tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post4486272858069421311..comments2024-03-28T00:36:13.790-07:00Comments on Volatile and Decentralized: How do you become a conference chair?Matt Welshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255792550910131960noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-78680447703633364152015-02-13T06:41:01.913-08:002015-02-13T06:41:01.913-08:00I think that's totally fair!I think that's totally fair!Nick Feamsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18117591092852756524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-79061907566216086472015-02-12T19:35:03.804-08:002015-02-12T19:35:03.804-08:00Nick, that's awesome. I would argue that is th...Nick, that's awesome. I would argue that is the exception rather than the rule. Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07077674014671176946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-18734261867811974022015-02-12T18:42:16.882-08:002015-02-12T18:42:16.882-08:00Hi Matt,
While I generally agree with the points ...Hi Matt,<br /><br />While I generally agree with the points you make in your post, I disagree with your comment that starting new workshops is "generally a waste of time".<br /><br />I've personally been in on the ground floor of two workshops: USENIX Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI) and HotSDN (now a conference attached to the Open Network Summit). In both cases, I started them because SIGCOMM has a "call for workshops" that actively encourages the establishment of communities around areas that may emerge and deserve some additional focus (at least for some period of time). I personally conceived of FOCI as a SIGCOMM workshop submission, but it found its home at USENIX Security, where it has been attached for many years and now has a healthy sub-culture of people who care about topics related to censorship.<br /><br />Both are extremely healthy workshops (one now a conference).<br /><br />If you check out our past PC chairs for these conferences, the chairs we have are hardly what you'd call "suckers"---to the contrary, they are people who are well senior to me and luminaries in the field. That said, occasionally junior folks chair these workshops as well, and those roles can be great for visibility.<br /><br />I think that the key to starting a *good* workshop is to identify an area where there is a community of interest forming around a topic area that is not yet mature enough to necessarily have the mindshare of the (often overly conservative) broader research community. The passionate minds who care about those sub-areas will flock to suck a conference.<br /><br />That said, there are plenty of bad workshops. That's why, as the current workshop chair at SIGCOMM '15, I actively solicited workshops on topics that *I* thought were important (e.g., ethics), rather than being forced to choose only from things that fell into our laps.<br /><br />In short, I would not disparage chairing workshops quite so much. Demonstrating leadership at a timely and well-positioned workshop can be a great career booster. Starting a good workshop that lives on and fills an underserved intellectual niche is also a great way to have impact. And ultimately, both can be a stepping stone for charing the "top tier" conferences that you mention, which may be out of reach for many of your readers, at least for the early-career years.<br /><br />-NickNick Feamsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18117591092852756524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186457242428335144.post-19566668918640172015-02-12T14:24:27.738-08:002015-02-12T14:24:27.738-08:00nice post!nice post!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com