The special topics of the conference are reflected in the choice of the invited speakers. Special topics of the ADASS'98 conference include the following:
| Advanced Visualization Technologies |
| Next generation user support tools |
| Future Trends in Astronomical Computing |
| Synthesized Supercomputers and Large Scale Computing |
| Systematization and Use of Astrophysical Atomic Data |
| Automated SN detection to measure the Cosmological Constant Algorithms |
| Astrostatistics |
| Educational and Public Information Activities |