Talk/Paper Principles

1
Talk/Paper Principles

• Prasun Dewan
• FB150, Sitterson, 11-1215
• 962 1823
• dewan_at_unc.edu

2
Software vs. Communication

• Correctness vs. Style
• Style helps correctness
• Style more often abused

3
Deriving Principles/Patterns

• Start with axioms
• Defend but not prove them
• Often considered goals
• Should be as few as possible
• Every principle/pattern should not be an axiom!
• Derive principles/patterns from them

Reusability is good
Cost of re-using software is lower than writing
new software
Encapsulate as client of object does not react to
implementation changes
Use MVC as view can be changed without changing
model
4
Axioms/Goals of Research Talk/Paper

• Understandability (Degree)
• Better not communicate, than be unclear
• Novelty (Comparison with related work) (Binary)
• Not considered research otherwise
• People need to be convinced to some extent work
  is novel
• Cleverness (Degree)
• Tedious work not considered research
• Work amount (Degree)
• Otherwise contribution not significant
• Attention (Degree)
• First few minutes crucial

Other metrics?
5
Talk vs. Research

• Novelty
• In research
• Shown in talk
• Cleverness in
• Research
• Shown in talk
• In composing talk
• Work amount
• In research
• Shown In talk
• In composing talk

Work amount and cleverness in talk are secondary
and important goals
6
Relationship
Under. Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention
Under.
Novelty
Cleverness
Work. Amt.
Attention

• Many goals conflict with each other!
• That is mainly why talks are hard even for
  experienced presenters
• Some support each other

7
Understandability
Under. Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention
Under.
Novelty
Cleverness
Work. Amt.
Attention
?
?
?
?

• Loss of attention when not understandable
• Without clarity, novelty hard to determine
• If not understandable, work amt and cleverness
  may also be hard to determine.

8
Novelty (Comparing with Related work)
Under. Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention
Under.
Novelty
Cleverness
Work. Amt.
Attention
?
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?
?
?
?
?

• Bringing out the relationship with something
  reader knows may improve understanding
• Effectively distinguishing related work may make
  contribution seem
• more clever, if solution is simple only in
  retrospect.
• less clever as people may feel diff is small,
  but this is dishonest.
• People may pay more attention if they know others
  have worked on subject area

9
Cleverness
Under. Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention
Under.
Novelty
Cleverness
Work. Amt.
Attention
?
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?
?
?
?
?
?

• Clever things are hard to explain
• People realize that clever things take effort
• Amount of effort depends on person
• A smarter person might have larger expectations!
• People like to listen to insightful talks

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Work Amt.
Under. Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention
Under.
Novelty
Cleverness
Work. Amt.
Attention
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• Adding anything to talk increases chance of
  something not being understandable (assuming same
  amount of time)
• May go less deep and thus not show cleverness
• Difficult to pay attention if numerous topics
  introduced

11
Attention
Under. Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention
Under.
Novelty
Cleverness
Work. Amt.
Attention
?
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• If people are not paying attention, all is lost!
• Assuming attention is on relevant material

12
In remaining course
Under. Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• Techniques with specific examples and arguments
  based on axioms/goals
• Will analyze
• common rules of thumb (many are on the web)
• identify our own

13
Identify Potential Applications?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?

• E.g. Talk/paper patterns should improve talk
  quality
• Improves attention as people like practical
  results
• Reduces time for work amt. but is important if
  audience not familiar with applications
• Not a goal as some research may not have
  applications
• Dont make talk too application-centric
• Idea-centric

14
Related Work?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?

• Needed to prove novelty
• Contribution obvious only in retrospective
• Related work shows wrong way to do it
• Supports mystery story and thus attention
• After a way that does not work, people want to
  know a way that does

15
Compare as sets of features?

• IR Control Programs - PocketPC/Palm
• Cooltown HP (2003)
• MOCA IBM (1999)
• Universal Plug and Play Microsoft (2003)
• Jini (Service UI) Sun (2001)
• Personal Universal Controller (PUC) CMU (2004)
• Hodes System UC Berkeley (1998)
• ICrafter Stanford (2003)

• List all systems
• Say our system has new set of features

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Say Something Intuitive

• Hodes System UC Berkeley (1998)

• Our infrastructure looks at user centered whereas
  theirs is system-oriented

17
Show Holes in Design Space
UI Deployment
UI Generation
Predefined (UI)
Remote Factory
Client
Client Factory
Remote
Semi- Automatic
3rd Party Factory
Fully Automatic
Semi- Automatic
Device Factory
Fully Automatic
Design space if often a contribution in its own
right
18
Identify Evaluation Space
UI Deployment
UI Generation
Predefined (UI)
Remote Factory
Client
Client Factory
Remote
Semi- Automatic
3rd Party Factory
Fully Automatic
Semi- Automatic
Device Factory
Fully Automatic
Design space if often a contribution in its own
right
19
Classify related Systems
20
Identify Evaluation Metrics

