[sigcomm] sig/eurosig/asiasig?

[Joe Touch]

Nick Feamster wrote:
> At the risk of opening a can of worms, I will break the silence on this list:
> 
> What do folks think about the conference model of Crypto/Asiacrypt/Eurocrypt
> that cryptographers have?

Hi, Nick,

I wouldn't say a can of worms, but we did make some recent changes along
these lines. The remainder of my comments are intended as input to this
discussion...

We recently adopted the Sigcomm/Euro-Sigcomm/Other-Sigcomm plan, which
was announced in Philadelphia last August.

Sigcomm 2007 in Kyoto will be our first foray into Asia, FYI.

...
> My hypothesis is that such a model
> would not fragment the community any more than, say, holding a single Sigcomm
> in the first month of the fall term in Europe (discouraging potential U.S.
> participants) or mid-August in the U.S. (discouraging potential European
> participants).

The intent of the timing is to adapt to the expectations of the region
to encourage local attendance. If we were to move to mid-August in the
EU, shops/attractions would be closed and EU attendance would drop, and
the same is true for mid-Sept in the US. There seems to be no good time
that's good for everyone, which is not surprising for a global
community. However, adapting against the locale works against attendance
twice (distance for the distant; timing for the locals).

I hope that helps explain at least how I think of things...

Joe (conf coordinator)