KoalaPLoP 2002

The PLoP^TM (Pattern Languages of Programs) series of conferences celebrates who we are as a community of architects, designers and programmers, and strives to share information about those practices that improve the quality of life for our profession and those we serve. KoalaPLoP^TM is hosted near Melbourne Australia and is open to pattern authors, pattern users, and software designers and developers from around the world .

Latest News!

(May 9) Introducing David Week - Architect, Researcher, Director, and patterns theorist -- We are delighted to announce that Dr. David Week, an expert on architecture, organisational culture and design, founder and director of Assai architecture based in Sydney, and patterns theorist and enthusiast has agreed to visit us on Thursday. A brief scan of the Assai website will reveal the fascinating cross-cultural aspects of David's work. We first heard David on Radio National's 'The Comfort Zone', on 2nd February this year when he spoke about patterns and their use in describing designs for particular cultures.

Assai has since 1985 designed and managed more than 200 projects in Australia, the South Pacific, and Asia. Projects have including education, health, commercial, tourism, urban design, housing and office facilities. In 1999 Assai developed and launched 'The Ark Workspace' at York Street in Sydney, an innovative serviced office facility aimed at the needs of knowledge workers and creative professionals.

David is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Royal Australian Institute of Architects International Award, and various housing and architectural awards from the PNG Institute of Architects. In 1995, he received an RAIA/Sisalation Scholarship to investigate a cultural approach to office design. He has lectured and taught at universities in Australia, the United States, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. He holds an MArch degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied under Christopher Alexander, the author of 'A Pattern Language', and a PhD from the University of Sydney.

David will be our guest on Thursday, and will be contributing to our session on 'Patterns in Non-software Domains' on Thursday afternoon.

(May 2) Akamon Awaits -- Anyone who has registered but not paid, you can now FAX your registration with credit card authorisation to Akamon at Monash University -- see the Registration page for details.

(May 1) Conference Chair Clarifies Costs and Conditions -- The full attendance fee has now been posted -- and it is considerably reduced from the previous 2 years. See the Registration page for details. There is now no excuse not to register!

(April 30) Go left, young man (or woman) -- A new page, Important Information, is now available from the menu on the home page -- read it for everything you need to know to plan your visit to KoalaPLoP 2002.

(April 29) Time to finalise and book travel -- All authors should now have been advised of their paper's acceptance or rejection into the KoalaPLoP 2002 Writer's Workshops. Please finalise your travel plans, and Regsiter online immediately! The conference cost is being finalised today and will be posted tomorrow.

(April 26) Shepherds close the gate -- All shepherds have closed the gate on shepherding activities, and recommendations have been made to the Program Committee regarding inclusion of papers for workshopping. Many authors have been notified of their shepherd's recommendation. Congratulations to the authors who have been recommended for workshopping!

(March 14) All Patterns Accounted For -- The date for submissions has passed, and we have received an excellent group of patterns papers and papers about patterns -- pleasingly, the majority of papers are patterns, which reinforces the relevance of (and interest in) the pattern form!

(March 14) Cope Visit Confirmed -- We are delighted to announce that James Coplien has indicated that he will be attending KoalaPLoP 2002, in a kind of a 'patterns community leader' role -- this is great news, because Cope will contribute immensely to all aspects of the event . The ability to mix freely in a relaxed 'retreat' style environment with patterns community leaders such as James and Brian is one aspect of PLoP conferences that make them unique. Disclaimer -- While the organisers will make every attempt to adhere to the advertised programme and speakers, the organisers of KoalaPLoP 2002 cannot guarantee the presence or attendance of any individuals.

(March 13) Shepherds Take Staff in Hand -- authors should be contacted by their shepherds within the next few days, so keep revising and working on your submissions.

(March 11) Conference Programme Compiling -- the Conference Programme is currently being revised and will be posted shortly .

(March 11) Aussie Dollar Begins to Settle -- likewise, the final costs for delegates, partners, and the optional stay on Tuesday night are nearly finalised with The Country Place .

Welcome

The organising committee of the Third Australasian Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (KoalaPLoP) welcome you to KoalaPLoP 2002. This is the third conference to be held in Australia under the sponsorship of The Hillside Group . This year, we acknowledge Monash University for administrative assistance, and Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand for coordinating the process of publishing the conference proceedings in the Australian Computer Society's Conferences on Research and Practice in Information Technology series.

Program

This year we welcome Brian Foote from The Refactory, Inc. , and the University of Illinois at Urbana . Brian is well known in patterns circles as a contributor of some of the foundational thinking -- his publications on patterns and software design are extensive (see Brian's publications page) and include the now legendary Big Ball of Mud . Disclaimer -- While the organisers will make every attempt to adhere to the advertised programme and speakers, the organisers of KoalaPLoP 2002 cannot guarantee the presence or attendance of any individuals.

The conference will include the usual induction activities, writer's workshops in which we review each submitted pattern under the usual protocol, lots of creativity-stimulating games and discussions, and a unique opportunity to relax in an outstandingly beautiful country environment with full accommodation and delicious meals.

As at all PLoP conferences, we invite submissions of pattern papers that describe in pattern form an individual pattern, a collection of related patterns, or a fragment of a pattern language.

This year we extend the invitation to include...

1. papers describing uses of accepted design patterns,

2. papers describing how systems can be composed of known patterns, and

3. papers discussing or analysing exisiting patterns.

1. and 2. can clearly be written in pattern form, so authors should choose the most appropriate representation for their ideas. All non-pattern-form papers will be shepherded and workshopped in the usual fashion.

Information

You should find all the information you require on these pages. For more information about KoalaPLoP ^TM 2002 please contact the programme committee at kplop@mcs.vuw.ac.nz

Important Dates

Conference Dates: 15th to 17th May 2002

Venue

The Conference will be held at the The Country Place, high in the Dandenong ranges in a wooded area of the Australian bush, only 35 kilometers from Melbourne city centre.

Note: 'PLoP' is a trademark of The Hillside Group, Inc.