• User-Interface Flexibility (Qualitative)
• range of user-interfaces an approach can support
• Programming Costs (Qualitative and Quantitative)
• amount of code required to deploy a
  user-interface
• Maintenance Costs (Qualitative)
• programming time and resources required to
  support and update user-interface code
• Efficiency (Qualitative and Quantitative)
• time and storage space costs of an approach
• Device Binding Time (Qualitative)
• time a client must learn about (or bind to) a
  device in order to deploy a user-interface for
  it.
• Deployment Reliability (Qualitative)
• the level of guarantee an approach offers in
  deploying a user-interface

Often contribution is some new set of metrics
21
Compare With Related Work

• Be Sure to Point Out Advantages and Disadvantages
• Can give results without proof in conference talk
• But dont shy away from complexity in longer
  talks

22
New Result? Research?

• Must have some new idea
• Retarget user-interface for device of one kind to
  user-interface for another kind of device so
  common parts are not re-created
• Ideally should compare with related ideas in even
  different domains
• Caching

23
New Idea?Research?

• Must show there is complexity
• Various Ways
• Equations, Architecture, Abstraction, Algorithm
• Do not need to give all details
• But do not shy from complexity in job and thesis
  talks
• Should describe at least one component in some
  depth

24
Practice Makes Perfect
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?
?
?

• Can show more content
• TV news, ads convey so much information per unit
  of time
• Both work amt and novelty
• Uh, ah, you know, pauses, groping for words,
  lack of confidence reduces attention
• Many good speakers talk as fast as they can
  without mumbling!
• Lampson units of speed.
• Can improve ways to make material understandable
  and look clever
• Assuming iteration
• Nature, cons, factors on which it depends?

25
Nature of Practice

• Rehearse in your mind (until the last moment)
• Speak it out in front of the mirror and record
  audio
• Next option is perhaps a better alternative
• Use recording software to record slides audio
• Rehearse in front of one person (e.g.
  advisor/co-author)
• May not feel as much energy as with an actual
  audience
• Can use it in addition or in place of next
  option.
• Rehearse in front of a practice audience
• Most important if you can get such an audience
  (record it!)

26
Memorize the speech?

• Can look too rehearsed
• Realty TV better than someone delivering an
  obviously memorized script?
• But movies, plays are rehearsed, learn to be an
  actor!
• Amazing similarity in same talk given at diff.
  times by great speakers
• Need to put appropriate pauses
• Rehearsed drama delivered more or less naturally
  better than realty TV

27
Memorization Technique

• Problem can occur if you start with script before
  talk
• Create script/memorize of what worked after each
  iteration!

28
Nature of Script

• Must keep conversational style
• Point to screen rather than describe
• At least in computer science
• In softer fields often writing/oratorial skills
  demonstrated in talks and speeches are often read
• Often in a very verbose way
• Talks by non-native speakers typically have more
  content!

29
Example Conversational Style?

• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor, which, recall, performs input and
  output, are centralized or replicated. So let us
  consider these architectural issues.
• You might as well be reading paper.

30
Example Conversational Style

• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor are
• Centralized
• Replicated
• So let us consider these architectural issues.
• Graphics and animation improves conversational
  style
• Words explain graphics on screen
• Like slide show

Centralized
Replicated
31
Cons of SlideShow Approach?

• PowerPoint takes center stage
• Many think of PPT as a bad thing
• In business not research
• Graphics for abstract ideas a la abstract art
• Much harder as not reading text
• Can animate text points in case cant remember
• Must use grammatically correct(and ideally
  elegant) English to expand points
• Otherwise better to read text slides
• Need script and practice to really make it work
  (next slide is example)

32
Problem

• Brooks 74 Diminishing returns as people are
  added to project
• Many reasons
• Conflicts

Product
Way back, Brooks found that t(click) adding
people to a project does not result in
proportional increase in team productivity. Over
the years, people have found many reasons for
this problem. One of these is conflicts, not
among people, as in the talk before, but between
the code they write in parallel software
development activities.
33
How much to practice?

• Con takes time and is tedious!
• Inversely prop. to time available for talk
• I did not have time to write a shorter letter
• Cannot afford pauses
• Inversely prop. to how articulate/experienced
• Directly proportional to importance

Amount of Practice
34
Practice in Different Kinds of Talks

• Defense
• Consequence can be failure
• Committee knows work
• Job talk precedes
• Conference talk
• Shortest possible time
• Potential interview
• Job talk
• Decides future!
• Conference talk precedes
• Class lecture
• Cannot afford overhead
• Audience asks clarification
• Job talk precedes

Amount of Practice
35
Dont Hide Information in Slide

• Belief strongly held by many
• Covering ports of transparency considered bad and
  distracting
• Audience member can go ahead of speaker and get
  more context
• Like animation in slide
• Figures hard to understand all at once (Satyajeet
  example)
• Can indeed provide mystery
• Cannot hide answer to question

