The Insiders are those people, like us, who know how OOPSLA works. They know how to work the Workshop thing; they don't go to Tutorials (InsidersDontAttendTutorials); they hang out together, seeking each other out to have their little chats.
The Outsiders are the people that will bring LIFE to OOPSLA. They have new, different ideas; they want to participate, and that want translates into eagerness and excitement. They just can't bridge the chasm metaphors between where they are and nerdvana.
OOPSLA was successful in the past because either this chasm didn't exist, or it was bridgable.
Bridging the chasm - a story:
My first OOPSLA was in 1991 (Phoenix, IIRC) - I went to learn, to meet the stars, to find out what was real and what wasn't. I attended tutorials and some of the technical sessions. In 1992 (Vancouver) I participated in a workshop (hosted by my friend and former colleague JimCoplien), did more tutorials and more technical sessions. In 1993 (Washington DC) I again did more tutorials, and at that point I decided that the best way to support this wonderful conference was to get involved. I approached the 1994 chair (Jeff McKenna) and was steered to BjornFreemanBenson to support his work on tutorial selections. I again attended (Portland) and again attended tutorials. In 1995 (Austin) I was Tutorials chair. It was very enlightening to work with the stars behind the scenes, learning which ones were nice to the little people (that's me -- without loss of generality, GradyBooch is the first name that comes to mind) and which were not (no names here, sorry, but there are some people that have special rules -- buy me a beer and I may spill my guts). In 1996 (San Jose) I was the demo chair AND part of the program committee. In 1997 I was unable to attend due to other business needs, but in 1998 I was again part of the committee (Practitioner Reports, formerly known as Experience Reports). 99 had me traveling extensively in Asia, 2000 I was part of the program committee and "merely an attendee," 2001 I was Panel chair, 2002 I shadowed Mamdouh, 2003 I was Conference Chair, and 2004 my principal role is to shut up and let John run the conference.
My bridging occurred perhaps at a time when the chasm was small, but it occurred because I worked at it and the OOPSLA committee was INTERESTED in expanding.
I can't comment on the desire and effort extended by Outsiders in general, but I can comment on the interest within the committee itself. There's some talk of extending, but almost every new person is met with a comment related to "risk" -- that person is an unknown so there's an attendant risk.
One thing that is sure is that without some risk, no new ground will be explored. So we'll continue to see mediocre paper after mediocre paper on garbage collection (or even good paper after good paper on garbage collection, but other topics remain unexplored)...
And that is my rant for today.
-- RonCrocker (16 JUN 04)