Communication Technology and the Conference of the Future (Summary)

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Communication Technology and the Conference of the Future Panel at the ACM Computer Science Conference, February 17, 1996 Summary by Munir Mandviwalla and Ayisha Mertens

Munir Mandviwalla	Ifay Chang	Rick Light	Lorne Olfman	Jeff Zadeh

Overview

The Conference (Munir Mandviwalla)

The conference of the future must look very different. Financial and time constraints are reducing the ability to meet while the increasing multidisciplinary nature of work is requiring the need for even more interaction. Communication technology in the form of the Internet, groupware, and digital libraries are already here and will play a major role in efforts to create the conference of the future. These technologies may may never be able to provide the same experience as meeting somebody face-to-face. However, it may be possible to increase participation at some meetings and to remove the need for other meetings. It may also be possible to create new forms of interaction such as the use of video to relay conference sessions to remote participants or setting up small specialty conferences on a frequent basis. Researchers and innovators have already examined the use of specific technologies to support virtual conferences. What is needed is a more comprehensive global view of the needs of the conference of the future. This panel is a first step in that direction. more...

Role of Technology and Problems with Conferences (Ifay Chang)

Ifay advocates a technological perspective and is optimistic about the potential of technology in the conference of the future. Ifay discussed the Global Information and Software Society Internet Conference (GISSC) which was conducted completely over the Internet using a combination of Email and the WWW. The motivation for GISSC and Ifay's presentation comes from the view that (a) there are many problems in current conferences, and (b) there are opportunities to apply technology to solve these and other problems. For example, there are too many ineffective conferences. There is a need to change the conference paradigm and move to small, topical, spontaneous, low cost conferences with automated administration. In addition, there are a large number of technologies that are becoming available. Creating virtual conferences can provide generic and generlizable knowledge applicable to distance learning, virtual universities, and so on. Ifay acknowledges that there are important emotional issues and social acceptance is not guaranteed. However, there are many payoffs. For example, book publishers can display their products on the Internet. Students who traditionally get left out due to lack of funds are able to participate in virtual conferences. more...

Human Needs (Rick Light)

Rick takes a humanist view by focusing on the need to balance the high tech experience with the human experience. Rick outlined his work on the first Society of the Future (SFC) conference. Participants included a multidisciplinary mix of academic, research lab, industry, and government people. The conference gave scholarships to students who used the web to provide instant "snapshots" of each session. Rick believes that the conference of the future must address funding, increasing multidisciplinary attendance, and balance the use of technology with human and social needs. Rick would like to see fewer large conferences and more small multidisciplinary conferences. Emphasized that the virtual experience is very different from the human experience. He does not think that 100% usage of technology will succeed because technology cannot replace human interaction. It may be possible to conduct a virtual conference when only highly detailed technical material such as source code is involved but it is much more difficult when there is a need to discuss high level concepts. more...

Organizational Issues (Lorne Olfman)

Lorne followed a pragmatic organizational perspective and stated that we are a good generation away from being able to motivate people to attend virtual conferences. For the next 15-20 years there is a need to meld the face to face with the virtual component. There are good reasons for adding a virtual component. For example, there are many conferences that are interesting but there is little opportunity, funds, or time available to attend. Reading a proceeding does not provide the experience of being in a session. Lorne believes that there are important economic and design considerations for the conference of the future. On the cost side, technology is expensive and large associations like Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) will have to take the lead in providing a cost effective technology structure for small conferences such as the computer personnel research special interest group annual conference (SIGCPR). On the income side, there is a need to rethink conference registration. People will still use their travel budget to meet people. It might be possible to lower the cost for these people by charging for virtual attendance. Lorne also emphasized the need to think about the design of the conference. Which component will be virtual? Will we broadcast panels, keynotes, all paper sessions? more...

Impact of Reward System (Jeff Zadeh)

Jeff took a professional career perspective on the topic. He asked why do we go to conferences? Why do research Why do papers? For most of us it is to show professional activity. Jeff did a survey at Western Illinois University which indicates that in general people accept virtual activities as examples of professional activity. However, there is a lack of understanding on the definition of these activities and on how they will be documented. more...

Questions and Discussion (panel and audience)

Attendance

(Rick) If we make everything available on the web will that impact people's decision to attend the conference since the web material is available at no cost
- people who want the human interaction will come
- people who want the human interaction but cannot make it will use the net
- people overseas will use the net
- people who don't want the human interaction will use the net

Quality

(Ifay) If delivering a keynote is the goal then the virtual conference can provide a good quality replacement for traditional conferences. If the goal is to provide the experience of drinking in a bar then it will be difficult to provide a good quality experience in a virtual conference

Security/Inhibition

(Audience) "Some people may be afraid to speak out if they think they are being recorded"
(Ifay) Research shows that people are less inhibited in the electronic medium. "You will speak and interact much more naturally if you are in your office then in a three piece suit looking over your shoulder"

Conference Paradigm

(Munir) Are we talking about automating existing conferences or using the opportunity to redesign the goals and structure of the conference of the future? What is the format of the conference of the future? My goal is to meet people I know
(Audience) Another goal is to exchange information
(Lorne) Some conferences such as HICSS are well suited for exchanging information because they run specialized tracks and even though the conference is large you only get 20 to 30 people in a particular session.
(Audience) Goal is to look at textbooks and exchange ideas for textbooks with others
(Rick) Goal is to expand awareness which comes when you unexpectedly hear somebody (perhaps from another discipline) talk about an issue that is relevant to you
(Ifay) In a virtual conference mode you can surf a large number of conferences to get the above experience from your office
(Audience) Conferences exist people have identified a need to interact

Acceptance and usage

(Ifay) In the medical profession there are more electronic journals and use of WWW than computer science

Big Conferences

(Ifay) Some conferences are so big that in a few days you can only "touch the tail of the elephant"

Change

(Audience) Conferences tend to go through shifts; when an area is new the participation is small and suddenly the conference becomes very big and the experience changes

Current Conference Structure

(Ifay) Current structure and theme is determined by a small number of people. It is hard to guess what people want in an increasing multidisciplinary world. Virtual conferences reduce risk.
(Audience) Most useful thing is the unexpected juxtaposition of ideas that you can find yourself in a situation where this happens and your thinking expands

Discussion

(Jeff) Most useful thing about a session is the questions and discussion that follow. This is all lost or forgotten. Can be recorded and replayed in a virtual conference.

About this document

We tend to speak about half formed ideas but would think twice about writing them down. Creating a summary of a panel essentially converts spoken thoughts into written ones. Is this desirable?

How do you organize a panel summary? Follow a "minute taking" metaphor? Use time as an index or topics? In this experiment I decide to provide capsule summaries of each panelists ideas. However, I used topics to organize the discussion that followed.

The basis for the summary was a video tape recording of the session. The tape was instrumental in capturing the range of ideas and discussion in the panel. Clearly, these ideas go beyond the individual "position papers" of each of the panelists. However, the analog medium of tape is very time consuming and difficult to manipulate. Is it worth it?

It took us a long time to understand how to use the video. First, there was the issue of what to show and what not to show. Is it worthwhile to show the complete event? What is significant and what portions will benefit most from video? Second, technology limitations such as bandwidth, the poor quality of the original video, and others further constrained our choices. Third, integrating the video into the text was also a challenge. For example, should we use frames or not? What is the relationship of the text to the video?