• Belief strongly held by many
• Covering ports of transparency considered bad and
  distracting
• Understandability
• Audience member can go ahead of speaker and more
  context
• Graphics hard to understand all at once
• Animation in slide
• Cannot hide answer to question

36
Animation
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?
?

• Helps incremental understanding
• Keep attention as reader may go ahead
• Useful in Socratic (question and answer)
  explanation
• Too much animation can prevent understanding as
  less context available at any time
• Animation takes time
• Future work may not be animated
• Consider two alternatives shown in next two slides

37
MODELING MULTI-USER INTERACTION
Application
Coupling
Active Display
Active Display
Conflict Management
Editing Commands
Editing Commands
Undo/Redo
User 1
User 2
38
MODELING MULTI-USER INTERACTION
Application
Coupling
Active Display
Active Display
Conflict Management
Editing Commands
Editing Commands
Undo/Redo
User 1
User 2
39
What should be animated?

• Parts that need to be grasped incrementally
• An answer to a question
• .

40
Types of Questions

• E.g
• Should (parts of) a talk be structured as a
  series of questions and answers?
• Explicit
• Audience given chance to answer
• Expected to provide simplified answer
• Rhetorical
• Answered by presenter
• Implicit
• Raised in audience mind as side-effect of some
  information given by presenter
• answered in subsequent slides

41
Question and Answers?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?

• All
• Audience pays attention
• They try to answer question
• Connection is made to audience, so they will more
  friendly, and thus more guilty about going to
  laptop
• Favors understandability if audience tries to
  answer
• Favors cleverness if audience is thinking of
  wrong answer
• Specially if in retrospect, answer is simple, as
  good solutions should be

42
Question and Answers?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?
?
?

• Explicit
• Unsettling if audience does not attempt answer
• Survey questions are safest
• How many of you use the model-editor design
  pattern
• Explicit questions can be used to adapt talk?
• Do I need to explain model-editor version
• People will not say yes lest that will end up
  boring others
• People know less than you think!
• Takes time, works in lectures

• Explicit and rhetorical
• Conflicts with cleverness if audience easily
  thinks of correct answer

43
Question and Answers?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?

• Implicit
• Implies audience paying attention
• None of the above disadvantages
• Makes talk like a mystery story

44
Make Talk a Story?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?

• Creating flow connecting each information
  item to (ideally immediately) preceding item.
• Favors attention
• Even TV/radio news writers try to create a flow!

45
Make Talk a Story?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?

• Favors cleverness
• talk looks like proof with subsequent steps
  following from previous ones
• work looks like one big contribution than
  collection of unrelated small details
• thought that went into talk appreciated

46
Make Talk a Story?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?
?

• Favors novelty if previous work part of story
• Favors understandability as people see the a
  coherent picture

47
Is Creating a Flow Hard?

• E.g. -1 slide ? this slide ls creating a flow
  hard?
• E.g. -2 slide ? this is a special case of the
  more general rule that a talk should be a story
• First example relatively easy
• Second example required special ordering

• Explicit and rhetorical
• Audience pays attention
• Conflicts with cleverness if audience easily
  thinks of correct answer
• Implicit
• None of the above disadvantages
• Makes talk like a mystery story

Ordering used for 2 slide
48
Is Creating a Flow Hard?

• Implicit
• None of the above disadvantages
• Makes talk like a mystery story
• Explicit and rhetorical
• Audience pays attention
• Conflicts with cleverness if audience easily
  thinks of correct answer

• E.g. -1 slide ? this slide ls creating a flow
  hard?
• E.g. -2 slide ? this is a special case of the
  more general rule that a talk should be a story
• First example relatively easy
• But must remember transition
• Second example required special ordering

Alternative equally good ordering for intra -2
slide flow, but not inter-slide flow
49
Indicators of bad flow

• Simply stating the slide title
• Even paraphrasing is not enough
• I will next talk about
• Another component of the approach is

50
Indicators of good flow

• Connection to previous slide
• The concept leaves several questions
• This idea has the problem/advantage
• A related issue is

• Connection to far away slide
• The story so far is One issue I have not
  addressed is
• I will connect this to later I had mentioned
  that I would find a connection to This slide
  does so.

51
Special Slide for Flow

• The design framework does not define if the
  model and editor is
• Centralized
• Replicated.
• So let us consider these architectural issues.

52
Outline/Road-Map?

• Design Pattern
• Architecture

• Outline can create flow
• Users have been told the sequence of items
• Can bring back outline to go to next topic in it.

