50th Annual Conference of the German Informatics Society took place virtually
In its anniversary year, of all years, the traditional annual conference of the German Informatics Society only took place virtually.
But the organizers made a virtue of necessity and put together a wide-ranging programme for the 50th annual conference with numerous streamed lectures and digital workshops. “My conclusion is very positive,” emphasizes conference director Ralf Reussner in an interview with karlsruhe.digital.
According to the Vice Dean of Research at the Faculty of Computer Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT ), seeing the situation in the corona pandemic not as a restriction but as an opportunity to make structural adjustments to the conference program has proven to be the right approach. Among other things, certain program items such as the two keynote speeches by Ralf G Hertwich and Eva Zauke were scheduled for the early hours of the morning to allow conference participants to better reconcile their other professional commitments. In addition, participation in the conference was free of charge. And the success proved the organizers right. With over 1,900 registered participants, there were more than twice as many visitors as would have been possible at a physical conference.
Positive environmental balance by avoiding long journeys
For Reussner, further advantages of the virtual event were the positive environmental impact of not having to travel long distances and the greater family-friendliness for conference participants from outside the city. However, even the greater reach could not completely conceal the disadvantages of a virtual conference. “Above all, missed the informal discussions during the breaks or in the evenings,” says Reussner. Even creating a gaming environment with avatars was no substitute for personal networking. “Making new contacts at is much easier in face-to-face meetings than online,” says Reussner.
Corona poses major challenges for IT
However, the corona pandemic also poses major challenges for Informatik outside of the annual conference. “We are currently seeing impressively that IT solutions help to keep productivity and infection protection equally high,” says Reussner. On the other hand, we have also learned in recent weeks that technical solutions for overcoming the crisis, such as the corona warning app, are being discussed naively and one-dimensionally in the public. “Technicians will certainly have to get used to such a politicization of their work ,” says Reussner. The German Informatics Society is the right platform to conduct such discussions with the necessary objectivity. The Gesellschaft für Informatik was founded in 1969 to promote computer science in research and teaching and to organize further education events . Today, the society has around 20,000 members, including 200 co-opted companies and 1,000 students.
Karlsruhe was the nucleus of scientific computer science
One of the most important drivers in the development of scientific computer science was the University of Karlsruhe. In the winter semester of 1969/70, the first degree course in computer science in Germany was established at what is now KIT. Even today, Karlsruhe is home to numerous lighthouse projects such as the Competence Center for Applied Security Technology (KASTEL). Reussner also believes that computer science in Karlsruhe is well positioned for the future. Thanks to its high level of expertise, Karlsruhe plays a real pioneering role in some trend topics such as autonomous driving with the ultra-modern autonomous driving test field.
