[sigcomm] Conext 2008 shadow TPC

[Olivier Bonaventure]

Dear All,

In parallel with the CoNext 2008 conference (
http://www.sigcomm.org/co-next2008 ), we organise a shadow TPC for
recent PhD graduates.

Reviewing and selecting papers by participating in Technical Program
Committee (TPC) are important aspects of a researcher's work. These are
not formal parts of a PhD curriculum, and most young researchers are
only trained on the spot. Opportunities to participate in TPCs for
highly selective conference are very scarce in an early career. As a
result, for many young researchers, the paper selection process at major
conferences is almost opaque and this lack of understanding can even be,
in some cases, the cause of great frustration. Meanwhile, the community
strives to maintain a high quality review process.

The CoNEXT 2008 shadow TPC is an educational experience for young PhD
graduates, post docs and junior researchers. Participants write real
reviews for real papers submitted to CoNEXT 2008, which are then
discussed in a Shadow TPC meeting organized in Paris on September
22-23rd. The goal of the meeting is both to prepare a "shadow program"
and to hold a discussion about what makes a good research paper, and how
a conference program is chosen. In the later discussion, participants
will be able to access the real program and the anonymized reviews of
the real TPC. The shadow TPC has no influence on the selection of the
official Conext 2008 papers.

We are now recruiting members for the CoNEXT 2008 shadow TPC. We
encourage all applications and nominations. In particular if you feel
that a member or a former member of your research group would both
qualify and benefit from this educational experience, please tell her or
him, or let us know. Keep in mind that this can be the first occasion
for a young researcher:
- to see how papers are assigned
- to review several papers in a batch, and compare them
- to see how reviews are used in a tpc meeting
- to participate in a formal technical discussion

In addition, participating in the CoNEXT 2008 shadow TPC is a chance to
learn more about the networking research that is done today, and also a
way to meet with other junior researchers in the field.

When proposing one or more shadow TPC members, please indicate their
main expertise among the CoNext 2008 topics :

*Internet measurement and modeling
*Wireless and mobile networks
*Ad hoc and sensors networks
*Economic aspects of the Internet
*Network security issues
*Multimedia networking
*Peer-to-peer and overlay networks
*Routing and traffic engineering
*Delay and disruption tolerant networks
*New networking protocols and architectures
*Autonomic and dependable communications
*Networked systems applications and services

Candidate shadow TPC members should have already submitted a few papers
in one of the main topics of the conference. They should also have at
least three years of research experience. Each candidate shadow TPC
members must agree to review up to about a dozen of twelve pages papers
during the summer, participate in the email discussion phase during the
first weeks of September and finally attend the shadow TPC meeting in
Paris held on September 22nd-23rd.

We would appreciate if you could send us your proposals for candidate
shadow TPC members by June 9th to shadow at co-next.net

Best regards, -- Olivier Bonaventure and Augustin Chaintreau


P.S.: You can find additional information about previous experiences
with shadow TPCs by reading the paper published by Anja Feldmann about
her experience with a SIGCOMM shadow TPC, (see
http://www.net.in.tum.de/~anja/sigcomm2005/shadow_pc.html and
http://www.net.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/~anja/feldmann/papers/shadow.pdf
), or in a paper describing the CoNEXT 2007 shadow PC (see
http://www.thlab.net/~chaintre/desk/conext07shadowpc.pdf).


-- 
http://inl.info.ucl.ac.be , UCLouvain, Belgium