ISIT 2013 is over, and there were lots of good talks. Just as a few quick impressions — the conference felt a bit more fragmented to me, topic-wise. I almost didn’t see many of the coding theorists because their sessions were physically separated from the Shannon theory/estimation sessions that I normally find myself in.

However, perhaps the theme of the conference for me this year was “measure concentration.” Between Marton’s Shannon Lecture, Lugosi’s tutorial, and Max’s talk on data processing, I felt like very measured, and yet full of concentration.

I’ll blog about a few of them here, but if any readers want to write a guest post about some interesting talks they saw, please feel free to contact me. I’ll likely post some recaps later in the week after I get back from Asia/Europe.

Dear ISIT Participant,

As you may well be aware, there is an ongoing sit-in protest in Taksim Square, Istanbul. The protest is about a road construction and renovation project which calls for cutting down a large number of trees and demolishing a park. The protest has triggered street demonstrations in many cities around Turkey and has not yet subsided. Demonstrations continue to take place at Taksim Square especially in the late afternoon and evening hours. There are no clashes between the protesters and the police on or near Taksim Square. The shops are open and business runs as usual in the area. The Istanbul Conference and Exhibition Center (ICEC), where ISIT 2013 will take place, is about 1 km from Taksim Square and is safely away from the scene of the protests. The conference hotels which are at Talimhane district are 200-500 m away from the Taksim Square and there have been no reported cases of disturbance to the hotels or their guests. We are hoping that by the time of ISIT, the protests will come to an end. You may find the latest travel advisories issued by various governments here.

We will be updating you here as events develop.

Erdal Arıkan – Elza Erkip, ISIT 2013 Co-Chairs
Gerhard Kramer, President IT Society