Welcome
You have reached the private website of Florian Roemer.
I know, I've not been posting anything here for ages. Not that I would have nothing to say. It is just that somehow I didn't like this form of news postings anymore and found my micro-CMS too rudimentary to do anything.
On top of that, I always wanted to try a bigger CMS.
So I gave WordPress a chance and made myself a blog. I already posted a couple of things there and now I think I can make it public.
So here it is, I proudly present Florian's Blog:
http://florian-roemer.de/blog
On top of that, I always wanted to try a bigger CMS.
So I gave WordPress a chance and made myself a blog. I already posted a couple of things there and now I think I can make it public.
So here it is, I proudly present Florian's Blog:
http://florian-roemer.de/blog
Stop the CFP-Spam, please!
Okay, here is the thing that really starts to annoy me: Calls for Papers. I know there are lots of fun conferences at exquisite locations one can go to and there is some common interest to distribute that information. But the way it's currently done is really getting out of hands.
I have never ever agreed that the email address I use in publications or in conference management systems is free to be used to send such advertisements. Whenever there was a checkbox allowing that I have made sure to uncheck it.
Nonetheless, the CFPs keep piling up. 344 only in 2010. And it seems they don't even care what kind of engineer I am. Conferenc on Applied Chemical Engineering? Conference on Earth Sciences and Engineering? Give me a break! What is that supposed to be good for?
Well, I guess I could live with one CFP per conference including the dates and a link to the conference website. Fine. But no, that does not seem to be enough. There are always those that need to overdo it. Current negative example: International Conference on Earth Sciences and Engineering. Three CFPs on one day, and a fourth one 3 days later, each of those containing a rock solid 1.4 MiB binary attachment! Oh great!
Please, this madness has to stop. I want one central platform, listing conferences by category or whatever, allowing for the *option* of sending newsletters. As simple as that.
But crawling papers for email addresses and sending unsolicited CFPs to those is nothing but spam, at the very online-pharmacy-level of it.
Okay, here is the thing that really starts to annoy me: Calls for Papers. I know there are lots of fun conferences at exquisite locations one can go to and there is some common interest to distribute that information. But the way it's currently done is really getting out of hands.
I have never ever agreed that the email address I use in publications or in conference management systems is free to be used to send such advertisements. Whenever there was a checkbox allowing that I have made sure to uncheck it.
Nonetheless, the CFPs keep piling up. 344 only in 2010. And it seems they don't even care what kind of engineer I am. Conferenc on Applied Chemical Engineering? Conference on Earth Sciences and Engineering? Give me a break! What is that supposed to be good for?
Well, I guess I could live with one CFP per conference including the dates and a link to the conference website. Fine. But no, that does not seem to be enough. There are always those that need to overdo it. Current negative example: International Conference on Earth Sciences and Engineering. Three CFPs on one day, and a fourth one 3 days later, each of those containing a rock solid 1.4 MiB binary attachment! Oh great!
Please, this madness has to stop. I want one central platform, listing conferences by category or whatever, allowing for the *option* of sending newsletters. As simple as that.
But crawling papers for email addresses and sending unsolicited CFPs to those is nothing but spam, at the very online-pharmacy-level of it.
So this years' ICASSP is over and I must say it was a great experience. First of all one really has to say that it was amazingly perfectly organized. When compared to previous years, ICASSP09 may very well go into the records as one of the most well organized conferences. Okay, I've only seen '04, '06, '07, and '08, which were all okay, it's just that this year they beat the previous ones with a lot of tiny but really good ideas.
Starting from the way attendees were prepared for the conference: There were numerous emails reminding us both of technical details about the conference (as instructions for preparing talks and posters) as well as venue details that are relevant - what's the electrical voltage in Taiwan (110 V) and how do I get from the airport to the hotels? Also worth mentioning is the great shuttle bus service which brought us from the hotels to the conference every day, saving me a good half hour walk in uncomfortable shoes. Moreover, the conference organization was amazing, on every corner someone to talk to and guide you if you were lost. A never-ending supply of coffee which is oh-so-vital for us engineers. And then the organization of the fantastic welcome reception, opening ceremony and (as I heard, I wasn't there) the banquet. So many performances, so much information about this interesting culture - it was overwhelming.
For me, the conference was also a success. I have met a lot of people I hope to collaborate with in the future - got new ideas, learned new concepts, and saw how others are solving their problems. I also hope my contributions have found their audience.
And finally, visiting Asia has for sure enriched my personal life in a number of ways. I will have lots of stories to tell once I get back home.
So let me take this as an opportunity to thank the numerous organizers, helpers, staff, committee and everybody else who contributed to making this ICASSP such a great experience for everybody.
And let me predict one thing: If for such a comparably small event as our ICASSP so many things are happening then I'm sure that when the Expo 2010 will be in Taipeh this will be a gigantic and on all levels fascinating event!
Starting from the way attendees were prepared for the conference: There were numerous emails reminding us both of technical details about the conference (as instructions for preparing talks and posters) as well as venue details that are relevant - what's the electrical voltage in Taiwan (110 V) and how do I get from the airport to the hotels? Also worth mentioning is the great shuttle bus service which brought us from the hotels to the conference every day, saving me a good half hour walk in uncomfortable shoes. Moreover, the conference organization was amazing, on every corner someone to talk to and guide you if you were lost. A never-ending supply of coffee which is oh-so-vital for us engineers. And then the organization of the fantastic welcome reception, opening ceremony and (as I heard, I wasn't there) the banquet. So many performances, so much information about this interesting culture - it was overwhelming.
For me, the conference was also a success. I have met a lot of people I hope to collaborate with in the future - got new ideas, learned new concepts, and saw how others are solving their problems. I also hope my contributions have found their audience.
And finally, visiting Asia has for sure enriched my personal life in a number of ways. I will have lots of stories to tell once I get back home.
So let me take this as an opportunity to thank the numerous organizers, helpers, staff, committee and everybody else who contributed to making this ICASSP such a great experience for everybody.
And let me predict one thing: If for such a comparably small event as our ICASSP so many things are happening then I'm sure that when the Expo 2010 will be in Taipeh this will be a gigantic and on all levels fascinating event!
And once again, two new papers for the database. This February we'll be going to Berlin to attend the WSA (IEEE/ITG International Workshop on Smart Antennas). All three abstracts were accepted, a great success. Now we have to write the final papers and create some really good presentations rather quickly. So... back to work! 
A long time of waiting and hoping is finally over - the review decision for the ICASSP 2009 are there! And that was quite a success: Three new papers have just been added into the database. Overall, four of five papers we sent to the ICASSP were accepted, three as a lecture talk and one as a poster. That's going to be quite a group trip to Taipei. I'm really looking forward to it!
For further reading: http://www.icassp09.com
For further reading: http://www.icassp09.com
Finally, florian-roemer.de gets relaunched!
Have fun!
Have fun!
