Where do you even begin when writing a review? Photo by Ashley West Edwards on Unsplash

Looking back in 2021, I wish I had more guidance in writing good reviews. I know that the quality of my paper writing improves when I get feedback, but who do I get feedback from to improve my reviews?

How does a budding reviewer hone their thinking and writing abilities so that they do the best possible job? When you are invited to a program committee, how do you know you are capable of writing a worthy review?

A great way to approach this problem is through Shadow Program Committees. Hafeni Mthoko and I are piloting such a committee at ACM COMPASS 2021. A Shadow PC is an academy for training the next generation of academic reviewers. Early career researchers can join the Shadow PC and write reviews for real submissions to COMPASS 2021. You’ll get feedback from experienced academics on your reviews. This is an exciting opportunity and I’m grateful to Patrick Olivier and Shaimaa Lazem (General Chairs at ACM COMPASS 2021), who have been very enthusiastic about this initiative.

The Shadow PC members will discuss papers and learn together about the components that make good and bad reviews. Participants will learn about how to review papers and the dynamics of choosing a conference program. Importantly, the Shadow PC reviews will be sent to the authors of the papers (marked as Shadow PC reviews). Feedback from the authors will be passed back to Shadow PC members to aid their learning.

Check out the call for proposals to find out more about joining the Shadow PC!

Delvin Varghese Shadow Program Committee Co-Chair, ACM COMPASS 2021

Apply here


Get in touch

I am delighted to announce that the ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computers and Sustainable Societies (ACM COMPASS 2021) is inviting applications for Technical Program Committee members.

This is the first time this has happened at ACM COMPASS and my General Co-Chair, Shaimaa Lazem, and I think it’s a small but significant step to making COMPASS more open. It’s also an idea we’ve borrowed from other conferences (like all the best conference ideas!) and in particular from ACM TVX 2014, where colleague Reuben Kirkhamintroduced an open application process for the Technical Program Committee, along with a slew of what at the time looked like very innovative measures to promote access and inclusion of authors and attendees with disabilities (such as a reasonable accommodation process for authors).

Reuben’s actions (taken as a PhD student then) came about as a result of him asking a simple question: “exactly how do people get invited onto a program committee?” At the time his primary concern was the lack of opportunities for researchers with disabilities, as he later described in his CHI 2015 alt.chi paper “Being Reasonable: A Manifesto for Improving the Inclusion of Disabled People in SIGCHI Conferences“:

Program committees are a key part of both selecting papers, as well as aiding the career progression of those invited to join them…In general, the process for selection is akin to a ‘tap on the shoulder’, and people are only likely to be invited if they are well known ‘to the community’.

This analysis has wider implications. The crux of the matter is that there are lots of researchers and practitioners out there with lots to contribute to the running and organisation of a conference, but who don’t get the opportunity because either they don’t know the right people (well enough to be invited) or they don’t have a well-connected advisor or colleague to recommend them.

In our own recent experiment at TVX 2014, over one third of the program committee (10 of a total of 29) were selected by an alternative process of self-nomination and review (by the conference chairs); for this year (TVX 2015) it was nearer a half (9 out of a total of 21).

Anyway, this year ACM COMPASS 2021 is encouraging anyone who believes they have something to contribute to the conference the opportunity to apply to be on our Technical Program Committee. There’s just a short form to complete in which you tell us about your research background and research interests. The Technical Programme Chairs, Mercy & Kurt, will make consider everyone and make the decisions.

We’ve already had 24 applications (without properly announcing it) and we’re going to leave the application form open until 28 February 2021.

So, don’t know how to get invited onto the ACM COMPASS 2021 Technical Program Committee? Then why not “put your hand up”? Apply using the TPC application form.

Patrick Olivier General Co-Chairs, ACM COMPASS 2021

Shaimaa Lazem General Co-Chairs, ACM COMPASS 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgpyS_rSy4M

Authors:

Godliver Owomugisha (Makerere University)
Pius K. B. Mugagga (Makerere University)
Friedrich Melchert (Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF)
Ernest Mwebaze (Makerere University)
John A. Quinn (Makerere University)
Michael Biehl (University of Groningen)

Session: 1.2.A: Development and economics

Abstract: We present our initial proof of concept study towards the development of a low-cost 3-D printed smartphone add-on spectrometer. The study aimed at developing a cheap technology (less than 5 USD) to be used for detection of crop diseases in the field using spectrometry. Previously, we experimented with the problem of disease diagnosis using an off-the-shelf and expensive spectrometer (approximately 1000 USD). However, in real world practice, this off-the-shelf device can not be used by typical users (smallholder farmers). Therefore, the study presents a tool that is cheap and user friendly. We present preliminary results and identify requirements for a future version aiming at an accurate diagnostic technology to be used in the field before disease symptoms are visibly seen by the naked eye. Evaluation shows performance of the tool is better than random however below performance of an industry grade spectrometer.

