Academic Community Beginnings

This weeks discussion is a little different for me. The topic concerns communities we see ourselves a part of someday and also the importance of networking within these communities. I already consider myself a part of an academic community. Having worked as a systems analyst, corporate trainer and college professor I have had the opportunity to  attend different types of conferences, attend workshops and meet people that I now consider in my network of professional contacts. During my decision process for graduate schools I contacted people in my academic community for information and advice on graduate schools. Some might say they did the same thing. Just go to your professor and ask, however I went to people I met in my academic community. In fact, it was at an Alice workshop at Georgia Tech that I spoke to Dr. Stephen Cooper, who recommended that I consider applying to Penn State (the school wasn't on my list at the time). How did I find out about the workshop?  I had gone to a conference. Every year since 2003 I have been attending the SIGCSE conference. This conference is for people interested in Computer Science education. It isn't one of the larger, more prestigious conferences some of you may know about but have always found the sessions and keynotes very informative.  Also, the people I've met at conferences like SIGCSE have led to opportunities to work as a panelist for the National Science Foundation, start a Women in Technology group at our college, develop kids technology summer programs and more. Each of these events also expanded my academic community.

Conferences are a great way to meet other people in your field, they also have a lot to offer graduate students and many times if you volunteer at them the benefits are pretty good. Many have opportunities for students to showcase or compete with their research.  Either way, I've always thought it was a great way to get feedback on your work. There are other conferences I have attended and I'll discuss those in a future posting.

Is my community complete?  Far from it! I hope to be a presenter at the conferences I have attended and I also want to see my work published in some of the Journals of the ACM, especially the ones that have an HCI (human computer interaction) focus. I also hope to keep in touch with members my current academic community while I'm at Penn State.  I realize that going to SIGCSE will probably not happen next year since we are kept pretty busy here, but I know I'll get there or somewhere else in the next few years. Who knows what the future will hold for any of us?