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%From: "Mark G.Allen" <allen@newb6.u-strasbg.fr>
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%To: Francois Ochsenbein <francois@vizir.u-strasbg.fr>
%Subject: introduction
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These proceedings contain papers presented at the thirteenth annual
conference for Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems
(ADASS XIII). The meeting was held during October 12-15, 2003
at the Palais de la Musique et des Congr\`{e}s in Strasbourg,
and was hosted by the Centre de Donn\'{e}es astronomiques
de Strasbourg.

\section{Overview}

The meeting location was near the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
A large meeting room and adjoining space for posters and demonstrations
provided a convenient layout for this large meeting.  Three course
meals, including French wine, served in the conference centre
promoted informal discussion
over lunch, and a short tram ride provided access to Strasbourg's many
historic and culinary attractions.

ADASS XIII was attended by 363 registered participants from
22 countries. The program comprised 14 invited speakers and 22 contributed
presentations, 185 posters, 12 demo booths and 4 Birds of a Feather
(BoF) sessions.

Key topics included "Surveys and Large-Scale Data Management", "Next
Generation Instrument Modeling", "High Performance Computing",
"Automated Classification and Catalog Generation", Data Visualisation",
and "Image Processing". Progress toward realizing Virtual Observatories
was reported in sessions entitled "VO Resources" and "Surveys, Archives
and VO", and a number of prototypes were shown in action at the 
demonstration
booths and the Sunday tutorial. The "High Performance Computing"
session included talks on GRID computing and GRID-enabled services.
Indeed the conference appeared to have an emphasis on services
and interoperability.

A tutorial workshop on Virtual Observatory Software and
Standards was held on the Sunday preceding the meeting.
Three sessions focused on: VOTable parsers and applications,
Data Access Layer, and Web and Grid Services.

\section{Organizing committees}

The ADASS XIII Program Organising Committee was
Todd Boronson (NOAO), Dick Crutcher (UIUC/NCSA), Daniel Durand (CADC),
Daniel Egret (Obs. Paris), Brian Glendenning (NRAO),
Tom Handley (IPAC/Caltech/JPL), Richard Hook (ST-ECF),
Gareth Hunt (NRAO), Glenn Miller (STScI), Koh-Ichiro Morita (NAOJ),
Fran\c{c}ois Ochsenbein (CDS), Jan Noordam (NFRA), Mich\`ele Peron (ESO),
Arnold Rots (SAO), Dick Shaw (chair, NOAO), Betty Stobie (Univ. of Arizona),
Christian Veillet (CFHT) and Patrick Wallace (RAL).

The Local Organising Committee was chaired by Marc Wenger.
The members were Fran\c{c}oise Genova, Jean-Yves Hangouet,
Sandrine Langenbacher, Mireille Louys (LSIIT) and
Laurent Michel.

We thank Susan Rose (STScI) for the final compilation
of these proceedings.

ADASS XIII is pleased to express our deep appreciations for the support 
of the
following organisations and companies:
European Southern Observatory (ESO),
National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO),
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFH),
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC),
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO),
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO),
Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg,
Centre de Donn\'ees astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS),
Universit\'e Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (ULP),
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),
Centre National d'\'Etudes Spatiales (CNES),
R\'egion Alsace,
Conseil G\'en\'eral du Bas-Rhin,
RICOH and TELINDUS CISCO.


\section{ADASS Information}

ADASS XIV will be held in Pasadena, CA, USA, October 24-27, 2004
and will be hosted by the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.

The ADASS XIII Editors\\

Fran\c{c}ois Ochsenbein and Mark G. Allen\\
CDS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg\\

Daniel Egret\\
Observatoire de Paris\\


February 2004

