Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper Joshua S. Simon Collective TechnologiesApril 8, 1998

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 2 Quickest way to get published u Bribe the Committee u We may be easy u But we’re not cheap!

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 3 Overview u Why? u What the Committee looks for u Increasing your chances

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 4 Why me? u Attendee & busybody u LISA u USENIX (1999?) u Program Committee, LISA 97 u Practicum Track advisor, LISA 98 u Program Committee, LISA 99

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 5 Why you? u Why not? u Companies want their name associated with published papers u Managers need justification to send people to conferences u Good for your recognition in the field u Good for your career

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 6 What the Committee looks for u Extended abstract u Relevance u Presentation u Quality u Overall u Comments

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 7 Extended abstract u Maximum 5 pages u Can be in outline format u but include paragraphs! u Can you write clearly about your topic? u Can you organize your thoughts well? u Can you convey sufficient information to readers?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 8 Extended abstract (continued) u Include graphs, figures, & tables u if central to the paper u don’t count against the page limit u Include notes to the Committee

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 9 Relevance u Is the paper appropriate for a USENIX conference? u Marketing papers u The Australian emu’s mating habits u Is the work of interest to some or all of the attendees? u Will some or all of the attendees want to attend a talk on this paper?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 10 Presentation u Is the paper readable? u Is the language understandable? u Is the problem well-stated? u Are the goals of the solution well- stated? u Are the tests of the solution well-stated? u Are the results well-stated?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 11 Quality u Does the abstract briefly & clearly state the goals and conclusions u Is the work technically correct? u Is the work any good? u A new sort algorithm running in O(n 5 ) isn’t u A new sort algorithm running in O(1) is u Are the references sufficient?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 12 Overall u Should we accept this paper? u Not an average of the previous 3 values u Presentation, Relevance, and Quality can be improved between abstract and final paper u Fudge factors for intangibles allowed u Is it “fun”?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 13 Comments u Qualifications of the reviewer u Written feedback for the author u Comments for the Committee only

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 14 Questions we ask u What are the weakest and/or least understandable parts of this work u with respect to its presentation? u with the technical aspects? u Are the goals correct? u if not, how should they be changed?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 15 More questions we ask u If you think this paper should not be accepted, what needs to be done to it to change your mind?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 16 Statistics u LISA 96 u accepted 29 of 76 papers (38%) u 1,058 of >1,650 attendees new to LISA (64%) u LISA 97 u accepted 23 of 56 papers (41%) u LISA 98 u accepted 30 of 63 papers (48%) u 1,985 attendees

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper LISA attendee affiliations

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 18 Increasing your chances u Be clear & concise u Have an outline of the paper u Include the introduction u Include graphs, figures, & tables u Include references u Answer the questions the Committee asks u Bribe the Committee

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 19 LISA ’99 conference info u Extended abstracts due: May 25 u Notification to authors: June 30 u Final papers due: September 19 u Technical sessions: November u Location: Seattle, Washington

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 20 Incentives u Intangible u Recognition in the field u More “fudge factor” in future submissions u Tangible u Cash awards: Best Paper & Best Student Paper u One author of each paper gets complementary registration to the technical sessions

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 21 Online resources  USENIX web site,  LISA ’99 CFP,  LISA ’99 Topics,.../cfp/cfp5.html  LISA ’99 Submission Guidelines,.../cfp/guidelines.html  Submitting an abstract,.../cfp/submit.html

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 22 Questions u Who are you? u What do you want? u Why are you here? u Do you have anything worth living for?

April 8, 1999Writing a Publishable USENIX/SAGE Technical Paper 23 Questions