The Content Owner, Jude McQuaid, along with the WOPR Organizers,
invites you to submit your proposal for WOPR18.
Theme:
Combining Data, Analysis, and Context to Create Information
There
is a subtle and often overlooked distinction between Data and Information.
All of us consume copious amounts of data so frequently and rapidly, that
we sometimes (albeit unconsciously) think of data as information,
applying context from how we gathered the data and from our own personal experiences.
Data
by itself is relatively meaningless. The number 72 has little meaning on
its own. However, if we apply the context of age, weight, price, or miles
per hour (through a speed trap), we see how context produces greater meaning.
As
performance and reliability engineers, we have a tendency to surround ourselves
with data, amassing large databases and spreadsheets of data related to system
utilization levels, application logs and output, user behaviors, and so forth.
From that we might make all sorts of colorful charts, graphs, plots, and
documents. The question to be asked is, for what purpose? For this
WOPR, the focus is on data visualization, data interpretation, and how we take
data and apply analysis to derive meaning. Some questions to ask yourself
as you prepare your paper submissions:
·
What
data do you collect and why?
·
How
much data do you seek? Do you start with small samples and then
grow, or do you try to grab it all? When do you have enough data?
·
How
often are you sampling?
·
What
do you do with the data afterward?
·
What
are the types of decisions made from this information? Are they
testing, engineering, or business related?
·
How do you apply analysis? Do you use statistical models? If so, which models and why?
·
What
visual interpretations do you use? Do you have go-to charts/graphs?
·
Ultimately,
what decisions are made based on your information...
Conference
Location and Key Dates
·
eCollege, Denver CO, USA
·
WOPR18: Thursday-Saturday, May 10-12, 2012
·
Pre-WOPR Dinner: Wednesday, May 9, 2012
·
Deadline for Application: March 1, 2012
·
Invitations Sent: March 15, 2012
Applying for WOPR18
WOPR conferences are invitation-only and generally
over-subscribed. We restrict attendance to less than 25 people. We usually have
more applications and presentations than can fit into the workshop; not
everyone who submits a presentation will be invited to WOPR or asked to speak.
Our selection criteria are weighted heavily towards practitioners,
and interesting ideas expressed in WOPR applications. We welcome anyone with
relevant experiences or interests. We are always looking to invite new talent,
and to identify and support up-and-comers reaching intermediate levels of
expertise. Please apply, and see what happens.
Presentations will be selected by the WOPR organizers, and
invitees notified by email according to the above dates.
You can apply for WOPR18
here.
Proposal Objectives
WOPR18 is seeking experience reports (ERs) of your relevant
experiences and innovations from past and current projects. For a description
and samples of ERs, see the Paper
Guidance and Papers pages on
the WOPR web site.
While these pages describe other
types of presentations, we are primarily interested in hearing about an
experience. We are far more interested in effective presentations and
enlightening exchanges than in formal papers. A detailed paper is welcome though
not required. For your presentation, an organized outline you can tell a story
from is enough, and for your application, an abstract of a couple of paragraphs
summarizing your experience and why it is relevant is enough.
We are looking for informative, in-depth storytelling by experienced
practitioners. Your proposal to present should contain enough substance for us
to understand and evaluate it. Content is more important than format. Your
presentation should omit any confidential data (anything that requires an NDA).
Reports and presentations are welcome over a broad range of topics related to
performance testing. The test domain is broad and may include real-time
embedded devices, web sites, and international telecom networks.
About WOPR
In the view of knowledgeable
observers, WOPR attracts
the best and the brightest performance testers and managers as participants. In
fact, many participants have world-class reputations.
One of the important goals of WOPR is community building among performance and
reliability test professionals. We encourage insightful, talented people of
varied experience levels and backgrounds to apply. Even if you do not believe
you have a relevant experience, we welcome people who work in performance and
reliability testing disciplines to contribute to the discussion. If you have an
interest in attending WOPR, even as a non-presenter, please apply for
consideration.
WOPR conferences and tutorials
are priced as close to free as we can make them, as we are a self-funded,
not-for-profit organization.
Read more on the About WOPR page. If you have
questions, please contact the organizers.
Costs
WOPR is a not-for-profit, low cost workshop, however we do have
expenses and we ask the WOPR participants to help us offset these expenses.
Thanks to the generosity of our host, Pearson eCollege, the expense-sharing amount for WOPR18
has been set at $300. If you are invited to the workshop, you will be asked to
pay the expense-sharing fee to indicate acceptance of your invitation.
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