Student-led paper discussions
Several lectures throughout the semester include discussions of papers related to the topics of the various weeks. We will follow a `role-playing'' presentation and discussion format, inspired by Aditya Parameswaran's INFO290T course structure. This is the first time we will be trying out this role-playing activity, so the plan and structure are tentative and subject to change. Expect possible wrinkles, and please excuse the initial clunkiness. We would also love your feedback on this!
Please see below about the structure and expectation of the roles we will be employing. The roles are inspired by Colin Raffel's paper-reading seminars
Paper author
Each paper will be assigned to 5-6 students who will take on the role of the paper's authors. The "paper authors" will need to study the paper and prepare a presentation of about 7 minutes to deliver in class, focusing on highlighting the contributions and main results on the work. The presentation may be delivered by a subset of the students on the team, but it is the team's responsibility to determine the presenter(s) and all students are expected to contribute to the preparation. Each student will need to act as a paper author for only 1 paper throughout the semester.
Structure: There will be one team of paper authors per paper, who will collaborate on the work. Each student will take on this role for one paper.
Academic researcher
The students assigned to this role will act as researchers proposing
imaginary follow up work inspired by this paper. The proposed work should
rely on technology or findings made by the paper discussed. The team should
not simply copy future work mentioned in the paper, but come up with their
own ideas. The team of academic researchers should collaborate to come up
with the idea and prepare 1-2 slides describing it. The slides will be
shared with the class, and may be presented if time permits.
Structure: There will be two teams of academic researchers for each paper; each team will work together on the work but the two teams will not collaborate with each other. Each student will take on this role for two papers in total.
Academic historian
The students assigned to this role will be in charge of describing the
timeline of work that came before and after the paper under discussion. The
team should collaborate to produce 3-4 slides that detail the context of prior work
that this paper is based on and subsequent work that is based on this
paper. The presentation should briefly describe at least one older
paper that the discussed paper is based on, and a newer paper that
cites the current paper. The slides will be
shared with the class, and may be presented if time permits.
Structure: There will be two teams of academic historians for each paper; each team will work together on the work but the two teams will not collaborate with each other. Each student will take on this role for two papers in total.
Industry practitioner
Students in this role assume they work for a company or organization that
may choose to implement the proposed technology as part of their
application or product. (Please do not repeat proposals from prior
sessions). Bring a convincing pitch (1-2 slides) for why you should be paid to implement
the method in the paper, and discuss at least one possible benefit and one
potential disadvantage for the application. The slides will be
shared with the class, and may be presented if time permits.
Structure: There will be two teams of industry practitioners for each paper; each team will work together on the work but the two teams will not collaborate with each other. Each student will take on this role for two papers in total.
Scientific peer reviewer
Students in this role act as a peer reviewer at a top-tier conference venue where this paper is submitted. Each student in this role needs to write a review following a typical format (a summary paragraph, a list of strong points, and a list of weak points). Each student in this role prepares and submits a review independently. Reviews will later be shared with the class.
Please see instructions for preparing your reviews here
Structure: Students in this role work independently, not in teams. Each student will take on this role for three papers in total.
Sign-up rules for presentation role-playing
A sign-up sheet linked below is accessible through your UMass account. Please do not send requests for access from different accounts; those will not be granted.
Click here to access the signup sheet.
When signing up, you need to follow these rules:
- You need to sign up for all roles; enter your @umass email address and nothing else.
- You cannot sign up for 2 different roles for the same paper.
- You should not erase or move anyone else's information in the spreadsheet. If your preferred paper has no more slots, you simply have to pick a different one. We will inspect document history if any disputes arise.
- You need to sign up for one paper as a paper author, for two papers as an academic researcher, for two papers as an academic historian, for two papers as an industry practitioner, and for three papers as a scientific reviewer.