TITLE: Missing PLoP
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: September 09, 2005 12:44 PM
DESC: Academics aren't supposed to enjoy a particular conference so much that their hearts ache when they miss it, are they?
-----
BODY:
<A HREF="http://hillside.net/plop/2005/">
   <IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/misc/plop05-banner.gif"
        ALT="PLoP 2005 Banner"
        WIDTH="400"></A>

This being Friday, September 9, I have to come to
grips with the fact that I won't be participating in
<A HREF="http://hillside.net/plop/2005/">
   PLoP 2005</A>.
This is the 12th
<A HREF="http://hillside.net/plop/">
   PLoP</A>,
and it would have been my 10th, all consecutively.
PLoP has long been one of my favorite conferences,
both for how much it helps me to improve my papers
and my writing and for how many neat ideas and people
I encounter there.  Last year's PLoP led directly
to four blog entries, on
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-09T17_36_36.htm">
   patterns as autopsy</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-10T23_03_34.htm">
   patterns and change</A>,
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-12T10_38_29.htm">
   patterns and myth</A>, and
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-15T11_33_28.htm">
   the wiki of the future</A>,
not to mention a few others indirectly later.
Of course, I also wrote about the wonderful
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2004-09.html#e2004-09-16T07_43_33.htm">
   running</A>
in and around
<A HREF="http://www.allerton.uiuc.edu/">
   Allerton Park</A>,
the pastoral setting of PLoP.  I will dearly
miss doing my 20-miler there this weekend...

<IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/misc/plop-allerton.jpg"
     ALT="PLoP 2005 Banner"
     ALIGN="right"
     WIDTH="250">

Sadly, events conspired against me going to PLoP
this year.  The deadline for submissions fell at
about the same time as the deadline for applications
for the chair of my department, both of which fell
around when I was in San Diego for the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2005-05.html#e2005-05-01T18_02_50.htm">
   spring planning meeting</A>
for
<A HREF="http://oopsla.acm.org">
   OOPSLA 2005</A>.
Even had I submitted, I would have had a hard time
doing justice to paper revisions through the summer,
as I learned the ropes of my new job.  And now, new
job duties make this a rather bad time to hop into
the car and drive to Illinois for a few days.  (Not
that I wasn't tempted early in the week to drive
down this morning to join in for a day!)

I am not certain if other academics feel about some
of the conferences they attend the way I feel about
PLoP, OOPSLA, and
<A HREF="http://www.hillside.net/conferences/chiliplop.htm">
   ChiliPLoP</A>,
but I do know that I don't feel the same way about
other conferences that I attend, even ones I enjoy.
The PLoPs offer something that no other conference
does: a profound concern for the quality of technical
writing and communication more generally.  PLoP Classic,
in particular, has a right-brain feel unlike any
conference I've attended.  But don't think that this
is a result of being overrun by a bunch of non-techies;
the conference roster is usually dominated by very
good minds from some of the best technical outfits
in the world.  But these folks are more than just
techies.

Unfortunately I'm not the only regular who is missing
PLoP this year.  The attendee list for 2005 is smaller
than in recent years, as was the number of submissions
and accepted papers.  The
<A HREF="http://www.hillside.net/">
   Hillside Group</A>
is considering the future of PLoP and ChiliPLoP in
light of the more mainstream role of patterns in
the software world and the loss of cache that comes
when one software buzzword is replaced with another.
Patterns are no longer the hot buzzword -- they are
a couple of generations of buzzwords beyond that --
which changes how conferences in the area need to be
run.  I think, though, that it is essential for us
to maintain a way for new pattern writers to enter
the community and be nurtured by pattern experts.
It is also essential that we continue to provide a
place where we care not only about the quality of
technical content but also about the quality of
technical <EM>writing</EM>.

On the XP mailing list this morning, Ron Jeffries
<A HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/extremeprogramming/message/112141">
   mentioned the "patterns movement"</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
In the patterns movement, there was the notion of
"forces".  The idea of applying a pattern or pattern
language was to "balance" the forces.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hope Ron's use of past tense was historical, in the
sense that the patterns movement first emphasized the
notion of forces "back then", rather than a comment
that the patterns movement is over.  The heyday is over,
but I think we software folks still have a lot to learn
about design from patterns.

I am missing PLoP 2005.  Sigh.  I guess there's always
ChiliPLoP 2006.  Maybe I can even swing
<A HREF="http://www.hillside.net/conferences/europlop.htm">
   EuroPLoP</A>
next year.
-----