Sunday, January 23, 2005

asides...

1. The SODA (and ALENEX) name badge has on its flip side a form that reads:
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
Name of person to contact

Phone # to reach this person

I didn't realize SODA had become such a heart-stopping adventure. Next thing you know we'll have FBI agents roaming the corridors.

2. The SODA proceedings will not be available at the conference because the train carrying them was derailed in Minnesota.

I kid you not.

p.s If ever we had an argument to reduce the number of papers accepted to SODA...

p.p.s On the bright side, I don't have to throw my back out lugging copies of the proceedings around with me.

3 comments:

  1. Given the typical size of the SODA proceedings, perhaps it should be the first conference to offer a CD-only option for the proceedings. --Siva 

    Posted by Anonymous

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  2. most people don't like this option, since they don't carry laptops. I can sympathsize, sort of, in that there should at least be a book of abstracts that people can refer to before talk-surfing.

    this conference should be a good test case. 

    Posted by Suresh

    ReplyDelete
  3. What if they just gave out a pamphlet with one page summary of each talk?

    The authors would be responsible for writing as enticing a summary as they could.

    This would be slightly different from an abstract in that the authors could feel free to depart from dry academic prose and go all out to sell their talk.

    The few people who want all the gory details can just download the paper from the authors website.

    The only practical objection I can think of is that it would require a little bit more administrative overhead.

    The bigger objection is that it would be a substantial break from tradition. I am guessing some people like the solidity of a nice thick volume on their book shelf.

    But the current situation is unsustainable, these proceedings are ridiculously heavy! 

    Posted by Anonymous

    ReplyDelete

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