[TOS] The future of POSSE - discuss.

[Sebastian Dziallas]

On 2/1/2012 11:05 AM, Mel Chua wrote:
> My answers, as promised. I've probably agonized over them too long, so
> I'm just going to ship...
>
>> 1. Do we want to do POSSE (or other types of faculty workshops) this
>> summer?
>
> Yes - I think they're a valuable drumbeat to keep up. There are tweaks
> and edits we can make, but I think it's worth doing again, provided
> there's interest in organizing and attending.

Yes. I think it'd be very interesting to have 'em, but I guess we'll 
need to figure out where and how the entire thing is going to happen 
logistically (*waves hands around*).

>> 2. If so, what might we be willing to pitch in / put up for it?
>
> It's easy to say "yes, that'd be a good idea" up until you're forced to
> pony up the resources to make it happen yourself. :) For me personally:
> I've loved running POSSE the past few years, but I'm at the point where
> I want to look at the *effects* and the *effectiveness* of POSSE and TOS
> -- and since nobody else is stepping up to do that research (any
> takers?) I'd like to hand responsibility for its operations and
> logistics off and start that research myself. I know I cannot
> simultaneously research POSSE *and* bear the load of keeping the program
> in existence -- at most, I can do one of the two, and I've done the
> latter for a while now.
>
> I love -- and am willing to -- do curriculum development and teach
> workshops, but need to think about finances for the summer (ah, grad
> student life). I'm also willing to work on or help with grant
> applications to fund POSSE, but will need plenty of coaching through
> that process. And I will, of course, help with the transition as I can.
> But if POSSE's going to keep happening, others are going to have to step
> up with funding, hosting space, attendees, help with recruiting,
> organization, etc.

As many of you may know (shout-out to the ones of you I met this 
summer!), I've been teaching a variety of POSSEs over the past year or 
two. For the POSSE in Raleigh this summer, I was largely responsible for 
logistics & coordination, but also taught the more 
release-engineering-like parts of the curriculum.

I'd be more than happy to do so again. That being said, I don't have a 
lot of funds available to fly myself around the country. :)

Lastly, let's make sure we catch up in person at SIGCSE on this as well?

>> 3. If not, what do we want to do instead? ("Nothing" is a completely
>> valid answer -- we shouldn't do something for the sake of having
>> something to do!)
>
> I would advocate for doing some other Fairly Largish Project with a
> Concrete Milestone and Drumbeat if we drop POSSE, because I fear that
> without *something* central to keep a TOS drumbeat going, we'll lose
> cohesion. I'm curious what other proposals/ideas there might be. Is
> there something higher-impact we could do to strengthen the TOS
> community (and what criteria for "higher-impact" are we using)?

*nod* and *punt*... for a later time when it's not 1am. :)

--Sebastian

> --Mel
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