Seventh Macquarie Computing Mini-Conference (MCMC-08)
In the third week of June, 2008, the Macquarie Computing Mini-Conference will be held for the seventh consecutive year.
The Macquarie Computing Mini-Conference was conceived of in 2002 as a part of the annual departmental review of post-graduate students' research progress, and as a means to strengthen the post-graduate research in the department. The first mini-conference was held later that year. Since then, this forum has been an important annual event in the department.
Compared to previous years, the 2008 Mini-Conference will be organized like a standard conference. Members of a program committee together with other reviewers will review the student submissions and provide feedback before the students present their work. Two eminent researchers, Professor Igor Shparlinski from the Macquarie University, and Professor Peter Eades from the University of Sydney (and NICTA) have graciously agreed to give the keynote speeches at MCMC-08.
Date and Venue
Who can submit work?
What to submit?
Initial Submission
Final Submission
How to Submit?
Time Line
Who to Contact?
Program Committee
Technical Program
Associated Events
June 16-20, 2008
Building E6A
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
This forum is primarily intended to facilitate research training of (research) students enroled in the Department of Computing, Macquarie University. Hence all Computing research students (Honours and Masters included) are invited to submit their work to this forum. All Doctoral students who joined the PhD program prior to January 2008, and are not extected to submit by June 2008 are required to submit to this forum. All other Doctoral students are strongly encouraged to submit to this forum.
Students will submit materials in two stages: (a) initial submission to receive feedback (by May 20th), and (b) final, revised submission (by June 12).
Initial Submission: Students are expected to submit two items by the initial submission date (May 20th):
- Abstract of the (proposed) thesis -- in about 300 words (one standard page). The abstracts will be reviewed by a select group of reviewers, and the students will get the feedback before submitting the final version, and
- Slides that you will use for presentation purpose -- about seven or eight, in pdf. The reviewers may or may not provide comments on the slides -- it is up to their discretion.
As to the content of the abstract and slides, your thesis supervisor is at the best position to advise. In general, design of your submission should keep the guiding principle provided below in mind:
- Abstract
- The purpose of the abstract is to outline the (planned) structure and content of your thesis. We know that you won't have a complete thesis abstract until you submit, but this abstract should explain your research questions and outline your approaches to tackling them, in such a way that it can grow into your final thesis abstract.
- It should provide the big picture, and put the research question in context.
- It should be well-written:
- Don't make sentences too long and convoluted.
- Don't launch straight into jargon, and only use it where necessary.
- Each paragraph should be self contained, and with a clear focus.
- The transition between one paragraph and next should not be abrupt.
- The end of the abstract should be self-evident to the reader.
- Slides
- In the introduction provide a clear background to your research topic. Give a simple example to set the context.
- Use plain English. Judiciously chosen diagrams help a lot. Give the big picture, and tell how what you are doing/ planning to do fits in this picture.
- Make sure the research question is crystal clear.
- You should include some discussion of the technical details of your own work -- a new algorithm you've developed, an analysis of data you've done, etc -- but keep it simple. You can assume that your audience is knowledgeable in general computer science and/or information systems, but not in your specific topic. Keep in mind that some of the reviewers are non-experts, and it should not completely throw them off!
- Towards the end, in a "Discussion" slide, tell in very clear terms what you have achieved, particularly keeping the big picture in mind. Identify what other problems need to be addressed.
- Give an idea of when/how you are going to address the rest of the problems.
We expect each abstract to receive feedback from four reviewers:
- an academic who is an expert in the area
- an academic from outside the area
- a new PhD student, and
- an experienced PhD student.
Final Submission: After the review period, the students will get about one week to take the comments into account and accordingly modify the abstract and slides, and submit the final versions of the documents. By June 12, they should submit:
- The revised and final version of the abstract -- in about 300 words (one standard page).
- The revised and final version of the slides -- about seven or eight.
- A self-assessment report (1-2 pages) outlining:
- Research Progress to Date -- List of major tasks completed since their last annual review.
- Research papers published or submitted, or any other significant research achievement since last review.
- Next Year's Plan -- List of problems you intend to tackle in course of the next year
- Other Issues -- List any impediment to your research progress since last annual review (e.g., major illness, delays in obtaining experimental equipment, difficulties with supervision, language difficulties, etc.).
- Optionally, a sample of your written research work (recent publication/submission).
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Unlike in previous years, MCMC-08 will use facilities made available by the EasyChair Conference System whose contribution is hereby being duely acknowledged. All students who wish to submit their work for MCMC-08 must register at the EasyChair MCMC-08 site as an author. Please do so at your earliest convenience by clicking here and then following the appropriate steps. Please bear in mind that if you do not already have an EasyChair account, you will need to create an account before registering as an author for MCMC-08. Provide the title as the title as well as the abstract for registration purpose.
A single zipped file should be submitted. This file should contain the abstract and slides (and self assessment report plus possibly sample work for final submission) as distinct pdf documents. The naming convention illustrated below should be followed:
- John Smith's abstract should be named: JSmith_abstract.pdf
- John Smith's slides should be named: JSmith_slides.pdf
- John Smith's assessment report should be named: JSmith_assessment.pdf (for final submission)
- John Smith's sample work should be named: JSmith_sample.pdf (for final submission)
- John Smith's zipped file should be named: JSmith.zip
The tentative time line of events is as follows:
- PC Committee set up: May 1st week (done via EasyChair)
- Students' work submission deadline: May 20
- Abstract bidding and assignment: May 21-23
- Reviews due: June 01
- Students receive feedback: June 05
- Students submit final version: June 12
- Mini-Conference/Student review by panel: June 16-20
For genuine cases of students who cannot absolutely make it to the mini-conference (i.e., presentation+panel interview), there will be another, one off, supplementary mini-conference. Such students should contact the Program Chairs as soon as possible.
This is a living document. Please stay tuned for further announcements. Should you have any query at this point, please feel free to contact Dr. Abhaya C. Nayak (abhaya AT ics DOT mq DOT edu DOT au), Computing post-graduate research director, who will be the program chair for MCMC-08. Alternatively you may contact Dr. Mark Dras (madras AT ics DOT mq DOT edu DOT au), the program co-chair.