Onward! 2012 call for papers, due April 13

> Call for Research Visions
>
> Do you have an idea that could change the world of software
> development? Onward! is the place to present it and get constructive
> criticism from other researchers and practitioners. We are looking for
> grand visions and new paradigms that could make a big difference in
> how we build software in 5 or 10 years. We are not looking for
> research-as-usual papers - conferences like OOPSLA are the place for
> that. Those conferences require rigorous validation such as theorems
> or empirical experiments, which are necessary for scientific progress,
> but which unfortunately can also preclude the discussion of
> early-stage ideas. Onward! also requires validation: mere speculation
> is insufficient. However Onward! accepts less rigorous methods of
> validation such as compelling arguments, exploratory implementations,
> and substantial examples. It bears repeating that we strongly
> encourage the use of worked-out examples to substantiate your ideas.
>
> This year, Onward! is reaching out to graduate students. You have been
> taught that conference papers, key to your career, must be solid
> bricks of incremental research, with scientifically sober claims. But
> why are you doing research in the first place? You want to change the
> world with your ideas! You can't talk about that in conference papers.
> Onward! gives you the chance to spread your wings and share your
> dreams. We want you to inspire us with your ideas, and perhaps in the
> process better inspire yourself.
>
> This call is also directed at practicing programmers who are deeply
> dissatisified with the state of our art and who have thought long and
> hard about how to fix it. The committee encourages you to share your
> hard-won wisdom about how to reform software development. Many
> practitioners have dismissed computer science conferences as sterile
> academic exercises. Onward! is different, and asks you to join the
> conversation for the good of our field. How else can we ever make
> progress if we don't share what has been learnt from practical
> experience? We suggest that to best communicate your ideas you avoid
> sweeping principles expressed in general terms, especially terms you
> have coined yourself. It is often more effective to present serveral
> detailed examples of how your approach would yield concrete benefits,
> while also revealing what offsetting disadvantages it may entail.
>
> If others are working on related ideas you might consider proposing an
> Onward! workshop: see the call for Onward! workshops.
>
> Selection Process
>
> Onward! papers are peer-reviewed, and accepted papers will appear in
> the SPLASH proceedings and the ACM Digital Library. Papers will be
> judged on the potential impact of their ideas and the quality of their
> presentation.
>
> Submission
>
> The submission deadline is April 13, 2012. See the online version of
> this call for further details.
>
> For More Information
>
> For additional information, clarification, or answers to questions
> please contact the Onward! Papers Chair, Jonathan Edwards,
> at [hidden email].
>
> Onward! Papers Committee
>
> Jonathan Edwards, MIT, USA (chair)
> Bjorn Freeman-Benson, New Relic, US
> Bret Victor, US
> Brian Foote, US
> Caitlin Sadowski, UC Santa Cruz, US
> Chung-chieh Shan, University of Tsukuba, Japan
> Dave Thomas, Bedarra Research, Canada
> Derek Rayside, University of Waterloo, Canada
> John Field, Google, US
> Kevin Sullivan, University of Virginia, US
> Klaus Ostermann, University of Marburg, Germany
> Mads Torgersen, Microsoft, US
> Mark Miller, Google, US
> Martin Fowler, ThoughtWorks, US
> Nat Pryce, UK
> Sean McDirmid, Microsoft Research Asia, China
> Tom van Cutsem, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium