commit 75b0fa26ab199bd60cfa0905658028151cc2c7b0
parent 30f1d2777aee2a1632862cee9437733404746447
Author: Antoine Amarilli <a3nm@a3nm.net>
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2021 21:12:24 +0200
2021
Diffstat:
| 2021_summary.md | | | 61 | +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------------- |
1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 28 deletions(-)
diff --git a/2021_summary.md b/2021_summary.md
@@ -16,68 +16,73 @@ of that session. Then, we had a discussion featuring members of the community
and Benjamin Pierce. Several topics came up during the discussion:
- The **[TCS4F manifesto](https://tcs4f.org/)**, and whether EDBT/ICDT ought to
- sign it
-- The question of **timezones** when organizing online conferences. There are no
- straightforward solutions to this problem, but the switch to online
- conferences encourages experimentation with the format, e.g., having very
- short days or even a weekly meeting instead of contiguous full days.
+ sign it.
+- Whether to **require authors to travel** to future conference editions, or
+ make video presentation a guaranteed option. This relates to [Vardi's
+ column](https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2020/1/241717-publish-and-perish/fulltext)
+ in 2020 (and its
+ [followup](https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2021/1/249441-reboot-the-computing-research-publication-systems/fulltext)),
+ and the [two-year experiment by
+ TCRTS](https://sigbed.org/2020/12/22/shaping-the-future-of-real-time-conferences-on-principles-of-transparency-equity-and-inclusivity/)
+ on making all conferences hybrid for two years, allowing remote attendance
+ by paper authors.
+- The **impact on climate change** that our community can have, in addition to
+ flying less (when it becomes possible again). About this, Benjamin Pierce
+ pointed out the [paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.05433) outlining how
+ machine learning research can help address climate change issue.
- The impact of online conferences on **networking for early-career
researchers**. There are no easy answers here, but online conferences also
make it possible for more people to attend, including people that would not
have otherwise had the funding or the opportunity to travel. There is a
[post on the SIGPLAN
blog](https://blog.sigplan.org/2021/03/25/conferences-after-covid-an-early-career-perspective/)
- about that topic.
+ about the specific topic of early-career researchers.
- The **right format to adopt** for conferences in the future, including the
options of merging conferences, splitting them up geographically,
thematically, etc. About this, there
is again a [relevant post on the SIGPLAN blog](https://blog.sigplan.org/2021/03/16/sigplan-and-climate-change-a-look-back-and-a-look-forward/)
-- The (mostly one-time) **cost** of adjusting to a new model
-- The **impact on climate change** that our community can have, in addition to
- flying less (when it becomes possible again). About this, Benjamin Pierce
- pointed out the [paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.05433) outlining how
- machine learning research can help address climate change issue.
- The **need for statistics** to understand how people engage with online
conferences, including how many participants actually attended sessions etc.
- (In follow-up discussion:) the question of **estimating the carbon footprint
- of trips avoided** thanks to the switch to an online conference.
+ of trips avoided** thanks to online conference editions.
- The challenges in **giving a social aspect** to online conferences, which are
the topic of ongoing research, and are being addressed by Benjamin Pierce's
[Clowdr](https://clowdr.org/) platform.
- The **format of hybrid conferences**, and the fact (pointed out by Benjamin
Pierce) that once conferences stop being fully online by necessity then they
will have to be hybrid by necessity, for several months if not years.
+- The question of **timezones** when organizing online conferences. There are no
+ straightforward solutions to this problem, but the switch to online
+ conferences has encouraged experimentation with the format, e.g., having very
+ short days or even a weekly meeting instead of contiguous full days.
- The switch at SIGPLAN to the
**[PACM](https://www.acm.org/publications/pacm/introducing-pacm) series** for
proceedings, to decouple the conference publication (similar to a journal
publication) from the fact of going to the conference itself. This is used
by almost all SIGPLAN conferences.
-The session concluded with a poll to gauge the opinion of the people present. At
+The session concluded with a poll to gauge the opinion of the audience. At
that stage of the session, there were only 16-21 people voting, so this is only
informative. We asked:
-- **Do you agree that EDBT/ICDT should adapt its practices (post-COVID) to
- mitigate climate change?**
+- **Do you agree that EDBT/ICDT should adapt its practices (post-COVID) to mitigate climate change?**
- 15 answered yes, 4 were unsure, no one answered no
-- **Do you believe that EDBT/ICDT should commit to the IPCC goals of reducing our
- emissions by at least 50% before 2030 (relative to pre-2020 levels)?**
+- **Do you believe that EDBT/ICDT should commit to the IPCC goals of reducing our emissions by at least 50% before 2030 (relative to pre-2020 levels)?**
- 10 answered yes, 6 were unsure, 1 answered no
-- **Should EDBT/ICDT authors be guaranteed that they do not have to physically
- travel to the conference (if they cannot or do not want to)?**
+- **Should EDBT/ICDT authors be guaranteed that they do not have to physically travel to the conference (if they cannot or do not want to)?**
- 11 answered yes, 3 were unsure, 2 answered no
-- **Would you personally be ready, in future years, to only physically travel to
- EDBT/ICDT every other year (and reduce your emissions by 50%)?**
+- **Would you personally be ready, in future years, to only physically travel to EDBT/ICDT every other year (and reduce your emissions by 50%)?**
- 12 answered yes, 7 were unsure, 2 answered no
- **What is your preferred model for EDBT/ICDT in the (post-COVID) future?**
- - 15 preferred an on-site conference every year but with high-quality
- remote participation
+ - 15 preferred an on-site conference every year but with high-quality remote participation
- 3 preferred an online conference every year, but with one or many attractive "hubs"
- 2 preferred to alternate between on-site and online
- - no one wanted to return to business as usual, or to move to "something
- else"
+ - no one wanted to return to business as usual, or to move to "something else"
-Let's continue this discussion about the future of the conference model, in the
-hope that going forward we can adjust to a sustainable model that serves the
-goals of our community!
+I hope that we can continue this discussion about the future of the conference
+model, so that we can transition to a sustainable model that serves the goals of
+our community. To discuss the issue of climate change specifically, you can use
+the [acm-climate](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/acm-climate)
+mailing-list, and you can also follow to the [TCS4F
+blog](https://tcs4f.org/blog).
