[TYPES] open letter: make POPL and future virtual conferences more inclusive

[Jonathan Aldrich]

Dear types members,

If you've looked at the POPL 2021 schedule, you may have noticed that all
POPL events are in a 5-hour time window that excludes anyone in East Asia,
Australia, Oceania, etc. from synchronous participation.  Notably, this is
mostly people of color, and includes many areas where research in PL is
nascent but growing, as well as some where PL research is strong.  There's
an open letter to POPL and SIGPLAN leadership asking that POPL 2021 and
future virtual SIGPLAN conferences be inclusive of participants from around
the world using time zone mirroring or other techniques:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16pfd5ljGu5urynHmYaW53DM2-rzryRJ0bisgc16IwKo

PLDI surveyed attendees,  and the survey results indicated that any future
virtual PLDI conferences should "Commit to scheduling so that people from
all timezones have approximately equal opportunity to engage with PLDI."
See section 6.3 of https:/shttps://
arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2007/2007.11686.pdf  The SPLASH post-conference
survey results also support this.  So the community is fully supportive of
geographic inclusion, but POPL organizers do not seem to be listening.

I believe inclusion in all its forms is critical to the future of PL!  If
you agree, and think that POPL and future major virtual SIGPLAN conferences
should therefore follow ICSE, ICFP, and SPLASH in using mirroring and other
approaches to be inclusive of people around the world, I invite you to
cosign the letter here:

https://forms.gle/utgvTX2D82QKzWxm6

and encourage colleagues on social media and mailing lists to do likewise.

Best,

Jonathan Aldrich