About

The Posters and Showpieces track provides a venue for authors to launch discussions, bridge connections, and reflect on recent work in programming languages, human-computer interaction, and education communities among fellow researchers and practitioners.

Formerly called “posters and demonstrations,” authors in this track may share recent ideas, work, and accomplishments in a variety of forms, including posters, downloadable apps, handouts, electronic devices, physical prototypes, or any other artifacts that facilitate meaningful interactions with other conference attendees.

Exemplar submissions to this track may be viewed in the 2020 proceedings. See both the “Poster” and “Showpiece” artifacts.

If you have questions about whether your idea is suitable for this track, you may send a message to VL/HCC showpiece organizers Andrew Head or Michael J. Lee with a brief description of your idea.

Note about remote attendance: We anticipate that some attendees will not be able to attend VL/HCC 2021 in person due to COVID-19 restrictions. Recognizing that lively discussion is at the heart of this track, we will ensure that all authors will be able to discuss their showpieces with conference attendees, regardless of whether they attend physically or virtually.

Accepted Papers

Call for Posters and Showpieces

The Posters and Showpieces track (called the “showpieces track” for short) offers an interactive opportunity to discuss recent research, experiences, challenges, ideas, prototypes, and accomplishments with the VL/HCC community. Formerly called “posters and demonstrations,” the category now includes include posters, videos, downloadable apps, handouts, electronic devices, physical prototypes, or any other artifacts that facilitate meaningful interactions with other conference attendees.

Topics and purpose of showpieces

A broad range of topics are appropriate for showpieces. The following non-exhaustive list illustrates the possibilities:

• Current research in progress. This might include:
  • Original or innovative technologies or prototypes that may or may not be accompanied by an evaluation
  • Short qualitative or quantitative studies
• Reflections, provocations, or proposals about theory or methods
• Results presented in the main VL/HCC conference
• Results already presented at another conference or published in a journal
• Existing commercial products and/or services
• Efforts aimed at integrating research into education
• Efforts aimed at commercializing research

Showpieces can help accomplish many goals, such as:

• Helping graduate student presenters to meet faculty from other universities
• Building community interest in a novel way of approaching a research topic
• Starting conversations that could lead to new collaborations
• Demonstrating to industry sponsors that a specific line of research has practical applications
• Showcasing products or services available for sale

Submitting a showpiece

Each submission will consist solely of a PDF file describing the showpiece, its motivation, and its relation to the VL/HCC audience. Submissions should follow the standard IEEE Conference Proceedings format, which includes Word / LaTeX templates for the submission.

The PDF may be 1-2 pages in length, plus up an additional 1-2 additional pages containing only acknowledgements and an appendix of only figures, plus an additional unlimited pages for references. A submission must include the following content:

Title and Authors

A title and list of authors.

Abstract

An abstract summarizing the submission.

Body

The body of the document should clearly convey the following (though it is not recommended to explicitly structure the submission as such):

• Content and claims: Describe the technical content of a showpiece, such as a research result, an effort to integrate research with education, an existing product, etc. Include any claims or conclusions which follow.

• Relevance: Explain why this content will be of interest to the VL/HCC community, highlighting any novelty.

• Presentation: Describe how the showpiece will be presented, for example, in a video, poster, app, or device. Posters and software demos are particularly recommended this year, as they could make for an engaging presentation in either a physical or virtual setting. The reviews of your submission may include advice about how to make the showpiece more accessible for a hybrid setting, should VL/HCC be held in a hybrid setting this year.

• References: Not required, but may be included if doing so helps to communicate the topical content, claims, novelty, or relevance.

The submission is not the showpiece itself

The submission is a description of the showpiece, and not the showpiece itself. The showpiece itself does not need to be submitted, nor does it need to exist when the PDF is submitted. For example, if the showpiece will be a video, then the video does not need to be submitted with the PDF. If the showpiece does not yet exist, the submission should simply explain what showpiece will be created to present the relevant content.

Reviewing Options

When submitting a showpiece, you may indicate whether you would like the showpiece to be published or not. Non-publishable submissions will be reviewed based on two criteria:

1. relevance and interest to the VL/HCC community
2. intelligibility of the submission.

Submissions accepted as non-publishable submissions will not be included in the proceedings. Non-publishable submissions are not archival, i.e., their publication will not influence whether the same work may be considered for the papers track of VL/HCC in a following year.

The publishable showpieces category is a venue for peer-reviewed, archival quality papers. Specifically, publishable submissions will be reviewed based on the criteria above as well as the following:

1. novelty
2. significance
3. validity of any claims or conclusions stated.

Thus, publishable submissions should be at an appropriate standard to be included in the conference proceedings as archival papers. They should make standalone contributions that are intelligible even in the absence of the actual showpiece.

Submitters may opt to have publishable submissions omitted from the proceedings, in case they wish to avoid any possibility of a prior-publication issue with a future archival publication. If this is the case, please email the showpieces chair.

If a submission fails to meet the criteria for publication, but could be accepted as a non-publishable submission, then we may suggest switching the submission to be non-publishable. For example, a submission presenting work that already will be appearing elsewhere in the main conference would be a reasonable non-publishable submission, but it might not meet the novelty criterion required for a publishable submission.

Publication and Presentation

Publishable submissions that are accepted to be included in the VL/HCC proceedings will appear on the IEEE Xplore Digital Library website, provided that at least one author registers for the conference and that the camera-ready copy is submitted by the deadline.

All authors of showpieces will present their work during a dedicated showpieces session during the main conference. In the past, when the conference has been held physically, this has meant presenting in a large room simultaneously, with each presenter allocated a specific assigned space for presenting a showiece. Presentation details for VL/HCC ‘21 will replicate this experience as best as possible in a physical, virtual, or hybrid setting. Additional details about the specifics of presentation will be posted soon.