2024Q3 Reports: Virtual Infrastructure Chairs

First we have met with previous VI Chairs. Here are the meeting notes.

Meeting Notes from 06.07.2023

Main responsibilities:

→ Building the website

→Main one is done by underline: https://2023.aclweb.org/

→The other one is done by them: https://virtual2023.aclweb.org/

P.S: He said not to use their miniconf template because they did it wrong. We need more insights from the other chairs.

→Syncing with Underline (spreadsheets etc…)

→Setting up chat (decide which one, and integrate it to underline. Underline doesn’t do it. )

> *Most important: How do you want the virtual experience to be? e.g., paper based chat, faster schedule viewing etc… Chat shouldn’t end when the keynote ends… All other tasks depend on this decision. They wanted faster schedule view→used miniconf. They didn’t want to bother with video/recordings so they went with Underline (but it is not up to us). Everyone liked Rocketchat so they used it. But it got too expensive now so we need to find something else. We should talk to emnlp people to see what other option they found. (I liked Whova so maybe we can check it again)* >

Organization in ACL’23:

→Slack channel

→Weekly meetings

→ Most time consuming thing was negotiating with rocketchat (took 2 months) :

[Rocket.Chat: Communications Platform You Can Fully Trust](https://www.rocket.chat/)

→For the website: Copy the website of ACL2020, and change the logo, text etc…

→ Their timeline:

→September: Create a slack channel

→October-February: Slow times, nothing much happening

→February: Rocketchat negotiations

→Last month: Almost everything happened…

Some insider notes:

→ We need someone with good server skills. Login to multiple things, e.g., underline, rocketchat etc… Underline also handles gathertown, so we don’t need to do anything.

→We can look for ACL volunteers (I don’t know how exactly) to help

Second meeting notes (w Pedro Rodriguez) (19.07.2023)

Rocketchat is mostly clicks through interface, it has a tons of options: mobile, etc.

- 8k $ for the whole event (so for ~2k users) - rocketchat has too many communication channels (zoom + each paper has a chat) - ask questions in rocketchat can be lost in the flow

   - one way is to install the app on mobile (but not everybody installed it)

- underline already had a link to rocketchat - oAuth settings linked to underline people to set an unification of login through underline for rocket chat - to obtain the contract we need to loop in someone from aCL that can confirm we put money or not (maybe General Chair)

he recommends that we have a communication chair to unify and manage all communications in the conference

he thinks having a ticketing system may simplify questions answering

Gozde recommends https://element.io/

about rocketc usage statistics

- use the API (we have to look into it) - GGuibon suggest maybe a matomo install as a workaround

TODO: we need to have access to underline ACL2023

GG: important detail: if you can embed the chat room link to miniconf page. So we can use something free

Timeline:

- conference data into JSON format as soon as possible

   - in the meantime we can use the ACL format (but not easy to use)
   - need some scripts to transform formats
   - naoki (acl23) did some jupyter notebook to transform formats, etc.
       - TODO contact Naoki

- depends on all you’ll get data

   - he got the data saturday before the conf
       - anthology should be few weeks before the conference
   - 80% of the time is put on data injection so not enough time on UX/UI (due to schedule changing)
   - https://github.com/acl-org/acl-2023-miniconf (without private data ofc)
       - commit that file https://github.com/acl-org/acl-2023-miniconf/blob/main/data/acl_2023/data/conference.json
       - obvisouly test it locally first

- hosting

   - static site hosted with github pages. building the site is with github actions https://github.com/acl-org/acl-2023-miniconf/actions/runs/5527905104/jobs/10084124519
   - domain is not up to us (closer to the conference  we shoul ask it)

- using

   - this year ACL and miniconf, recompiling , etc.

- improvements

   - mobile testing (for the ones at the conf in person)
       - the ui is crunched on mobile
   - (look at the issues on the repositories)
   - have a guide page to answer scenario problems “I’m a conf attendee where should I go?” etc.
   - global site search missing (maybe a paper search)
   - additional features from miniconf (paper embedding)

- one person using the rocketchat and using the API - including negotiation - Data import one person - UI/UX can be shared

Initial Timeline: Virtual Chair Description of duties with timeline 20230820

Duties range from setting the virtual environement (hosting, pricing, website, link with underline, accounts, etc.) as much as possible before the conference. Then, virtual chair duties mainly consist of being very reactive and available the week before the conference to finalize and adapt the information (acl anthology links, schedule updates and so on). Finally, during the conference, virtual chairs have to stay alert to face any kinds of issues that may arise.

Virtual chair handle the miniconf (website dedicated to the virtual conference) and the chat between authors and the audience. However, the GatherTown part is handled by Underline.

All accounts are linked to the Underline ones to unify registration and user role management.

Here is a timeline we set from discussing with previous year virtual chairs:

- Autumn (until November 2023):

   - Contact miniconf / rocketchat for contract fees and details (coop with financial chair)
   - Handle and master / improve virtual tools from ACL2023: miniconf, oauth underline
   - Improve Naoki’s scripts to transform conf data into JSON format. Integrate ACL format first

- November 2023 to January 2024:

   - wait
   - maybe add some improvements to this year miniconf (especially for the mobile aspect)

- January:

   - Ask the conference for the hosting to link with the github pages (miniconf)

- ASAP (but estimated to a few weeks before the conference):

   - Obtain this year conference data in JSON format
   - Integrate updated ACL anthology into the miniconf
   - Data injection into the miniconf UI + rreactivity updates (schedule changes and so on)

- As soon as data arrives (the previous bullet point):

   - update miniconf

- During conference:

   - constant updates and monitoring (schedule, data, links, etc.)
   - if necessary, open some accounts manually (workshops for instance)

- After the conference:

   - Make sure to share advice, code and tips to the next virtual chairs.

order TODO list

1. play the current acl23 miniconf and underline 2. contract miniconf / rocketchat 3. oauth underline 4. training miniconf 5. nothing : should use to improve ui and other stuff, write guidelines scenarios 6. as soon as data arrives: make sure mininconf is updated 7. the week and weekend before the conf: hellish weekend, very busy 8. during conf: manually created accounts (as workaround, for workshop only for instance), make sure everything is updated constantly (schedule, data)

Be aware of internet issues if we are there in-person (pedro was in person, martin was online only)

Data pipeline

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1iFro9oYbns__aCzj16_H33LGK8Ns1--X1aHC4enhNaQ/edit

Code links:

https://github.com/acl-org/acl-2023-miniconf

https://github.com/acl-org/acl-2023-miniconf/blob/main/acl_miniconf/import_acl2023.py

https://github.com/acl-org/acl-2023-miniconf/blob/main/data/acl_2023/data/conference.json

https://github.com/acl-org/acl-2023-miniconf/actions/runs/5527905104/jobs/10084124519

Latest information from August:

Organization decided to work with Whova and Underline. Therefore, the responsibilities of virtual infrastructure chair is questionable, maybe we don't need this role in next conferences since everything is already handled by Damira (Underline). As of now, we are monitoring the Whova page "Ask Organizers Anything", and forward questions to relevant people. Most questions were on poster printing or changing the schedule. Schedule questions are again answered by Damira, and we forwarded others to local chairs. Makes more sense for local chairs & Underline people to monitor this channel maybe?