16 March 2016
The Brioche Manifesto
This is a kind of a revolution. This is something I dreamed about since the beginning of my graduate studies.
Since my graduate studies, I have always wanted to organize a weekly appointment for reading and discussing computer science and math papers with my fellow students. Enough said, it did not happen for many reasons, mostly because of my tremendous laziness.
The place I am working at right now has finally pushed me to realize this idea. As a side motivation, I have my own office with a shiny whiteboard ;).
The team I am involved in has a kind of weekly friday ritual in the sharing of a brioche from about 16.30 to 17.00 at the corner dedicated to Go gamers. After that, there is still a working hour left that, I must say, is not my best productive one. Hence the impulse to turn it into an hour dedicated to read some exciting research papers.
I presented my intent to my hungarian/austrian collegue, from now on GB, who has warmly welcomed the idea. We have agreed upon the following manifesto for our private scientific meetings (refinements may follow):
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one paper presentation every friday, at about 17.00, in Michele’s office,
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each presentation should not take more than an hour,
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although there are no restrictions on the particular topic, papers should be computer science related and – most importantly – interesting, insightful and fun,
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the speaker should interchange every week, to grant two weeks preparation between one speaker’s presentation and the following one,
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presentations must be conducted on the shiny white board in Michele’s office, because handwritten presentations own the right pace that allows the attendees to interact,
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the speaker should write a short write-up of the chosen paper to be posted on Michele’s website (this). A beer will act as pledge.
Since I am hosting, I have decided to name “After a brioche at the Go corner” this series of meetings and the related reports.
Michele Alberti
