2018Q1 Reports: Conference Officer

Handover

Thanks to Yejin Choi (University of Washington) who served as conference officer from Jan 2015 to Dec 2017. This report was put together with her input.

Conference Handbook Update

The policy on conflicts of interest has been updated in the conference handbook. Additionally, comments on best practices for poster presentations have been added to the Wiki. The Conference Handbook needs to be updated in other ways, especially when examples of practice from previous conferences are included.

Plagiarism

Two cases of potential plagiarism were discussed during 2017, and found not to count as such. ACL does not have a plagiarism policy at this point in time. It may be appropriate to explore whether to adopt one.

Reviewing support

The feedback on the Toronto Matching System was mixed. It is possible that reviewers did not use it appropriately (see https://naacl2018.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/a-review-of-reviewer-assignment-methods/) An ongoing effort spearheaded by Amanda Stent is addressing reviewing infrastructure support for ACL conferences.

The BIG Initiative

The Broad Interest Group (BIG) on diversity and inclusion is taking shape, currently looking for officers.