Call for Tutorials and Hackathons

We seek to extend the SIGCOMM experience by tutorials on selected topics given by renowned scientists and practitioners in their fields. We therefore solicit proposals for full-day or half-day tutorials on topics relevant to the SIGCOMM community. We also solicit proposals to organize hackathons co-located with SIGCOMM.

Tutorials must cover advanced topics that fit the scope of SIGCOMM and are of current interest to the SIGCOMM community. Tutorials may be lectures, interactive workshops, hands-on training, or any combination of the above. Successful tutorials educate the community members on emerging methods, concepts, and tools to expand the research capabilities of the community. Cross-disciplinary topics are also welcome. Exploring diverse ways of organizing the content, delivering the tutorial, and interacting with the audience are especially encouraged.

A hackathon is an intense goal-oriented team-work activity organized in a sprint-like one-day event, where members from various backgrounds and expertise come together to work towards the stated goals of the hackathon. We encourage applications from all fields that fit the interest of the SIGCOMM community.

The current plan is that SIGCOMM 2023 will be an in-person conference. Still, we ask the authors to have a "plan B" for an online tutorial/hackathon, in case there are unexpected travel restrictions due to COVID-19 at the time of the event.

Where To Submit

Tutorial and hackathon proposals should be submitted in PDF format, should not exceed three (3) pages in total in the standard SIGCOMM format (two column, 10 point), and be sent to the Tutorial/Hackathon Chairs.

Submit a Tutorial/Hackathon Proposal

Important Dates

April 21, 2023

Submission deadline
May 12, 2023

Notification of acceptance

Tutorial Proposals Must Include

A motivation for the tutorial (why this, why now, why at SIGCOMM?).
An outline of the tutorial content, including its tentative schedule (over a half-day or full-day).
The type of tutorial (e.g., lecture vs. hands-on). It is highly recommended that full-day tutorials should include a hands-on component and not be limited to only lectures. Hands-on components are well-known to be more engaging and pedagogically better in teaching for full-day events.
References to previous iterations of the tutorial (if applicable) including their date, venue, topics and number of participants and the motivation for the new proposal.
Requirements for the attendees (e.g., must bring own laptop or other hardware, familiarity with certain technologies or topics, speed of Internet connection, artifacts to download beforehand, etc.).
A clear indication whether or not the tutorial artifacts (slides, video, notebooks, containers/VMs, etc.) are allowed to be posted publicly at the conference website.
Tentative special requirements for a possible online tutorial. Zoom and a Slack channel will be provided if this option is required.

Hackathon Proposals Must Include

A motivation for the hackathon (why this, why now, why at SIGCOMM?).
An outline of the goals and guidelines of the hackathon, including its tentative schedule.
References to previous iterations of the hackathon (if applicable) including their date, venue, topics and number of participants and the motivation for the new proposal.
Requirements for the attendees (e.g., must bring own laptop or other hardware, familiarity with certain technologies or topics, speed of Internet connection, artifacts to download beforehand, etc.).
Tentative special requirements for a possible online hackathon. Zoom and a Slack channel will be provided if this option is required.

Important Notes

Preference in the acceptance decision process will be given to tutorial/hackathon submissions that (1) provide hands-on experience to the attendees, (2) build on open content that can be freely posted on the conference website, and (3) formulate a clear and viable plan to hold the event online if the COVID-19 situation requires so and make reasonable effort to prepare for the online format (i.e., use Jupyter notebooks for hands-on material, offer preinstalled VMs/containers, etc.).
Preference will be given to tutorials that intend to provide hybrid in-person/on-line delivery regardless of COVID-19.
It is recommended that there are up to three speakers for a full-day tutorial and up to two speakers for a half-day tutorial. In the unlikely event that this is forced to be online again, it will a good idea to have another person available to feed the interactive questions from Slack channel to the presenters online.
Upon acceptance of a tutorial/hackathon proposal, either the Tutorial/Hackathon Co-chairs or the tutorial speakers/hackathon organizers can request a cancellation if there is clear evidence indicating low attendance by the early registration deadline.
Monetary compensation to tutorial speakers and hackathon organizers will not be provided.