53
Mediocre Outline Based Flow

• Design Pattern
• Architecture

• I will next talk about the architecture
• Another part of this work is the architecture

54
Better Outline-based Flow

• Design Pattern
• Architecture

• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor are centralized or replicated. So let
  us consider these architectural issues

55
Build Outline Incrementally

• Design Pattern
• Architecture

• Probably said the same thing when first showing
  outline
• So better to lose the outline at start
• May build it incrementally

56
Main Outline?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?

• Most talks have similar main outline
• Main outline in stories?
• First few slides decide if people will pay
  attention
• How to start the talk?
• Consider two examples

• Problem
• Related Work
• Approach
• Evaluation
• Conclusion
• Future Work

57
Semi-Synchronous Conflict Detection and
Resolution in Asynchronous Software Development

• Prasun Dewan
• University of North Carolina
• dewan_at_unc.edu

Rajesh Hegde Microsoft Research
Rajesh.Hegde_at_microsoft.com
The problem we are solving has to do with
collaborative software development
58
Problem

• Brooks 74 Diminishing returns as people are
  added to project
• Many reasons
• Conflicts

Product
59
Crafting a Research Paper/Talk

• Prasun Dewan
• SN 150, Sitterson, 11-1215
• 962 1823
• dewan_at_unc.edu

60
Paper/Talk

• Paper document created
• Talk
• Slides and/or Delivery
• Some talks do not have slides!
• Talk LiveMeeting Recording

61
Crafting

• In the small
• Grammar, PPT Animations
• Style, PPT Color Choices
• Analogous to defining an object
• In the large
• Composition of prose and slide items
• Analogous to design patterns
• Assume proficiency in design in the small

The passive voice should not be used!
Use light text on dark background !
Have an abstract, introduction, body ,
conclusions and future work
Have a title, outline, body, conclusions , and
future work
62
State of the art in Papers/Talks

• Arguably good composition techniques
• Situational
• Examples!
• Practice

No one seems to have looked for patterns!
63
Hypothesis Such Patterns Exist

• Each student seems to make the same kinds of
  mistakes!

64
How to start the talk?

• Define one or more terms of title
• If necessary
• If not, do not read the title, or text on any
  slide!
• Motivate
• If necessary
• Give unsolved problem raised by subject of talk
• Describe state of art
• In research, not industry
• Start describing solution
• Everything else should be connectable to problem
  and solution

Crafting Composition of prose and slide items
Talk Slides Delivery
Patterns Arguably good general compositional
techniques.
No one seems to have looked for patterns!
Axioms
65
Inductive Flow

• Define terms of title
• If necessary
• Give unsolved problem raised by subject of talk
• Describe state of art
• In research, not industry
• Start describing solution
• Everything else should be connectable to problem
  and solution

Crafting Composition of prose and slide items
No one seems to have looked for patterns!
Axioms
66
Deductive Flow

• Define terms of title
• If necessary
• Give unsolved problem raised by subject of talk
• Describe state of art
• In research, not industry
• Start describing solution
• Everything else should be connectable to problem
  and solution

Crafting Composition of prose and slide items
No one seems to have looked for patterns!
Axioms
67
Deductive vs. Inductive

• Inductive learners like to work out general
  principles from cases and examples
• Retain information better
• Attempt to solve mystery
• Deductive learners like to see general
  principles and then cases and examples
• Can become good scientists
• Happier with non mystery

Abstraction
Cases /examples
Cases /examples
68
Inductive?
You flirted with my boyfriend
You were rude to my mother

• I HATE YOU!

You kicked my cat
Example taken from Wolfgang Gatterbauer
69
Deductive?
You flirted with my boyfriend
You were rude to my mother

• I HATE YOU!

You kicked my cat
Example taken from Wolfgang Gatterbauer
70
Alternative Deductive vs. Inductive

• Inductive (Supp. Args.)
• May not clear be why information is being given
• Too much mystery!
• Investigation described without identifying crime
• Deductive (Supp. Args)
• Point is clear
• Creates flow/story
• Motivated vs. unmotivated better name
• Will implicitly assume this deductive, called the
  Minto pyramid principle
• Not to be confused with (information pyramid
  (later)

Conclusion
Supporting Arguments
Supporting Arguments
71
Illustrate with Examples?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?

• For related work and bringing out requirements
• Helps understandability
• Needed for inductive
• Helps deductive
• Keeps attention
• Specially if example is real-world

72
Illustrate with Examples?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?
In the small Grammar, PPT Animations Style, PPT
Color Choices Analogous to defining an object In
the large Composition of prose and slide
items Analogous to design patterns

• In soft fields, field without benchmarks, or
  talk or conference paper
• definition/proof by example important to make
  point
• Can take time
• Use running example to
• reduce time
• bring out all issues for inductive
• Next few slides are examples

The passive voice should not be used!
Have an abstract, introduction, body ,
conclusions and future work
73
Example Conflict
Refactors to change parameter order
Changing APIs de Souza, Redmilles et al 04
Subclasses with old parameter order
74
Traditional Conflict Management Model
Bob has not checked in as yet
75
Traditional Conflict Management Model

