Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!narayan
From: narayan@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (N Hari Narayanan)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: ** Some impressions on AAAI-90 **
Message-ID: <82991@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 15 Aug 90 12:50:55 GMT
References: <665@babcock.cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Ohio State Computer Science
Lines: 28


	I think one of the main reasons for AAAI no longer representing all 
subareas of AI adequately is that researchers in those fields now publish in 
their own conferences...Cognitive Science, Machine Learning, Knowledge 
Acquisition, NIPS, IEEE CAIA etc. On one hand this indicates a diversification 
within the field which is a sign of health. On the other, it reduces 
opportunities for cross-fertilization not just among the attendees but also for 
someone who is trying to stay abreast of AI through proceedings. It is no longer
sufficient to look at one or two major proceedings. This is a danger of too many
conferences that are too narrowly focussed.
	As an aside, I wonder if a dissatisfaction among researchers that
their subarea was not getting adequate representation in AAAI was a prime
cause for this diversification. Until recently, AAAI used to be the main AI
conference in this country and intentionally or unintentionally the collective
bias of the program committee and reviewers showed up in the proceedings
(which of course can be said of other conferences as well). However, when there 
is only one major conference in an area, it implicitly determines what is 
(is not) important in the field. So research considered non-traditional 
(connectionism, for instance, during its incipience) might have
found it hard to be published in AAAI which provided an impetus to look for
other new avenues. This is all conjecture, of course! Anyone know if this
is one cause for the so-called "decline" of AAAI?
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Hari Narayanan
Computer & Information Science
Ohio State University
narayan@cis.ohio-state.edu
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