SIGCOMM broke new ground this year when we held our annual
conference in India for the first time. This was a first not only for
SIGCOMM, but apparently for ACM as well, as we became the first
SIG (among 34) to hold its flagship conference in India. ACM has been
making an effort to expand its visibility beyond the U.S. and SIGCOMM
(thanks largely to efforts of my predecessors on the executive
committee) has been in the lead among SIGs in this department.
Last week I attended the CoNEXT Conference in Rome. I had heard a lot about this conference, which is now in its fifth year, but had never previously attended. As SIGCOMM chair, I was recently added to the steering committee for CoNEXT, so it seemed like the right time to correct this omission in my conference-going history. Also, as I noted in my recent editorial, we're keen to grow the set of quality venues for publication of papers of interest to the SIGCOMM community, and CoNEXT is well on its way to becoming such a venue. In fact, based on the quality of this year's program, I would argue that it is already of comparable quality to the SIGCOMM flagship conference. Of course, it's hard to measure quality objectively, but I heard enough favorable comments about the papers to convince me that this perception was widely shared. CoNEXT also accepts papers on a wide range of networking topics, with new architectural approaches, wireless networking, peer-to-peer, security and management all receiving good coverage this year.
Over the last several months, the SIGCOMM Executive Committee has worked on a proposal to introduce a Technical Steering Committee (TSC) for the SIGCOMM conference. The overriding goal of the proposal is to create a body with the expertise and institutional memory to advise PC chairs on technical matters. We hope to strike a balance between providing effective, informed guidance to PC chairs while also giving them appropriate autonomy. We have been gathering input on this proposal, and the current draft appears below. Please note that this is a draft -- we very much want to receive feedback on it from the community. We plan to discuss it at the Community Feedback session in Barcelona. Comments are also welcome on the blog or via e-mail.
Technical Steering Committee, Draft Proposal
Charter
The role of the Technical Steering Committee is to oversee the technical aspects of the conference. It selects and oversees the PC chairs, and it serves as a knowledge repository for best practices related to the PC and paper selection process. The TSC is expected to maintain publically documented policies and to develop policies with input from the entire SIGCOMM community.
Composition
The members and chair of the TSC are appointed by the SIGCOMM Chair. There are 6 members, and membership lasts three years. Every year, one of the PC co-chairs is appointed and serves for the next 3 years. In addition, each year the SIGCOMM Chair appoints a representative member of the Sigcomm community to complete the TSC who then serves for 3 years. Such members should be senior people with some history in the SIGCOMM conference community and experience in conference organization
or program committees. (Note: in the start-up year, 6 people will need to be appointed with terms ranging from one to three years; in steady state, 2 members' terms expire and 2 new members are appointed each year.)
Rationale: past experience indicates that a small committee is likely to function more efficiently. One PC chair from each year is sufficient to provide input from that year's process, and the TSC is of course free to consult the other chair (or chairs from prior years). The presence of outside members is intended to ensure that the committee is open to new ideas while the presence of previous years' PC chairs aims to maintain knowledge of what has and hasn't worked well in recent years.
Functions
The TSC has ultimate responsibility for the functions described below (i.e., it is not purely an advisory body). It is expected to gather input from the SIGCOMM community in the process of performing these roles.
1) Select PC chairs.
2) Give guidance and advice to PC chairs on the paper selection process. The TSC is the repository of knowledge about what has happened in previous conferences and PC meetings. (Ideally the TSC will maintain private records to facilitate preserving and transferring knowledge).
3) Provide assistance and recommendations on PC makeup, including PC composition and the pros and cons of specific PC members. PC chairs retain final decision on PC membership but are required to consult with the TSC before making their decision.
4) Set policies and provide advice related to award paper selection, conflict of interest policy, dual-submission and plagiarism.
5) Maintain an active dialog with the SIGCOMM community related to technical aspects of the conference (e.g., topic coverage, paper quality, etc). An open dialog via a website or blog is a good idea.
6) Give guidance/advice on other aspects of the technical program and process. For example, integrating on-line or other possibly-new Internet-based components, panel discussions, new reviewing methods, reviewer feedback, etc.
The ACM Digital Library is missing some early editions of the Computer Communications Review (CCR), among other SIG newsletters: http://www.acm.org/publications/dl-documentation/missing_newsletters/
To complete the archives, please consider loaning your old CCR editions to the ACM DL so that they can capture the early work of the community for the record. Contact Craig Rodkin (rodkin@hq.acm.org) for further details.