2004.