An Overview of the International Symposium on Wearable Computers 1998 Mark Billinghurst and Thad Starner Structure and Background of ISWC'98 October 19, 1998: Over 300 attendees converge on the Pittsburgh Sheraton Station Hotel for the annual, two day International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC98). Registration opens, and a sense of enthusiasm can be felt as researchers greet each other and introduce new members of the community. Academia, industry, commercial vendors, government representatives, and the military mix as the audience forms for the opening session. Since attendees are encouraged to wear their latest wearable computer designs, spontaneous demonstrations already dot the hall. In some cases, the wearable computer is so subtly woven into an attendee's garb that it takes a practiced eye to know to ask for a demonstration. Fortunately, the researchers and, in some cases, independent inventors are proud of the year's accomplishments and seek to elicit the questions, criticisms, and compliments from the community at large. After a series of academic and commercial workshops, the largest of which was hosted by Boeing in 1996, ISWC premiered in October, 1997 as one of the most successful new conferences in IEEE history. Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Task
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