Second OWL WG Face-to-Face meeting, 3-4 April 2008

The second OWL WG Face-to-Face meeting will be held in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA (in the Washington, DC, USA metropolitan area).

Venue

The meeting will be in the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn [alternative page].

Co-located events

The F2F is co-located with OWL: Experiences and Directions 2008 DC workshop. If you attend the F2F, you should really consider attending OWLED as well, as there should be considerable possibilities to interact with real users! We expect to have some part of OWLED be concerned with information related to the OWL WG. Official invitations for F2F attendees can be generated.

Registration and Sponsorship

Clark&Parsia are sponsoring the social dinner. NIST will be paying for the rooms.

Food is not yet paid for, so a $100US registration fee is being charged.

Hotel

We have reserved a room block at the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn for US$139 per night, plus tax. See the OWLED local arrangements page for how to reserve a room.

WARNING: This is one of the very busiest times of the year in the Washington, DC area. You should make hotel reservations *early*, particularly if you want to stay before or after the F2F, perhaps to get reasonable airline fares from Europe.

Social Program

There will be a social dinner, at Dogfish Head Alehouse, starting at 7pm on 3 April (Thursday), sponsored by Clark&Parsia.

Location: 800 West Diamond Ave., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878

Phone: 301-963-4847

Directions for Driving (or Walking): http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=3278656796763103918,39.140843,-77.215383,15709669635647428234,39.153059,-77.211548&saddr=2+Montgomery+Village+Ave,+Gaithersburg,+MD+20879+(Holiday+Inn+Gaithersburg)&daddr=800+W+Diamond+Ave,+Gaithersburg,+MD+20878&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=39.023985,-77.078705&sspn=0.479031,0.457306&ie=UTF8&ll=39.150431,-77.214832&spn=0.032349,0.057163&z=14

Travel to Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg is in the suburbs. See the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn transportation page for more information. However, Washington, DC is one of the few areas in the USA that has semi-decent public transit.

If you fly into Reagan Washington National airport (DCA) you can take the Washington Metro to Shady Grove at the end of the Red Line. (There are closer train stations, but on a line that is only runs in the afternoons, Monday to Friday.) The Holiday Inn has a free shuttle service from the metro station. If you fly into Thurgood Marshall - Baltimore (BWI) you can take a regular train to Washington's Union station and the Metro from there. See the BWI ground transportation page for more information on taking the train from BWI. If you fly into Washington Dulles International airport (IAD) you pretty much should take a taxi or a shuttle. More information on ground transportation is available at the hotel's transportation page.

The train line from Washington, DC to New York and then on to Boston is the only major intercity train line in the entire US that is reasonable. The line is run by Amtrak. Even so, don't expect a European level of timeliness, although the Acela trains are quite nice and usually on time. If you happen to be on this line (south of Boston), the train will probably be quicker than taking a plane. You could even fly into Newark airport (EWR) and take the train from there (although you have to take a slower train, as the Acela trains don't stop at the airport).

If you need a visa to visit the US, you should act quickly as US visa procedures are still under stress, but then, if you need a visa you probably already know this.