• Asynchronous Software Development
• Line-based Conflict Detection
• Individual Conflict Management
• Late Conflict Management

76
New Requirements and Model

• Asynchronous Software Development
• Dependency-based Conflict Detection
• Collaborative Conflict Management
• Early Conflict Management

CollabVS Visual Studio Semi Synchronous
Collaborative Conflict Management
77
Incremental Dependency Checking
Calls
False Positives Cannot be Eliminated Halting
Problem
78
Conflict Inbox
Dependency Notification

• Email metaphor

79
Switching to Non-Conflicting Work
View Next Warning
View Next Warning
80
Conflict Prevention
View Next Warning
View Next Warning
Watch Notification

• Can change parameter order

81
Interesting vs. Crucial Examples

• Rehearse in your mind (until the last moment)

• Interesting example simply provides prop for
  script
• Often picture worth a thousand words
• Increase attention
• Practice to see if they are too frivolous
• Dont need to use any words for them and hence
  take no time

82
Graphics vs. Non-Graphics?

• Images
• Architecture
• Icons
• Anything non-bullet?

83
Interpreting graphics

• Look at audience
• You are the focus
• Audience listens to you
• May not notice graphics
• Specially fast moving animation
• Look at slide
• Audience looks at you and slide
• Do not look into space

84
Referencing a screen area

• Pointing devices
• Distracting, becomes focus of attention
• Always usage issues
• People circle rather than point
• Audience has no idea
• Mouse, laser position sometimes hard to see
• Direct pointing
• Makes you move
• Do not just stand at podium like a statue
• May not be possible in really big conferences
• Animate object on which you want to focus
• Animation could be missed

85
Illustration Order

• Illustrate incrementally

86
Incremental Dependency Checking
Calls
False Positives Cannot be Eliminated Halting
Problem
87
Conflict Inbox
Dependency Notification

• Email metaphor

88
Alternative Order

• Give complete model
• Then illustrate

89
Complete Model
90
Incremental Dependency Checking
Calls
91
Conflict Inbox

• Email metaphor

92
Alternative Order

• Give complete model
• Then illustrate
• Deductive by definition

93
Yet another alternative

• Illustrate
• Then give complete model
• Inductive

94
Incremental Dependency Checking
Calls
95
Conflict Inbox

• Email metaphor

96
Complete Model
97
Lazy Evaluation
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?

• In lazy evaluation, expression evaluated just
  before use
• If not needed, not referenced
• Provide information incrementally
• Or define just before use (and not much earlier
  or later)
• Or do not wait too long to motivate or illustrate
  some concept.
• Or do not provide information irrelevant to
  conclusion
• Otherwise will repeat or will lose people
• In deductive will not motivate
• Judgment call as to what is atomic unit of
  information

98
Repetition?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?

• People learn through repetition
• Quick learners can get bored
• Conflicts with work. amt.
• May not be able to explain something else
• How many times?
• Tell what you are going to tell them, Tell them,
  Tell them what you told them

People learn through repetition
People learn through repetition
99
Summary-Detail-Summary

• Abstract the topic
• Give next level(s) of detail
• Information pyramid
• Summarize the topic
• Perhaps later in the conclusion section when
  people have forgotten

Repetition should be structured into three parts
Tell them what your are going to tell them, Tell
them, Tell them what you told them
To summarize, repetition should be structured
into three parts
100
Topic-Detail-Summary

• Identify the next topic
• Explain the topic
• Summarize the topic

Let us consider the nature of repetition
Tell them what your are going to tell them, Tell
them, Tell them what you told them
To summarize, repetition should be structured
into three parts
101
Repetition for Non-Linear Flow

• A talk/paper often cannot be a linear sequence
• Tree, Hyper-graph
• Try to create linear flow!
• Repetition for forward referencing
• Repetition for reminding
• Be sure to point out that you are repeating
• Otherwise people get a feeling of déjà vu and
  tune out

As we will see later, repetition can be useful.
Some other topic.
Tell them what you are going to tell them, Tell
them, Tell them what you told them.
Some other topic.
As I mentioned before, some form of repetition
may be useful.
102
Repetition for Giving Full Picture

• Present parts of the model
• Then put it all together
• If there is time

103
Incremental Dependency Checking
Calls
False Positives Cannot be Eliminated Halting
Problem
104
Conflict Inbox
Dependency Notification

• Email metaphor

105
Complete Model
106
Next two slides are inductive slides
107
Theoretical Evaluation

• Asynchronous Software Development
• Early conflict detection
• Dependency-based conflict detection
• Collaborative conflict detection and resolution

That was our theoretical evaluation. Next Rajesh
will describe the lab study we did.
108
Lab Study

• 16 developers, Groups of 2 (A B) not
  co-located (A and B did different tasks)
• Training -20 minutes
• Actual task -60 minutes
• Survey, Debrief 15 minutes

