Re: SOC email
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From: <Tony.Wong_at_email.protected>
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:48:25 +1000
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:11:26 +1000 (EST)
From: Stuart Ryder <sdr_at_aao.<!--nospam-->gov.au>
To: asa2006-soc_at_atnf.<!--nospam-->csiro.au
Subject: Re: SOC email
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0604111649190.15270_at_aaowfi>
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RAA15390
Greetings,
I have been away overseas, and unable to respond to the initial
discussion.
>Suggestions we have received thus far are for:
>
>1) A dedicated educational session. This has been supported by the
>ASA's Education and Public Outreach Committee (EPOC), and will be run
>by Nick Lomb (Chair of the EPOC). What we have to decide upon is a
>request that speakers in this session be given the flexibility to also
>present a scientific paper, the argument being that if forced to give
>only one presentation then an attendee will choose to present their
>science paper. So we need to decide whether people can give two papers
>at the ASM, and if so do we cap that at some number (with the proviso
>that one of the papers be education-related)? Nick has said that there
>are already 3 people who wish to give two papers. Assuming that a
>whole session cannot be filled by 15 min talks, Nick has also
>suggested a panel discussion.
Speaking slots are always highly competitive at ASA meetings,
particularly due to the need to give students some exposure. Short of
moving towards parallel sessions (not an attractive option), perhaps we do
need to let participants in the education session give a second paper as
well. However, I think the value of poster papers is often
under-appreciated - you get the chance to put all your ideas across in a
very visual format, and there's often far more feedback and interaction
that takes place around a poster paper during coffee, than in the Q&A
following a talk. So I don't think we need to "guarantee" speakers at an
education session another speaking slot - they can fight it out with all
the other attendees, or put their science in a poster.
>2) A dedicated Gemini results session. This was suggested by a senior
>member of the ASA Council. The main reason (I believe) is that the ARC
>is funding Australia's involvement in Gemini, and we as a community
>should be pro-active in "advertising" the good science we get from
>Gemini.
As someone whose proposed presentation would likely sit within such a
session, I'm all for it! Nevertheless, Australia's involvement in Gemini
does represent a significant financial commitment, and there is always
pressure to show a commensurate scientific return, and Canberra would be
the right forum to invite ARC reps along. With NIFS about to be hooked up
to the Laser Guide Star system on Gemini-North, this would be a good
opportunity to show off results from the GTO observations.
>3) A discussion forum on the future of the Publications of the
>Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA). Again, this was suggested by
>a senior member of the ASA Council. Apparently the cost to the ASA
>(paid to CSIRO) is fairly substantial, and the question of
>cost-benefit is being raised.
I thought we'd been down this road before, but now that the new PASA has
been up and running for a while, it's time to get views on how the
community feels about its visibility and turnaround of papers. At least we
won't have the Decadal Plan sessions to include like the previous 2 ASA
meetings.
>Finally, the SOC also has the opportunity to suggest candidates for
>the Harley Wood Public Lecture. If you can think of a suitable person,
>perhaps an overseas visitor at your institution, then please make your
>suggestion. A potential candidate (Mike Dopita, RSAA ANU, Federation
>Fellow) has already been put forward by a senior ASA Council member.
I'm not sure I should comment as Mike was my PhD supervisor... But I'm
sure he'd give an entertaining and extremely well-illustrated lecture.
Cheers,
Stuart
------ End of Forwarded Message
Received on 2006-04-12 19:48:50
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:48:25 +1000
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:11:26 +1000 (EST)
From: Stuart Ryder <sdr_at_aao.<!--nospam-->gov.au>
To: asa2006-soc_at_atnf.<!--nospam-->csiro.au
Subject: Re: SOC email
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0604111649190.15270_at_aaowfi>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-MIME-Autoconverted: from QUOTED-PRINTABLE to 8bit by lynx.tip.CSIRO.AU id
RAA15390
Greetings,
I have been away overseas, and unable to respond to the initial
discussion.
>Suggestions we have received thus far are for:
>
>1) A dedicated educational session. This has been supported by the
>ASA's Education and Public Outreach Committee (EPOC), and will be run
>by Nick Lomb (Chair of the EPOC). What we have to decide upon is a
>request that speakers in this session be given the flexibility to also
>present a scientific paper, the argument being that if forced to give
>only one presentation then an attendee will choose to present their
>science paper. So we need to decide whether people can give two papers
>at the ASM, and if so do we cap that at some number (with the proviso
>that one of the papers be education-related)? Nick has said that there
>are already 3 people who wish to give two papers. Assuming that a
>whole session cannot be filled by 15 min talks, Nick has also
>suggested a panel discussion.
Speaking slots are always highly competitive at ASA meetings,
particularly due to the need to give students some exposure. Short of
moving towards parallel sessions (not an attractive option), perhaps we do
need to let participants in the education session give a second paper as
well. However, I think the value of poster papers is often
under-appreciated - you get the chance to put all your ideas across in a
very visual format, and there's often far more feedback and interaction
that takes place around a poster paper during coffee, than in the Q&A
following a talk. So I don't think we need to "guarantee" speakers at an
education session another speaking slot - they can fight it out with all
the other attendees, or put their science in a poster.
>2) A dedicated Gemini results session. This was suggested by a senior
>member of the ASA Council. The main reason (I believe) is that the ARC
>is funding Australia's involvement in Gemini, and we as a community
>should be pro-active in "advertising" the good science we get from
>Gemini.
As someone whose proposed presentation would likely sit within such a
session, I'm all for it! Nevertheless, Australia's involvement in Gemini
does represent a significant financial commitment, and there is always
pressure to show a commensurate scientific return, and Canberra would be
the right forum to invite ARC reps along. With NIFS about to be hooked up
to the Laser Guide Star system on Gemini-North, this would be a good
opportunity to show off results from the GTO observations.
>3) A discussion forum on the future of the Publications of the
>Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA). Again, this was suggested by
>a senior member of the ASA Council. Apparently the cost to the ASA
>(paid to CSIRO) is fairly substantial, and the question of
>cost-benefit is being raised.
I thought we'd been down this road before, but now that the new PASA has
been up and running for a while, it's time to get views on how the
community feels about its visibility and turnaround of papers. At least we
won't have the Decadal Plan sessions to include like the previous 2 ASA
meetings.
>Finally, the SOC also has the opportunity to suggest candidates for
>the Harley Wood Public Lecture. If you can think of a suitable person,
>perhaps an overseas visitor at your institution, then please make your
>suggestion. A potential candidate (Mike Dopita, RSAA ANU, Federation
>Fellow) has already been put forward by a senior ASA Council member.
I'm not sure I should comment as Mike was my PhD supervisor... But I'm
sure he'd give an entertaining and extremely well-illustrated lecture.
Cheers,
Stuart
------ End of Forwarded Message
Received on 2006-04-12 19:48:50