[TYPES] [EXT] Re: online conferences should be free

Wed Aug 26 10:55:12 EDT 2020

Hi, all.

I would like to also add to this line of thought.

As someone with ADHD I find virtual conferences, esp. in the model of ICFP
where there is a full day of being on a computer, hard to handle without
getting distracted.  The fact that the talks are recorded means I can get
caught up on them, but the essential part of engaging with others during
the conference has been difficult for me.  This also adds in the anxiety of
it all; the lack in engagement means the lack of being seen in the
community which can have a negative impact.  When I go to a conference, I
plan my program, and then I'm there, my brain knows I'm there, so it
engages a lot easier, and the stress goes down.

I think spreading virtual conferences out might help with a lot of this.
Nothing says we have to have conferences for full days for a week.  We
could block a day of the week for a month.  For example, every Wed. is LICS
or ICFP day, and then this would help mitigate the problems we are talking
about.

One comment about record talks.  I myself love recorded talks, but only for
the ones I know are relevant to what I'm doing.  So I make time to watch
those videos, but I'm far less likely to watch a talk I feel might not be
of interest to me.  This is not a good thing, because I could miss out on
something interesting, or new connections to my own work etc.  But, when at
the conference it is far easier to watch these talks, because I go to the
sessions in person, and I tend to not leave a session early.

Furthermore, I can say that employers, in my experience, do not consider a
virtual conference in the same way as an in-person one.  I am still
teaching, mentoring, holding office hours, etc.  This takes away from my
ability to engage.

This is a great discussion, I've learned a lot from it!

Best,
Harley

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 2:02 AM Reuben Rowe <reuben.rowe at rhul.ac.uk> wrote:

> [ The Types Forum, http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list
> ]
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I think this comment gets to the heart of one of the major issues with
> virtual conferences.
>
> I did think the LICS model of having talks pre-recorded and reserving
> synchronous sessions for questions and live chat worked extremely well
> to mitigate the very real fatigue of having to sit in front of one's
> screen watching hour upon hour of talks.
>
> However, as Kristina has pointed out (and this is my experience as
> well), it is often difficult to fully commit to being present, and also
> to "do the homework". In particular, I am at home, I have not booked
> time off specifically for the conference, I have on-going other
> responsibilities, my colleagues contact me about this and that, etc.
>
> The temptation is to assume that one can log on to the scheduled
> sessions, and get on with other stuff in the meantime. However, I think
> it is much harder to justify (perhaps both to one's employer and also to
> oneself) ignoring the non-conference commitments when there exists, at
> least ostensibly, the opportunity to fulfill them.
>
> One clear advantage of having to travel to a conference and attend in
> person is that one is automatically, a priori, "available" to engage.
>
> I'm not sure what can be done to mitigate this. Perhaps it is just the
> latent cost of the virtual model, and if we want to attend a virtual
> conference we must just take responsibility to ensure that we engage.
>
> Reuben
>
> On 25/08/2020 13:47, Kristina Sojakova wrote:
> > [ The Types Forum,
> >
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.seas.upenn.edu%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftypes-list&data=02%7C01%7Creuben.rowe%40rhul.ac.uk%7C82c5414d38a845c4736f08d8492f927a%7C2efd699a19224e69b601108008d28a2e%7C0%7C0%7C637339815963836441&sdata=x30U4UNN1cRwRhsSo9XU42QlHvq1INlK8K%2F%2BhGb48Yo%3D&reserved=0
> > ]
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Since Nicolai's post brought up pre-recorded talks:I found it
> > extremely difficult to allocate enough time *prior* to the actual
> > conference to watch almost any of the talks I was interested in - and
> > there were about 10 I really wanted to see. Attending live talks
> > (whether in person or online) during the conference days when the
> > participation is the sole focus is very different from having to watch
> > the talks beforehand; the latter essentially amounts to having a bunch
> > of homework assigned.
> >
> > In the weeks prior to LICS I was relocating between continents and did
> > not have time to watch any talks except one. This meant I was playing
> > catch-up the entire time and was not able to get anything meaningful
> > out of the conference itself. Hence I would most likely choose not to
> > participate in this format again, regardless of how much it cost (or
> > didn't). It is entirely possible however that I am in the minority and
> > most participants were much better prepared.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Kristina
> >
> >
> >
> > On 8/24/2020 6:18 PM, Nicolai Kraus wrote:
> >> [ The Types Forum,
> >>
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.seas.upenn.edu%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftypes-list&data=02%7C01%7Creuben.rowe%40rhul.ac.uk%7C82c5414d38a845c4736f08d8492f927a%7C2efd699a19224e69b601108008d28a2e%7C0%7C0%7C637339815963836441&sdata=x30U4UNN1cRwRhsSo9XU42QlHvq1INlK8K%2F%2BhGb48Yo%3D&reserved=0
> >> ]
> >>
> >> On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 2:25 PM Henning Basold
> >> <h.basold at liacs.leidenuniv.nl>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> All I objected to is that this investment has to come
> >>> in form of monetary contributions and that this was presented as
> >>> unavoidable reality. Instead, an investment can come, as you rightly
> >>> say, in the form of time or community ties.
> >>>
> >> If one watches all pre-recorded talks (assuming something like at LICS -
> >> pre-recorded talks instead of live talks), one is more likely to
> >> participate actively. But this just shifts the problem, so I'm not
> >> sure if
> >> it helps in any way. At the same time, one can maybe from anonymous
> >> questionnaires or even simple view counts predict how well-prepared
> >> participants are and how seriously they will take the conference. I
> >> don't
> >> know whether that information could be used to improve the conference.
> >> Nicolai
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