The conference sessions begin on Wednesday morning. Each day will be
quite busy, but we hope that they will also be rewarding and fun. Information
on the individual events is linked at the bottom of this page.
Travel Plans
If at all possible, you should make travel arrangement so that you arrive
around dinner time on Tuesday and fly out late Saturday afternoon. The
shuttle running between Allerton House and the airport will usually require
you to leave 2-3 hours before your flight departs. This means that you
should aim for a scheduled departure time from the Urbana-Champaign airport
of 3:00 PM or later in order for you not to miss any part of the conference.
Menus
Check out the menus and let us know if you have
any special dietary needs.
Details on Some Activities
Games
Games are an integral part of the PLoP experience. This year, we are glad
to welcome back George Platts as our "tangential thinking coordinator".
George is a fixture at PLoP and EuroPLoP.
We encourage everyone to participate in the games as fully as they are
able. You'll find that they add a lot to your PLoP experience, in terms
of mental freshness, personal connections within the community, and just
plain fun!
Newcomer Orientation
PLoP veteran Steve Berczuk will lead an informal session for folks new
to PLoP or the software patterns community. Topics will include the history
of PLoP, the format of the conference, the nature of writers workshops,
and workshop moderation. Of course, Steve will entertain any questions
and maybe even answer some of them! And you need not be a newcomer to join
in--either to ask or answer questions...
Opening Ceremonies
This session will formally open the conference. We will introduce you to
the people and facilities you'll need to know for the conference, and answer
any questions you may have. We'll also present a short demonstration writers
workshop, so that newcomers will have a better idea of how they work and
so that veterans can refresh their memories.
Shepherding Award
At PLoP and EuroPLoP this year, the Hillside Group is inaugurating a new
award, the Neil Harrison Great Shepherd Award, to honor one or more shepherds
who provided exemplary service to their authors and thus to the software
patterns community. The award is named in honor of Neil Harrison, widely
acknowledged as perhaps the one person who has contributed the most to
our community to shepherd papers and to help the rest of us become better
shepherds. Past award winners include Norm Kerth and Todd Coram for their
exemplary work as a shepherds.
Who will receive the Neil Harrison Great Shepherd Award for PLoP-2001?
You'll find out at the opening ceremony!
Writers Workshops
The writers workshops are the heart of PLoP. If you are an author, you
will stay with your workshop group for all the sessions. Please prepare
for each workshop so that each author in your group has a valuable experience.
Your co-authors will do the same for you.
Non-authors are strongly encouraged to choose a workshop group
and work with it for all the sessions. Your workshop groups may invite
you into full participation and, if so, you should prepare to participate
just like another author.
Refactoring Workshop Proposals
Linda Rising's book, The Pattern Almanac 2000, was one of the first major
attempts at organizing and describing published patterns. Other groups
have been interested in structuring pattern languages from existing patterns,
such as those in the organizational, telecom and elementary pattern communities.
It is the goal of the refactoring workshops to provide intensive,
collaborative environments where those interested in forming or extending
pattern languages can meet.
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Patterns Bookstore
We plan to have UofI
Book Stores as a guest. They will set up a table at which you can buy
a selection of books on patterns, including some of Christopher Alexander's
books. More details on the days and times will be made available soon.
Plenary Session: A Good "Sheep": More than Meets the Eye
This session was going to be a sequel to the shepherding workshop; a talk
on being a good sheep. But it got sidetracked, because being a good sheep
is intimately tied to pattern quality, which is intimately tied to beauty,
wholeness, and piecemeal growth. And these are tied to software quality
and usability.
Shepherding Workshop
One of the veteran pattern writers, shepherds, and instructors, will lead
a session aimed at helping us all be better shepherds. Those of you who
have written a PLoP paper know just how important shepherds are to PLoP.
They are the lifeblood of the community.
Even if your paper at PLoP-2001 was your first pattern-writing experience,
we encourage you to look toward being a shepherd for future pattern events.
This workshop will help you begin to contribute as a shepherd. If you are
a PLoP veteran, please join us, too, to work toward being a better shepherd.
Newcomer Session: What Next? On the Future of Your
Patterns
The patterns community thinks differently about the life cycle of papers
submitted to its conferences. Those who have never been to a PLoP often
are not sure just what happens -- or can or should happen -- with a paper
after it has been workshopped at the conference. This session will help
newcomers especially figure out what to do next.
Visual Patterns
Over the last 30 years a number of visual artists have used non-narrative
film and video as a medium. I will present a number of these works
during PLoP 2001 which introduce "Patterns" in another medium. Featured
work will include "Chain Reaction" by two Swiss artists and the works of
Bill Viola (USA) and Michael Snow (Canada). Appropriately for PLoP
2001 I will also be showing the stargate sequence of "2001 : A Space Odyssey".
A video tape of the recent movie "Memento" will also be available throughout
the conference which forces the viewer to experience a reversal pattern
in the narrative.
Contemporary artists and photographers have also investigated
visual patterns and examples of their work will be shown as a slide presentation.
String Society Artists
String Society Artists had been part
of PLoP since 1997, they provide music and the special atmosphere that
is a trademark of PLoP.
Patterns Music
The early works of the "Minimalist" composers such as Philip Glass,
Steve Reich, Terry Riley and others were originally termed "Process" or
"Patterns " music in the late 1960's. The compositional process often
involved designing a musical pattern, often employing repetition, that
once embarked upon would take on a partly unpredictable course in
terms of sound and duration. Encountering this music necessitates
a new way of listening.
Closing Ceremonies
This session will bring the conference to its formal close. We will introduce
you to some of the folks who will be working on next year's PLoP. Then,
we will "workshop" the conference, to help next year's organizers improve
PLoP. Finally, we will close with a traditional end-of-PLoP game.
PLoP will again be serviced for our Java and specialty drinks by the Caffe
Paradiso, which has become part of the PLoP tradition.
Lunch Boxes
The conference will provide lunch-boxes to those who has to leave early
on Saturday. The kitchen will have them ready after 10:00 am on Saturday
15th. This service will be provided by request only, if you are leaving
after 10:00am on Saturday 15th and you want a luch-box you have to ask
for it.