109
Theoretical Evaluation

• Asynchronous Software Development
• Early conflict detection
• Dependency-based conflict detection
• Collaborative conflict detection and resolution

Thus the model meets all of our requirements. So
it seems we have accomplished our mission. Well
not quite. These requirements were derived from
theoretical arguments. To determine if
programmers really wanted to be liberated from
the traditional model, we conducted a lab study,
which Rajesh will describe.
110
Lab Study

• 16 developers, Groups of 2 (A B) not
  co-located (A and B did different tasks)
• Training -20 minutes
• Actual task -60 minutes
• Survey, Debrief 15 minutes

111
Make connections explicitly

• Good flow requires explicit connections
• Even experts may not realize connections
• You may not either
• Standard does not mean required
• Argument that paper cannot get accepted without
  lab study is a cop-out

112
Concise
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?

• Less is more
• Talk should be just the title?
• Use the minimum amount of words required to make
  the point
• Slide-deck can be concise but not presentation
• Practice!
• Holds attention
• Increases attention
• May conflict with understandability
• Sometimes alternative ways are needed

113
Time in Different Kinds of Talks

• What to put in each talk?

Time Available
Defense/Job
Conference
114
Information Pyramid

• Give information at different levels of
  abstraction
• News articles can be cut at any point from the
  bottom
• So can talk!

Abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction
115
News Example (Philip Yaffe)
Britain yesterday has once again called for the
United Nations to mount a peacekeeping operation
in the violence-torn Darfur region of Sudan in
response to increasing complaints from aid
agencies on site that international efforts to
help Darfur's desperate, displaced population are
woefully inadequate.
At the same time, Her Majesty's Government is
joining with other European Union countries to
threaten sanctions against Sudan unless its
government energetically moves to end the "ethnic
cleansing" against black villagers in Darfur by
the mainly Arab Janjawid militias. UN officials
report that the conflict has already claimed from
30,000 - 50,000 lives and about 1.2 million
people have been displaced, with about 200,000
taking refuge in neighbouring Chad.
116
News Example (Philip Yaffe)

• The British Government is concerned about the
  situation in Darfur.
• Darfur is a violence-torn region of Sudan.
• Britain believes a peacekeeping force is urgently
  needed.
• It is pressing the United Nations to supply this
  peacekeeping force.
• This is not the first time that it has urged the
  UN to supply peacekeeping force.
• The population of Darfur has been displaced.
• Aid agencies in Darfur say that international
  assistance to these distressed people is
  inadequate.

117
News Example (Philip Yaffe)

• The trouble in Darfur is a race war
• Arab militias are attacking black villagers.
• Britain and other EU countries believe the
  Sudanese Government is not doing enough to stop
  the war.
• They threaten sanctions against Sudan if its
  government does not quickly take action to end
  the attacks.
• To date, between 30,000 - 50,000 people have been
  killed.
• About 1.2 million have been displaced.
• About 200,000 have fled across the border into
  the neighbouring country of Chad.
• These figures come from the United Nations, which
  is a reliable source.

118
News vs. Research

• News
• may not contain analysis.
• Goal is to inform
• Story
• Research
• Shows non-obvious result
• Needs some suspense!
• Mystery story
• Dont want to say butler did it at the start!

119
Information Pyramid in Research

• How to create information pyramid?

Conference
Defense, Job
120
Application

• Conference
• May omit if nothing new in driving problem
• Networked devices vs. soft real time constraints
  in multimedia
• Defense/job
• Give standard ones in your field
• People outside field are very skeptical

Conference
Defense, Job
121
Related Work

• Conference
• Usually no time to explain others work
• Can compare with familiar state of practice
  rather than research
• Physical remote controls vs. software remote
  controls
• Could give evaluation metrics and state results
  of evaluation
• May give design space and motivate metrics if
  these are original
• Comparison can be done at end of talk rather than
  at beginning specially when related work is very
  loosely connected

Conference
Defense/ Job
122
Related Work

• Defense/Job
• The obvious relevant ones
• But nothing irrelevant

Conference
Defense/ Job
123
Ideas

• Conference
• The fewer that encompass the work the better
• Abstraction is key here
• Defense/Job
• Name and ideally describe at a high level all
  relevant ideas

Conference
Defense, Job
124
Complexity

• Conference
• Flashing complex picture/diagram/equation?
• Cheap way of showing complexity
• Works for showing large amt of data
• Explain equation, diagram without
  proving/justifying

Conference
Defense, Job
125
Complexity

• Defense/Job
• Provide the conference-level intuition
• Go deep into one aspect of work

Conference
Defense, Job
126
Concise vs. Information Pyramid

• Typically no time to explain at lower/multiple
  abstraction levels
• Choose the abstraction(s) level given constraints
• Candidate day, job fair, conference talk
• Prepare lower abstractions even if no more time
• To answer more detailed questions

