[sigcomm] attendance policies for SIGCOMM-affiliated events

[Joe Touch]

I like the initial proposal Jen posted; it sets the right tone about
limited attendance (OK for startup or small number) and policy (seems to
prohibit or at least make very difficult 'invitation' events ), although
I agree with Christophe that I'd prefer to be more explicit about
excluding support for those.

I disagree that the PC should be deciding attendance; they already get
to decide what is presented. Deciding the audience defeats the ACM's
stated goal of open discourse; it's too easy to end up with 'mutual
admiration societies', 'cliques', or other versions of distorted feedback.

As to Scott's point about this not affecting HotNets (based on how many
invitations are issued), I would expect the larger impact to be on
whether it can stay invited/limited at still be SIGCOMM affiliated. It's
too far along to count under initial conditions.

As to Scott's point about losing the point, the meetings the SIG
sponsors are to promote the _discourse_ part of science. We're not a
research organization. Promoting/advancing science per se is for the
NSF, DARPA (when it puts the R back in, at least ;-) or other
organizations; they already have numerous closed meetings.

I agree with what others have concluded on invitation-based events; they
may be useful, but are not appropriate use of ACM resources.

Joe

Jennifer Rexford wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> Discussion on the attendance-policy issues seems to have wound down.  Vern
> and I compared notes and took a stab at formulating the SIG's stance on the
> issue: 
> 
> "SIGCOMM strongly encourages workshops and conferences to have open
> attendance but also recognizes that some events benefit from attendance
> restrictions, particularly in the first year or two.  Although most
> SIGCOMM-sponsored events will have open attendance, the SIG may also sponsor
> a small number of limited-attendance workshops or conferences, though the
> attendance policy should be transparent and fair.  Limited-attendance events
> should state their attendance policy, and the motivations behind the policy,
> in the conference materials (e.g., the conference Web site, the call for
> papers, and ACM conference approval forms)."  
> 
> To start moving toward closure, let's have a last call for comments, in the
> form of alternative wordings or directions for the *SIG's* stance on the
> issue, where we want to strike a good balance between the desire to support
> autonomy/flexibility for conference organizers and support the values of the
> SIG as part of a professional society.  
> 
> Thanks much...
> 
> -- Jen and Vern
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sigcomm-bounces at postel.org [mailto:sigcomm-bounces at postel.org] On
> Behalf Of Jennifer Rexford
> Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 12:49 PM
> To: sigcomm at postel.org
> Subject: Re: [sigcomm] attendance policies for SIGCOMM-affiliated events
> 
> Hi folks,
> 
> FYI, I checked with ACM SIG Services on ACM's policies about restricted 
> attendance events.  The policy is rather vague, though such events are 
> indeed permitted.  See below...  I've asked for some clarifications but 
> expect that the SIGs are permitted a fair amount of discretion to decide 
> whether to hold such meetings, and what policies (if any) to have on how 
> attendance is determined.
> 
> -- Jen
> 
> ACM Policy on Restricted-Attendance Meetings
> 
> Restricted-Attendance Meetings, as an extension of ACM conferences or 
> workshops, and for circumstances in which it is clearly desirable to 
> hold attendance down to the number of people who will be expected to 
> contribute to the results of the session, shall have a place in ACM 
> activities. In all cases, plans for such meetings shall be publicized 
> and at least the opportunity to request permission to attend shall be 
> extended to all members of cognizant ACM subgroups (such as SIGs and 
> Chapters). For meetings of potentially broad general interest, such 
> opportunity shall be extended to the entire membership of the ACM.
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