Stefanie Kethers3, Rika Kobayashi1,2, Claire Trenham4, Aidan Hotan5, Vanessa Moss6,2, Glen Rees7,2, Elizabeth Tasker8, Chenoa Tremblay9
1Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 2University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 3 Australian Research Data Commons, Melbourne, Australia, 4CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Canberra, Australia, 5CSIRO Space and Astronomy, Kensington, Australia, 6CSIRO Space and Astronomy, Marsfield, Australia, 7BEBR, , Netherlands, 8Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency , Tokyo, Japan, 9 SETI Institute, Albuquerque, United States
Now that the COVID-afflicted world is re-opening to in-person conferencing we are seeing an increasing number of “hybrid” conferences encompassing both in-person and online participation. Through “The Future of Meetings” community we have been exploring ways to improve meetings and collaborations, including best practice for hybrid interaction. The hybrid format adds extra challenges in the need to enable the virtual and in-person participants to participate as equals, especially in social settings. However, there is a clear need for hybrid and virtual options for people unable to attend for health, financial, personal or other reasons. Enabling virtual participation in conferences is critical for inclusion of marginalised communities, particularly early-to-mid career researchers and people with caring responsibilities. Virtual options dramatically increase conference accessibility and sustainability, and we argue that both of these considerations (as well as inclusivity) should be core aims for conference organisers. This BoF is a call to action for people wanting to explore how to do hybrid well.
In this BoF, we will reiterate the TFOM recommendations for more effective meetings, outline design and technical considerations associated with the hybrid format and hear participants’ perspectives on opportunities and challenges.
Agenda:
Demonstration of tools and techniques for integrating in-person and virtual participants. (Convenors, 30 mins)
Discussion of case studies from recent hybrid events. (Convenors and participants, 30 mins)
Discussion of challenges of hybrid meetings, how to tackle them and how to shape the future. (Convenors and participants, 20 mins)
Summary and next steps (Convenors, 10 mins)
Biography:
Stefanie, Program Coordinator and Solution Architect for the ARDC’s Translational Research Data Challenges program, has a long-standing interest in facilitating cooperation.
Rika, HPC chemist at NCI, interested in virtual collaboration initiatives.
Claire, member of CSIRO’s Climate Science Centre, interested in sustainable remote collaborations.
Aidan, radio astronomer at CSIRO, project scientist for the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope.
Vanessa, CSIRO astronomer with a keen interest in the future of meetings.
Glen, Data Scientist at BEBR, interested in virtual collaboration and work.
Elizabeth, astrophysicist and science communicator at JAXA, interested in the potential of virtual collaborations to extend what is possible in-person.
Chenoa, astrobiology researcher, interested in staying connected via new ways of interacting virtually.