Conference Chair Cultural Exchange

(OopslaProgramCommitteeMembershipPatterns)

OOPSLA is one (albeit large) part of a larger, world-wide community drawn together by a common interest in the object paradigm. This community is fragmented by geography, which has led to multiple conferences around the world. ECOOP has its own focus and constituency, which differs slightly from those of OOPSLA. Each conference has its own structure, which breaks the sense of community. The geographic distances make it impractical to staff both committees with a critical mass of the same individuals.

Therefore, seed the program committee with the chairs of other conferences with shared interests. Program chairs can represent the interests of their communities, and can take ideas and concerns back to their own communities, engaging appropriate people.

This pattern has become a tradition, but extending the formal invitation is part of the tradition.

One benefit of this cross-fertilization is to detect duplicate work, as when an author submits the same paper to multiple conferences.

-- JimCoplien/PierreCointe?