(The Hitchhiker's) Guide to ICCSA2020 Parallel Sessions

Don't panic!

  

Introduction

The ICCSA2020 parallel sessions will take place from Wednesday, 1st to Saturday, 4th July.

There will be 6 concurrent “rooms” for the parallel sessions named:
Room A, Room B, Room C, Room D, Room E, and Room F.

 For a general overview of the conference activities, please see the “Program at a glance” at the ICCSA website.

 As you will see, each day is subdivided into 2 macro-sessions:

  • morning (9 a.m. - 2 p.m. CET),
  • afternoon (4.30 p.m. - 7.30 CET).

 (There will be no afternoon parallel sessions on Saturday, only the Closing Plenary Panel (4.00 p.m.-5.30 p.m. CET), and the Best Papers Award and Closing Ceremony (5.45 p.m. CET)

 

Each macro-session is subdivided into 1-hour sessions: 5 sessions in the morning, and three sessions in the afternoon. In between, there is always scheduled a plenary event (keynote lectures, closing panel)

 Each 1-hour session:

  1. has a session chair;
  2. has an ICCSA assistant for technical support and session management;
  3. has maximum 4 presentations (some sessions may have fewer, but never more than 4 presentations).

 The 1-hour sessions will take place on the ICCSA Jitsi videoconferencing platform and will be streamed live on Youtube.

If you just want to watch the session, we recommend that you go to the Youtube live stream (not to overcrowd the Jitsi rooms).

If you’re presenting or want to participate in the discussion, join the session on Jitsi.

Timetable of the sessions

The detailed timetable of the sessions is available at the “Full Conference Timetable” page.

In the timetable, you will find:

  • the papers presented in each session/room;
  • the names of the chair and the ICCSA assistant;
  • the link to Youtube stream;
  • the link to Jitsi room.

 

How to participate in a session

To participate in a session:

  1. If you just want to watch the session without actively participating with webcam and microphone, please find the session in the timetable and go to the Youtube live stream.
  2. If you’re presenting or want to actively participate, find your session in the Timetable and go to the Jitsi videoconferencing room. Each Jitsi room will be opened by the ICCSA assistant before the session start.

 

In the Jitsti videoconferencing room: 

  1. Have a functioning webcam and microphone.
    When you enter a room for the first time, the browser could ask you to enable webcam and microphone. Do enable them.

  2. The sessions will be streamed live on YouTube. If the streaming is on you will hear the automatic message "Live Streaming is on". By entering the room, you are giving the consent that your video and audio feeds, together with whatever you share on screen, be recorded, published and shared publicly on Youtube.
    If you do intend to give the consent, please abandon the Jitsi room. 

  3. Be there on time!
    (Session chairs should be there at least 10 minutes before the session begins.)

  4. Upon your first access, make sure you set your on-screen name (insert your real name in Settings -> “Profile” tab)

  5. Get acquainted with Jitsi’s features (icons at the bottom):

    jitsi.png

  6. For presenting, you will be showing your presentation using “Screen sharing”; make sure you have your presentation ready and open on your computer before your turn.

  7. If you’re presenting, stay on time!
    We’re allotting 8 minutes for the presentation, plus 2 minutes for the discussion and Q&A. With 4 papers per hour, there could remain some extra time if everything runs smoothly, which the chair can have at their disposal for the discussion.

  8. If you’re not presenting nor talking, make sure that you keep your microphone muted (“microphone” icon).

  9. If you want to ask a question, use the “Raise hand” icon. The chair is responsible for giving the right to speak.

  10. If the time has run out, but you want to continue the discussion, remember that there is the ICCSA Riot platform where you can continue to chat, or arrange self-organised spin-off meetings on whatever platform you want. Should there be requests, we can keep some Jitsi rooms open also after the conference for ad hoc meetings. Let us know!

  11. Finally, if something goes wrong, don’t panic!

    Something likely will: technical issues, wrong microphone settings, low bandwidth, …
    In that case, the ICCSA assistants will be able to provide guidance; if needed, the session chairs can change the order of the presentations; and in general we ask the session chairs to be wise and flexible to accommodate for the needs and the possible problems.
    If for some reason the entire session fails, we have some flexibility in the calendar eventually to reschedule it.
    After all, this is not a do-or-die thing, and we like to practice serene efficiency: so should there be technical or organisational issues from our side, we will do our best to fix, regroup, or make up for it.

    It’s a pity we weren’t able to have you all in Cagliari to offer you an all-round enjoyable conference experience. The online version will not supplement that, but we want you all to have both a productive and a pleasant participation.

 

ICCSA 2020 Organising Committee