We have extended the submission deadline for the Feyerabend workshop
that takes place at this year's ETAPS. Please see below.
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Extended Call for Position Papers: Feyerabend
Redefining Computing
In conjunction with
ETAPS 2003
European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software
Warsaw, Poland
April 12, 2003
For more information, visit
http://www.dreamsongs.com/Feyerabend/ETAPS03/
Contact
···············@web.de
Important Dates
Position paper due: March 28th, 2003 ***EXTENDED DEADLINE***
Early registration deadline: February 5th, 2003
Overview
Fifty years into the First Computing Era some of us in the computing
arena have come to realize we have made a false start that cannot be
fixed, and for us to finally be able to produce lasting, correct,
beautiful, usable, scalable, enjoyable software that stands the tests of
time and moral human endeavour, we need to start over. Perhaps we will
be able to salvage some of what we have learned from the First Era, but
we expect almost everything except the most mathematical and
philosophical fundamentals to be brushed aside.
In 1975, Berkeley philosopher Paul Feyerabend wrote a book called
"Against Method", in which he said: "...one of the most striking
features of recent discussions in the history and philosophy of science
is the realization that events and developments ... occurred only
because some thinkers either decided not to be bound by certain
"obvious" methodological rules, or because they unwittingly broke them.
This liberal practice, I repeat, is not just a fact of the history of
science. It is both reasonable and absolutely necessary for the growth
of knowledge. More specifically, one can show the following: given any
rule, however "fundamental" or necessary" for science, there are always
circumstances when it is advisable not only to ignore the rule, but to
adopt its opposite."
In "The Invisible Computer", Donald Norman wrote, "...the current
paradigm is so thoroughly established that the only way to change is to
start over again."
The Feyerabend Project is an attempt (triggered by Richard P. Gabriel)
to repair the arena of software development and practice. This workshop
is one in a series leading up to an event to reinvent computing. For that
event, a most diverse group of 75 people will be put together. The
result of the two-week event will be the first steps toward a road map
for massive rebuilding of computing - both as a theoretical endeavour as
a practice - and toward a plan to accomplish it.
The goal of this workshop is to bring together everyone who is
interested in the redefinition of computing and/or in the use of
alternative metaphors/languages/ideas for entering the Next Era of
computer science. The major problem with the current flow of ideas is
that current approaches merely enable the construction of software that
is too brittle and too rigid in order to survive and operate in our real
world which is dynamic and constantly subject to change.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
* Computing metaphors (biology, physics,...)
* Programming language paradigms
* Human computer interaction
* Philosophical considerations
* Forgotten technologies (actors,..)
* Brand new & wild ideas
* Programming as a social activity
Submission Guideline
Authors are strongly invited to submit a position paper or essay
containing their vision on the redefinition of computing. The essay
should not exceed 4 pages and should be submitted by March 28th, 2003.
Accompanying this paper, authors are expected to submit a topic of
discussion they would like to see addressed during the workshop.
Submissions are required in electronic form. Please send an e-mail
containing your essay in Postscript or pdf to ········@web.de.
--
Pascal Costanza University of Bonn
···············@web.de Institute of Computer Science III
http://www.pascalcostanza.de R�merstr. 164, D-53117 Bonn (Germany)