Academia is rich in history and traditions. But every so often, a wind of introspection traverses every scientific community. To borrow Tim Urban’s excellent blog’s title: Wait, but why?
Why indeed. Why is our community culture what it is? And why not try new things?
The networking community—more precisely, folks gathering at NSDI and SIGCOMM-sponsored conferences—is going through such a phase right now. I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic about the momentum building in the community right now. In particular, the SIGCOMM Executive Committee has invited everyone to submit concrete proposals for changes in the operation of its conferences.
I have always liked organizational questions. I am generally vocal about my ideas. So, it’s no surprise I jumped on the opportunity and pushed several proposals. Since they are already written up, I thought I might as well share them publicly.
<aside> ☝ Those proposals are nothing new or groundbreaking; I am not claiming those ideas as mine. Those are things I heard about or experienced myself in other communities and found them excellent. I am simply passing the word around.
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Introducing a first-timer reception
Opening a track for Registered Reports
<aside> 💡 Reviews of all papers should be publicly available.
➡️ This can be done by using a review system that supports this feature (e.g., https://openreview.net/) or working to implement it in HotCRP.
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Having reviews private creates a “behind-the-scene” setup where