April 2021 SIGCOMM Newsletter

30 April 2021 - 8:04pm — admin

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Contents

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Advertising local “Pods” for SIG conferences in 2021
As previously announced, SIGCOMM conferences to be held in 2021 will all be virtual because of the uncertainty associated with the pandemic and the reluctance of many people to travel.  However, with increased access to vaccination, the situation is changing rapidly, and while a return to “normal” is unlikely in the immediate future, relaxation of local travel and gathering restrictions are possible in certain regions.
 
This, together with the fact that, in spite of much progress, in-person interactions remain richer than virtual ones, has led to a number of initiatives aimed at organizing local “Pods” to allow small groups to get together to listen to and discuss talks as they are presented (virtually) at a conference. The organizers of some of those initiatives have reached out to the SIG to ask for help in advertising them.
The SIG’s position is that, while our conferences remain fully virtual in 2021, approaches that foster greater interactions benefit members of the SIGCOMM community.  As a result, the SIG is happy to help promote  such initiatives by having their organizers reach out to organizers of  the conference they are targeting.  The conference organizers will review the request, and if it complies with the requirements listed below, will coordinate with the SIG’s conference coordinator to determine how to best advertise it to conference attendees.  Specifically,  a proposed local gathering will be advertised to conference attendees if it meets the following requirements:

  • It is free to all attendees;
  • It complies with all current guidelines applicable to such gatherings, e.g., in the US, this would include compliance with relevant CDC, state, and county guidelines for gatherings as well as any travel restrictions that may be in effect;
  • All participants are registered for the conference as regular attendees.

In general, we expect pod organizers to provide a venue and video facilities to project the conference, as well a way to interact with the conference (on social media and/or live).
 

 

SIGCOMM Elections
On 15 April, all eligible voting SIGCOMM members (in good standing as of 1 April 2021) were sent voting information via an email message from Election Services Corporation (ESC), a third party that is conducting the election on behalf of SIGCOMM, SIGITE, SIGMOBILE, SIGMOD, SIGMM, SIGSAC and SIGSAM.  The message included voting instructions as well as a 10-digit unique PIN that is needed to vote.   If you did not receive the voting information email (from ESC), and have an email address on file with ACM, please contact acmsighelp@electionservicescorp.com or call toll-free 1-866-720-4357.
 
You can view the candidate slate at https://www.acm.org/elections/sigs/2021-candidate-slate and the ACM SIG Election voting information site is at https://www.acm.org/elections/sigs/vote 
 
Ballots are due by 1 June at 16:00 UTC.
 

 

Statement regarding the Turing Award
 
Dear SIGCOMM members,
 
As an organization, we are committed to creating an environment that welcomes new ideas and perspectives, and where hostility or other harmful behaviors are not tolerated. As an organization, we stand with and honor those who promote diversity and inclusivity.  In addition to being the right thing to do, we believe this is important for the advancement of science.  
 
We appreciate ACM’s reconfirmation of these commitments in response to the recent controversy surrounding Turing Award winner Jeffrey Ullman, contained in the below statement on the ACM website:
 
https://www.acm.org/response-to-letter
 
We confirm our intention to adopt the ACM policies in our SIG award selection process to the extent that they are not already present.  In addition, to emphasize our commitment to diversity and inclusivity in all our activities, we will ask nominators and endorsers for personal achievement awards to comment on how the nominee(s) exemplifies these core values.  
 
Finally, we would like to reiterate our support for Iranian and Native American students and scholars, as well as all other ethnicities and nationalities.  You are welcomed and valued members of our global community.
 
Thank you,
--
SIGCOMM executive committee (Sujata Banerjee, Marinho Barcellos, Matthew Caesar, Christophe Diot, Lars Eggert, Roch Guerin, Srinivasan Keshav, Konstantina (Dina) Papagiannaki, Steve Uhlig, Anduo Wang)
 
Co-signed by the executive committees of SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGAI, SIGARCH, SIGBED, SIGBio, SIGCHI, SIGCOMM, SIGecom, SIGENERGY, SIGGRAPH, SIGIR, SIGMETRICS, SIGMICRO, SIGMOBILE, SIGUCCS.

 

SIGCOMM 2021 AEC nominations
 
SIGCOMM 2021 is conducting an optional artifact evaluation process for accepted papers. We are looking for senior PhD students, postdocs, and early-career researchers to participate in the program committee.  To nominate yourself, please complete the application (https://forms.gle/bNsr3tPtrjcnp74c7) by Sunday, May 2. If you have any questions, email sigcomm21artifacts@googlegroups.com.

 

SIGCOMM 2021 Posters/Demo/SRC CFP Posted
SIGCOMM 2021 is accepting submissions of Posters and Demos to be presented at the conference. Eligible submissions will also be considered for the ACM SIGCOMM Student Research Competition. For more information, check out the Sigcomm main web site, under the "Posters, Demos, and SRC" tab (direct link: https://conferences.sigcomm.org/sigcomm/2021/cf-posters.html).
 

SIGCOMM 2021 Workshop CFP Posted
CFPs for several Sigcomm Workshops have been posted on the Sigcomm main web site, under the "Workshops" tab (direct link: https://conferences.sigcomm.org/sigcomm/2021/).
 

The Networking Channel
 
The Networking Channel is a community channel with a regular talk taking place every other Wednesday. The next event (on May 5) will be a panel on How to Succeed in Graduate School, with Jennifer Rexford (Princeton), Edmundo de Souza e Silva (UFRJ), Anja Feldmann (MPI), and David Patterson (UC Berkeley). To register for the free event, go here: https://networkingchannel.eu/advice-on-how-to-succeed-in-grad-school/ . Please watch
 https://networkingchannel.eu/networking-events/ for more upcoming talks, to be posted soon.