[ASA] [ASA2024] Why is the ASM online-first in 2024?

[Moss, Vanessa (S&A, Marsfield)]

An open letter to you, as a prospective attendee of this year’s ASA meeting,

In advance of opening registration for the ASA Annual Science Meeting, we wanted to take the chance to oultine *why* it is online-first this year, and what kind of opportunities we hope it will provide to you, as a member of the ASA community.

Why are we doing this?
There are many reasons why in-person travel is difficult (and becoming more difficult) for members of our community. The ASA Council is exploring what can be done to meet the goals of bringing the ASA community together, maximising the benefits while minimising the costs. Clancy and I as co-chairs are leading the effort to design ASA2024 as an experimental exploration of these possibilities, working closely with the National Organising Committee (NOC), Science Organising Committee (SOC), Hub Day organisers and HWSA Organising Committee (HOC).

What is online-first?
The term online-first (or similarly, digital-first) reflects our goal of creating a vibrant environment in which online communication is the primary mode of interaction. This doesn’t mean online-only - the Hub Day activities and in-person HWSA are intended as a deliberate and meaningful opportunity to complement online-only engagement with in-person focused interaction. And it doesn’t mean just Zoom + Slack! As well as familiar, accessible ways of connecting online, we will be making use of other innovative technologies to help bridge the gap of distance. You will get the most out of the meeting by engaging meaningfully with it - some strategies to assist with this can be to properly block out your calendar as busy the same way as you would for an in-person meeting, and minimising the temptation to multi-task on “business as usual” work during the ASM.

What kinds of things are we doing?
There will be many familiar elements of an ASA ASM in this year’s edition: longer-form talks, sparklers, posters, organisation of content around common scientific themes. Our general approach to the ASM is to further the impact of these aspects, partly revisiting the design of the meeting (e.g. refining the ASM program structure and activities), partly adopting functional and technological approaches that improve online interactions (e.g. inclusion of VR-enabled platform) and partly experimenting with new ideas/components (e.g. Hub Day, time-zone sessions). If you have ideas for us to consider, please get in touch (via Slack is preferred) as we’d love to hear them!

Why is there a Hub Day?
The Hub Day was designed into the program to provide local opportunities to gather in person, with events driven by the needs of the local community. In Hub Day plans so far, we’ve seen activities focusing on especially highlighting the work of ECRs and on providing opportunities for astronomers of all career stages to connect and network, among others. We’re really excited to see how these Hub Days develop, and we encourage ASA members to take this opportunity to make connections with your local community, both old and new.

What does this mean to you?
We hope it is clear that our goal in this is not to reproduce past online meetings and conferences, but to try many different ways in which we can make the online experience as beneficial to you as possible. By being experimental and broad in approach, we aim to find innovative ways to meet and connect as a community! And it will be fantastic to have your participation and engagement in the meeting, as well as post-ASM feedback on what benefited you most, in order to help shape our recommendations to the ASA Council for what ASMs might look like going into the future.

Read a fuller version of this letter here:
https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/UaqtC71R2NTEZ0lX8u8jCll?domain=icrar.org

So in short:

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If you want to find out what is happening across Australian astronomy
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If you want to experience different ways that your work might get exposure
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If you want to make connections with people beyond your physical walls
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If you want to be part of something new and different
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If you want to help us explore the potential of online-first  and assess what works
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If you want to learn about how online technologies like VR can improve the way we meet

… then we hope to see you at this year’s ASM!

Talk soon,
Vanessa
On behalf of the NOC
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