Report: 2nd Presidents Conference 2018

On the 6th of December, the 2nd yearly Presidents Conference took place at ETH Zurich.

Looking back over the past four conferences that have been organised by the SI eOffice, it was great  to see that participation has not only grown in number and scope,  but also the fact that participants now include a mix of ages and genders, which is an important aspect in building SI’s  profile and certainly an important goal to keep pursuing into the future.

The structure of the Presidents Conference has always been programmed so that each Special interest Group can update the SI community on what they have been doing and what they are  planing to do.  We saw this quite clearly with the presentation by  new SIRI president, Francis Baud who is leading SIRI into 2019 with a series of exciting new events for SIRI and SI members to attend.

Through presentations by Jo Waltenberger of the E-CONOMY who focused on the needs of having  bitcoin glossary, by Fredy Schwyter of the Multimedia Group Special Interest Group who presented several past events that that group organised on the uses of VR, AR, and MR, it is easy to come to realise that computer science has moved forward and spread into many many diverse disciplines. Furthering this point, were the presentation by Peter Grenacker for the Digital Heritage Group, and by Julia Schicker  and Anna Kälin from Digital Arts & Culture who showed how artistic endeavours has brought about a new research culture whose importance is growing as informatics spreads into fields such as heritage, arts, and tourism.

Last not but not least, was the idea of holding a reception at the conclusion of the conference so that new SI members and newly appointed  special interest group presidents can be introduced to the SI community in an informal way, resulting in  lively discussions on a diverse range of topics in regard to what is happing in Switzerland with informatics.

Concluding, special thanks must go to Andreas Schläpfer of GreenIT and Rene Schumann of SGAICO for  enriching the discussions as special guests at the receipting, and also  to our President Reinhard Riedl for introducing them to those present and for moderating discussion.

For those  who could not be present at the conference but are  interested nevertheless in learning about what was presented, at the conference  the SI office has set up a depository for all materials referenced, presentations given, and gallery of photos that were take at the presentation for you to enjoy.

The program can be read below and SI encourages ay welcomes all members of SI to follow SI events and those of the Special interest Groups by seeing what is next on the SI Event Agenda.

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