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Special CHIMIT/LISA <span>Workshop</span><br><br>Aligning the Research Interests of System Administrators and CHIMIT Researchers<br><br>It
has long been understood that the inclusion of end users in HCI studies
is the ideal to which most, if not all, investigations should strive.
While some studies target end users who are plentiful, straightforward
to access, or easy to proxy (e.g., the use of undergraduate students to
represent administrative assistants), HCI researchers interested in the
management of IT face many challenges when recruiting subjects, namely
system administrators (sysadmins). First, sysadmins perform work that is
complex and high risk, creating situations and environments that cannot
be easily replicated in a laboratory experiment or outside of their
native work environment. Second, studies have argued that sysadmins are
different from other computer professionals (such as computer
programmers); and as such, proxies cannot accurately approximate their
interactions and behaviors in experiments. Finally, studies suggest that
it is particularly difficult to gain access to sysadmins for study, for
reasons that include distrust of outsiders, overwhelming workloads, and
disinterest in research.<br><br>To encourage and promote collaboration among researchers and sysadmins, we are holding a one-day LISA <span>workshop</span>
on Monday, December 5, to be held in conjunction with CHIMIT ’11 and
LISA ‘11. LISA is one of the largest USENIX conferences and attracts
sysadmins working with large infrastructures. Participants will include
researchers interested in research involving sysadmins, and senior
sysadmins in the field interested in participating or providing access
to research data. This <span>workshop</span> will provide an
opportunity for in-depth discussions between CHIMIT researchers and
highly experienced system administrators. The expected outcomes include:<br>1. the identification of key areas of future research/collaborations<br>2. initial action plans, and<br>3. future joint conference submissions for CHIMIT and/or LISA.<br>
<br>Submissions<br>Interested
researchers should briefly describe their interest in research and
identify 2-3 key issues that they would be interested in investigating
in cooperation with sysadmins. <span>Workshop</span>
attendees will be selected from interested CHIMIT participants. There
will be a $50 surcharge in addition to the regular 1-day CHIMIT
registration fee. Approximately 10-20 attendees will be admitted to the <span>workshop</span>
based on the proposals. We also anticipate 10-20 senior sysadmins as
participants; these sysadmins will be selected based on their interest
in participation in research and their ability to offer feedback,
access, and data for the projects identified during the conference.<br><br>Position papers should be sent to: <a href="mailto:workshop@chimit.acm.org" target="_blank"><span>workshop</span>@chimit.acm.org</a>. Interested researchers are encouraged to submit papers this week.<br>
<br>Benefits<br>Benefits to CHIMIT participants include:<br>Admittance to the LISA <span>workshop</span>, which will include lunch and two catered breaks.<br>Opportunity to meet and talk with sysadmins and get feedback on current/future projects;<br>
Opportunity to mingle and snack with sysadmins during breaks (the important “hallway track”).<br>Access to USENIX publications, including LISA proceedings.<br>Better understanding of issues and problems facing sysadmins today.<br>
Opportunity to design and conduct engaged research with sysadmins.<br><br>Costs<br>For $50, selected researchers will be admitted to the LISA <span>workshop</span>,
which will include lunch and two catered breaks. In addition,
reimbursement for one night of hotel stay (up to $200) will be
provided. Attendees staying at the LISA conference hotel may be able to
have their extra night paid directly by the organizers.<br><br>Organizers<br>This special cross-conference <span>workshop</span> will be facilitated by Nicole F. Velasquez, Adam Moskowitz, and Paul Anderson.<br>
Nicole
is an Assistant Professor at Pepperdine University and is a recognized
sysadmin researcher in both academic and industry circles. She was
chair of CHIMIT ‘10 and has served on two LISA program committees. Her
homepage is <a href="http://nicolefv.com/" target="_blank">nicolefv.com</a>.<br>In
addition to two years as CHIMIT chair (2010 and 2011), Adam is a
long-time LISA participant who has served on ten LISA program
committees, was program chair of LISA ’09, and has facilitated the LISA
Advanced Topics <span>Workshop</span> since 1997.<br>Paul
Anderson is a member of the “Centre for Intelligent Systems
Architecture” at the University of Edinburgh. He has a background in
practical system administration and he is currently interested in
applying intelligent systems techniques to practical configuration
problems. Paul was programme chair for the 2007 LISA conference, and
author of the SAGE booklets on System Configuration, the LCFG
configuration tool, and a range of papers in the systems administration
field. His homepage is <a href="http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/dcspaul" target="_blank">http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/dcspaul</a>.</span></font>