127
Tailor Talk to Audience?

• Audience knowledge
• Experts may know details of research context and
  related work
• But experts may like seeing how you define it
• If they are evaluating you
• Can almost never assume audience all experts
• Maybe conference talk
• Assume undergrad knowledge from audience
• Dont ask do I need to explain this?
• People dont volunteer ignorance
• Just explain at the level of abstraction needed
  to make your point

128
Tailor Talk to Audience?

• Audiences research accomplishments
• Refer to expert audience members results
• if relevant in making your point
• People love being referenced but not unnecessary
  flattery

129
Tailor Talk Style to Audience?

• Inductive vs. Deductive
• People judging you likely to be inductive
• These are the people who typically succeed in
  academics
• Though many successful (computer?) scientists are
  deductive

Abstraction
Cases /examples
130
Tailor Talk to Audience?

• Fundamentalists
• There are absolute comm. rules
• Situational Theorists
• Whether and how communication understood depends
  readers mind
• There are no absolute rules
• Bad communicators become fundamentalists
• Those who cant do talk
• Those cant teach, teach about talking

Always Inductive
Inductive
Deductive
131
Tailor Audience to Talk?

• Choose audience appropriate for talk.
• Or dont give a talk if audience is not
  appropriate
• Or Have something to say
• That is interesting to the audience!
• Better to tailor talk to audience
• In some places a thesis synopsis has to be given
  to parents and friends and family
• Build information pyramid!

132
Average 2 Minutes per Slide?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• Balance between understandability and other
  conflicting metrics
• Assumption, more time improves understandability
• Boundary condition A single slide makes talk
  more understandable?
• Sometimes more slides, graphics, animation
  clarify point that otherwise is given lengthier
  explanation
• Amount of information is what happens

133
Example Good Writing Style?

• Must describe object rather than point at it
• This does not define if the model and editor, .
• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor,
• This should always be followed by a noun
• This approach, This idea, This example
• Sometimes noun is needed to formalize what one is
  talking about
• Thus, the editor and model are separate
  components.
• This design pattern does not vs. This does not
• Sometimes noun is redundant and leads to
  repetition
• An alternative is to grant the access
  automatically under the optimistic assumption
  that this will cause no harm.
• An alternative is to grant the access
  automatically under the optimistic assumption
  that this grant will cause no harm.

134
Rest are unused slides
135
Inductive?
You flirted with my boyfriend
You were rude to my mother

• I HATE YOU!

You kicked my cat
136
Deductive?
You flirted with my boyfriend
You were rude to my mother

• I HATE YOU!

You kicked my cat
137
Alternative Deductive vs. Inductive

• Inductive
• Not clear why information is being given
• Too much mystery!
• Investigation described without identifying crime
• Deductive
• Point is clear

Abstraction
Supporting Arguments
Supporting Arguments
138
Information Pyramid

• Give information at different levels of
  abstraction
• News paper is
• News articles can be cut at any point from the
  bottom
• So can talk!

Abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction
139
Question Time

• Listen to the question!
• Dont panic
• Be honest
• Naked presentation
• Avoid negative comments?
• Without mentioning the positive ones
• Self-deprecating comments dont work in the US
• On balance work must be defensible!
• Be polite
• to stupid questions

140
Delivery
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• Make eye contact
• Dont look at just one person or a subset
• Look for questions and light bulbs flashing
• Though might focus on ones asking questions
• Dont hide slides
• Move around
• For e.g. towards person asking question

141
Humoyur
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• hh

• Relaxes people
• Often insightful
• In-context
• Contribution obvious only in retrospective
• Supports mystery story

Put in examples
142
Main Outline?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• hh

• Most talks have similar outline
• First few slides decide if people will pay
  attention
• Dont say something that cannot be derived from
  previous talk
• Except title

Put in examples
143
Principle of Good Flow
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• Only say things that can be derived from talk so
  far
• Except title
• Main outline violates this in a minor way

• Problem
• Related Work
• Approach
• Evaluation
• Conclusion
• Future Work

Put in examples
144
News Example (Philip Yaffe)

• The British Government is concerned about the
  situation in Darfur.
• Darfur is a violence-torn region of Sudan.
• Britain believes a peacekeeping force is urgently
  needed.
• It is pressing the United Nations to supply this
  peacekeeping force.
• This is not the first time that it has urged the
  UN to supply peacekeeping force.
• The population of Darfur has been displaced.
• Aid agencies in Darfur say that international
  assistance to these distressed people is
  inadequate.

Britain yesterday has once again called for the
United Nations to mount a peacekeeping operation
in the violence-torn Darfur region of Sudan in
response to increasing complaints from aid
agencies on site that international efforts to
help Darfur's desperate, displaced population are
woefully inadequate.
145
News Example (Philip Yaffe)

• The trouble in Darfur is a race war
• Arab militias are attacking black villagers.
• Britain and other EU countries believe the
  Sudanese Government is not doing enough to stop
  the war.
• They threaten sanctions against Sudan if its
  government does not quickly take action to end
  the attacks.
• To date, between 30,000 - 50,000 people have been
  killed.
• About 1.2 million have been displaced.
• About 200,000 have fled across the border into
  the neighbouring country of Chad.
• These figures come from the United Nations, which
  is a reliable source.