Authors:

Francis Dittoh (University for Development Studies)
Hans Akkermans (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Victor de Boer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Anna Bon (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Wendelien Tuyp (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
André Baart (Bolesian BV)

Session: 1.2D: Investigating online communities

Abstract: In Africa, and other places around the world, there are numerous people who do not have access to information from the World Wide Web or from other sources. This is not an issue of infrastructure only, but also of cultural and social factors, including low literacy. Most rural communities in the Northern sector of Ghana fall in this category, where information in written form and/or in English is not accessible due to the inability of a majority of community members to read and write. In this paper, we present a case study of an appropriate ICT4D methodology in the development of an system hosted in low-resource areas with empirical data from context analysis from the rural communities and other stakeholders, which guides the design process, and analysis of Usability, Learnability and Availability that shows the success of the specific design decisions made based on the Methodology. The project focuses on available technologies and the most appropriate information format by providing a system that relies on GSM (input) and FM Radio (output), in the local language(s) of the community. The system was deployed in 5 rural communities, reaching a total of almost 1000 people, providing them primarily farming-related information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiHPg83U9ns

Authors:

Amar Budhiraja (Microsoft Research)
Joyojeet Pal (Microsoft Research India)

Session: 1.2D: Investigating online communities

Abstract: Mapping polarization and relationships in political discourse on social media is challenging since politicians’ positions and relationships can be hard to pin down. In this paper, we attempt to use politicians’ tweets as a metric of their affinities using representation learning, by modifying the Word2Vec method such that politicians are directly encoded into a Euclidean space. Our analysis of Indian politicians shows that the relatively populous, linguistically more homogeneous northern states are cohesively clustered based on their party affiliations, whereas southern states cluster based on geography. We propose that computational methods can be useful in examining the tensions of regionalist tendencies against dominant national political narratives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiHPg83U9ns

Authors:

Raphael Kamanga (VASTBlu and FinChatBot)
Jeanna Matthews (Clarkson University)

Session: 1.2D: Investigating online communities

Abstract: Digital platforms can serve as a mediating agent between workers and employers, increasing the trust between parties previously unknown to each other. Platform developers also make many design decisions that have the potential to impact the power dynamics between workers and employers. We report on our experience with piloting a social digital platform, VASTBlu, that enables workers from 3 marginalized communities in Johannesburg to access work opportunities in the nearly mainstream economy in three township communities in Johannesburg, South Africa. We also explore the ways in which choices like symmetry of review between parties and frequency of review could be consciously chosen to change the power dynamics between parties in a digital work platform, reducing unfair practices in work activities and bringing increased power and dignity to workers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiHPg83U9ns

Authors:

Manasvini Sethuraman (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Rebecca E. Grinter (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Ellen Zegura (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Session: 1.2D: Investigating online communities

Abstract: With over 6 million articles and 38 million editors, English Wikipedia is one of the largest peer produced and edited encyclopedias on the Internet. Some attribute this success to the peer production process which allows many to contribute. However, not all articles are created equally, or evolve similarly, in terms of quality and amount of attention they receive from the editing community. We examine pages with geotagged content in English Wikipedia in four categories, places with Indigenous majorities (of any size), Rural places, Urban Clusters, and Urban areas. We find significant differences in quality and editor attention for articles about places with Native American majorities, as compared to other places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiHPg83U9ns

Authors:

Sharifa Sultana (Cornell University, USA)
Shaid Hasan (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology)
Pratyasha Saha (University of Dhaka)
Rokeya Akter (Khulna University)
S.M. Raihanul Alam (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology)
Raihan Islam Arnob (Utah State University)
Md. Mirajul Islam (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology)
Mahdi Nasrullah Al-Ameen (Utah State University)
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed (University of Toronto)

Session: 1.2D: Investigating online communities

Abstract: Facebook users often join Facebook groups to connect to the people with the same interest regardless of the fact that the other members take the same standing with them. Our study aims to investigate Bangladeshi users’ motivation to join and strategies to manage their Facebook groups and identify the relevant challenges. In our ongoing work, we are conducting a survey and interviewing Facebook-group users to understand how Facebook groups are bringing the users of similar interest and agenda together on Facebook and providing the admins with imagined sovereignty. This poster presents some of our crucial findings. This set of findings will be useful in designing better tools for managing Facebook groups for empowering the admins and the users.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBNpV_oaCko

Authors:

Navid Shaghaghi (Santa Clara University)
Andres Calle (Santa Clara University)
George Kouretas (Santa Clara University)

Session: 1.2C Improving health outcomes

Abstract: In the 2018-19 influenza season, between 37.4 and 42.9 million people in the United States experienced flu like symptoms. From that number, 431 to 647 thousand were hospitalized and 36400 to 61200 (most of them children and seniors) succumbed to the disease. Due to the annual mutation of the very many strands of the flu virus, new vaccines must be developed and administered every flu season. Therefore, the prediction of the rate of growth in reported infection cases of each strand of the flu is paramount to ensuring the correct supply of vaccines per strand. A great tool for making future predictions using existing data is Machine learning – specifically Neural Networks. eVision (Epidemic Vision) is a software using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks under research and development by Santa Clara University’s EPIC (Ethical, Pragmatic, and Intelligent Computing) and Bioinnovation & Design labs to predict the trend of influenza cases throughout the flu season using data from the CDC, WHO, and Google Trends in order to help pharmaceuticals decide on the ramping up or down of their development of tester kits, vaccines, and medicines weeks in advance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBNpV_oaCko

Authors:

Ankur Pandey (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology)
Inshita Mutreja (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology)
Saru Brar (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology)
Pushpendra Singh (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology)

Session: 1.2C: Improving health outcomes

Abstract: Providing effective and efficient maternal and child healthcare is a challenge across the world. The challenge is even higher in developing countries, like India, where the doctor-to-patient ratio does not meet WHO prescribed numbers. Inadequate access to medical experts means that even simple queries about healthcare are not answered. In this work, we present our initial findings of using state-of-the-art Q&A systems, like IBM Watson, Rasa, and custom retrieval-based model, for answering simple queries related to maternal and child health. The query database, formed of short questions, is obtained from a real-world experiment where a medical expert answered the questions. The initial results are encouraging and indicate that further research in this area can help to answer a large number of queries thus reducing the work-load on a human medical expert.