This week I attended IS&T’s 17th Color Imaging Conference in Albuquerque – http://www.imaging.org/IST/conferences/cic/

Attendance was a little lower than normal (because of the recession) but the quality of the conference was certainly not down on previous years. In fact, it was one of the best CICs for a while. I would recommend the conference to anyone with an interest in digital colour or colour imaging – the next conference will be November 2010 in San Antonio, Texas. The two things I like best about the conference are the content (as usual I came away with several new ideas that I can’t wait to get back and try) and the people. It’s a really friendly bunch of people and a great place to meet all those great colour scientists whose papers and books you’ve read.

Next year I may offer a short course in MATLAB. The short courses are held on the day or two before the conference starts proper.

As for the location – Albuqueque. Well, a little disappointing, to be honest. It’s a place I always wanted to visit. It sounds so exotic but in the end it is about as exotic as Huddersfield. It’s true that Old Town Albuquerque (where the conference was held) is interesting and quite qaint. However, I just walked down Route 66 into the downtown area today and it was disappointing to say the least. I think I saw the future of UK cities today – with the downtown area boarded up and empty and everyone in shopping malls that are 8 miles out of town and only accessible by car.

To read more views about the conference go to twitter and look for #cic17.

See you there next year?