At the same time, Her Majesty's Government is
joining with other European Union countries to
threaten sanctions against Sudan unless its
government energetically moves to end the "ethnic
cleansing" against black villagers in Darfur by
the mainly Arab Janjawid militias. UN officials
report that the conflict has already claimed from
30,000 - 50,000 lives and about 1.2 million
people have been displaced, with about 200,000
taking refuge in neighbouring Chad.
146
Nutshell-Detail-Summary
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• Give basic idea
• Uses divide and conquer
• Give solution
• Algorithm and performance
• Summarize the topic
• Used divide and conquer and it works as well

147
Illustrate with Examples?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• Can show less work
• In soft fields or talk or conference paper
• definition/proof by example useful abstraction
  technique

In the small Grammar, PPT Animations Style, PPT
Color Choices Analogous to defining an object In
the large Composition of prose and slide
items Analogous to design patterns
The passive voice should not be used!
Have an abstract, introduction, body ,
conclusions and future work
148
Abstraction
Abstraction
Abstraction
149
Multiple Levels of Abstraction

• Need to balance abstraction and suspense
• Bring existing before giving basic solution.
• Bring out more issues and (maybe approaches if
  any) before giving next level of details

Title
Problem / Issues
Related Work
Most Abstract Solution
More Issues Details
More Issues Details
150
Time in Different Kinds of Talks

• Can give results without proof in conference talk
  at least
• Dont shy away because of complexity
• Do not need to give all details
• But do not shy from complexity
• Should describe at least one component in some
  depth
• Defense
• Consequence can be failure
• Committee knows work
• Job talk precedes
• Conference talk
• Shortest possible time
• Potential interview
• Job talk
• Decides future!
• Conference talk precedes
• Class lecture
• Cannot afford overhead
• Audience asks clarification

Time Available
L
J
D
C
151
Indicators of good flow

• Connection to previous slide
• The model leaves several questions open such as
  the replication of the modules. So let us
  consider these architectural issues.
• This idea has the problem/advantage

• Connection to far away slide
• The story so far is One issue I have not
  addressed is
• I will connect this to later I had mentioned
  that I would find a connection to This slide
  does so.

152
Outline/Road-Map?

• Framework
• Architecture

• Outline can create flow
• Users have been told the sequence of items
• But still need flow to connect outline items
• We will look at the system at multiple levels of
  abstraction. First the model, then .
• Re-show outline on each context switch and
  re-create flow
• That is all I will say about the model. Let us
  now see the architecture that implements it.

153
Outline?

• Framework
• Architecture

• Has components not found in all talks

154
Illustrate with Examples?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

• In soft fields or talk or conference paper
• definition/proof by example useful abstraction
  technique

155
Related Work?
Understandability Novelty Cleverness Work. Amt. Attention

?
?
?

• Needed to prove novelty
• Contribution obvious only in retrospective
• Supports mystery story
• Should be covered at some level of abstraction
• Sometimes Hard to explain other works in
  conference
• No other existing approach solves this problem,
  take my word for it.
• Easily possible to overdo details

156
Example Conversational Style

• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor are (not shown in slide)
• Centralized
• Replicated.
• So let us consider these architectural issues.
  (not shown in slide)
• Graphics and animation improves conversational
  style
• Words explain graphics on screen
• Like slide show

Centralized
Replicated
157
Example Conversational Style?

• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor, which, recall, performs input and
  output, are centralized or replicated. So let us
  consider these architectural issues.
• You might as well be reading paper.

158
Example Good Writing Style?

• Must describe object rather than point at it
• This does not define if the model and editor,
  which, recall, performs input and output, are
  centralized or replicated. So let us consider
  these architectural issues.
• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor, which, recall, performs input and
  output, are centralized or replicated. So let us
  consider these architectural issues.
• This should always be followed by a noun
• This approach
• This idea
• This example

159
Example Good Writing Style?

• Must describe object rather than point at it
• This does not define if the model and editor, .
• The design pattern does not define if the model
  and editor,
• This should always be followed by a noun
• This approach, This idea, This example
• Sometimes noun is needed to formalize what one is
  talking about
• Thus, the editor and model are separate
  components.
• This design pattern does not vs. This does not
• Sometimes noun is redundant and leads to
  repetition
• An alternative is to grant the access
  automatically under the optimistic assumption
  that this will cause no harm.
• An alternative is to grant the access
  automatically under the optimistic assumption
  that this grant will cause no harm.
• Write the noun and then remove it if necessary
• This way you know what you are talking about