[TYPES/announce] Proposed changes to POPL review process

[Francois Pottier]

On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 03:39:10PM +0000, Philip Wadler wrote:
> My experience matches Rajeev's.  The process of a physical PC meeting
> necessarily requires quick decisions, often based on who is most vocal
> or an overnight reading of a paper.  My experience of electronic
> meetings is that the discussions can be more considered.

My experience is quite opposite. The physical PC meetings that I participated
in were quite interesting and every paper was considered and discussed by the
whole PC. During electronic meetings, on the other hand, I feel that I have no
global understanding of what is going on, just a limited view of the papers
that I have reviewed.

The argument of cost (in time, money and carbon) is important, but otherwise I
think a physical meeting wins hands down.

Of course, it might be possible to use a combination of both modes (e.g. hold
a preliminary electronic discussion before the physical meeting takes place;
make sure every paper has received enough expert reviews, for instance).

Best regards,

-- 
François Pottier
Francois.Pottier at inria.fr
http://gallium.inria.fr/~fpottier/