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Paper text:
adass is the major annual conference for those interested in astronomy software and systems , from architects and developers to users and managers .
its 24 year history indicates its usefulness to individuals and institutions , as a place to showcase our latest work , to learn new techniques and discover which have been successfully used in our specialist field ; to discuss emerging technologies with colleagues with similar interests and generally to work towards continually improving the overall shape of the field of astronomical software .
success is no reason for complacency , however . over the last two decades we have seen the needs of our community change , and
indeed our demographic has itself changed . on the broader astronomical stage
we re seeing our travel budgets shrinking , and many find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether their single overseas conference for the year will focus on their science or on the technology aspects of their work if it is to continue being a useful and worthwhile conference , adass must adapt , keeping up with the needs of the adass community and the astronomical community as a whole , while keeping in mind our changing demographics .    to this end
the adass program organising committee ( poc ) ran a survey in early 2014 to ascertain the needs of the community and the direction and shape which future adass meetings should take .
140 people participated ( as a comparison , a typical adass has around 270 attendees ) , 84% of whom had attended 2 or more adass conferences , 12% had attended 1 and 14% had never been to an adass .
identity : :    we advertise the adass conference as _ `` a forum for * _ scientists _ * ,    * _ developers _ * and * _ programmers _ * working in areas related to    algorithms , software and systems for the acquisition , reduction ,    analysis , and dissemination of astronomical data''_. the 140 survey    participants identified themselves as astronomers ( 69% ) , software    engineers ( 38% ) , programmers ( 30% ) , software architects ( 29% ) ,    managers ( 28% ) and computer scientists ( 22% ) , with a small number of    instrument scientists , and database , archive and data    specialists . the fact that 31% of people did not self - identify as    astronomers shows that we have moved from a community of `` astronomers    who code '' , to a more diverse one which includes people whose primary    expertise is in engineering .
this reflects the trend we see in our    institutes and telescope facilities , and it is important that the    focus and program of the adass conference also evolves over time to    keep up with the changing needs of our community .
the very small    numbers of postdocs ( 6 ) and students ( 4 ) who participated in the    survey is compatible with the small number from these two groups who    attend the conference .
this was discussed in the bof and it was agreed    that mechanisms should be put in place to encourage more students and    early career postdocs to come to adass .
themes : :    each year s conference is based around a handful of key themes . these    are chosen by the poc and are intended to reflect the current work ,    trends and needs of our community , including suggestions made by the    conference attendees .
the bof participants    agreed that final responsibility for theme selection should rest with    the poc , and also that the community should be actively encouraged to    nominate key themes .
the appgree mobile    application , which was tested during    this conference , was put forward as a possible way of facilitating    participation and of canvassing community preferences on the submitted    topics . for adass
xxv the poc plans to use appgree to receive theme    suggestions and hopes to see wide participation from the community .    additionally , 88 people submitted key topic suggestions through the    survey , and these will also inform the selection of key themes for the    next several conferences .
conference content : :    both the survey and the bof discussion agreed that there is a need for    greater focus on algorithms , statistics , analysis methods , data    science , etc .
, in invited and contributed talks , and less emphasis on    update reports .
adass talks should be more about the algorithms and    techniques than about the projects themselves .
there was considerable    support from the bof session for invited review talks looking at the    state of play in various aspects of software .
+    there were several practical suggestions made during the bof which had    the support of the room : authors should be able to classify their    paper under more than one key theme when submitting an abstract .
this    would help the loc when setting up the conference sessions and ensure    that each talk was presented in the most relevant session from the    author s point of view .
there was also a request to allow authors to    supply , when submitting an abstract , an optional link containing more    information about the proposed paper .
+    discussion on student attendance saw strong agreement on ensuring that    the conference fee has a student rate , and allowing authors to    indicate whether they are a student both on registration and abstract    submission .
there was also a general feeling that there should be a    way to reserve contributed talk slots for early career attendees    ( particularly those who have not previously presented a talk ) , but the    details of how this might be achieved were not discussed .
+    another subject raised was whether some plenary discussion time could    be scheduled during the oral sessions , at the end of each major topic ,    at the end of each day , or at the end of the conference .
there was    some support for this and also some concern , from participants who    thought it would cut into the time available and result in fewer    talks .
+    a few people showed interested in a hack day , and there was no    opposition to the idea .
this could be scheduled as a half - day at the    end of the conference , or be run concurrently with the tutorial .
posters : :    adass has a strong tradition of lively and effective poster sessions .    the posters are displayed in a prominent position ( close to where    coffee is served ) and a good amount of time is allocated to allow    people to view the posters and for meaningful discussions to occur .
both the survey results and the bof discussion expressed support for    maintaining the poster sessions as they are .    +    a popular suggestion raised at the bof was to declare two time slots    ( one for even - numbered and another for odd - numbered posters ) when    people were expected to be in attendance at their posters , to    facilitate discussion .
birds of a feather : :    bof sessions at adass are an opportunity for informal , free - flowing    discussions among people with a common interest .
bofs are scheduled    based on proposals submitted by attendees wishing to organise and    chair a session on a given subject .
an average of 5 bofs are held each    year although the number proposed and held in any one year varies    widely .
some subjects ( e.g.  fits and other data formats ) have a bof    most years whilst other topics come up once or twice when they are of    interest to the community and then fade away as their relevance and    urgency decreases .
+    at the xxiii - rd meeting in 2013 informal `` pop - up '' bofs were    suggested and tried , where the subjects for discussion were proposed    and scheduled during the conference , in the style of an    `` unconference '' .
this was repeated at this year s meeting , and    although the take - up of pop - up bofs has been small the opinion at the    bof was that we should continue to offer them .
+    a suggestion was made to dedicate a session to people s specific    technical problems - `` i ve got a problem , does anyone know the    answer ? '' , harnessing the concentrated expertise of the conference    attendees .
it was agreed that pop - up bofs may be useful here , or a    hack - day , depending on the nature of the problem .
governance : :    the adass program organising committee ( poc ) consists of around 15    people , these being representatives of the adass sponsoring    institutions and members of the community with an interest in adass .
members are nominated to the poc and ratified by the sitting    committee .
the 2014 poc consists of 16 people , and includes an    executive committee comprised of the poc chair , vice - chair , secretary    and treasurer .
+    the survey indicated that the majority of the adass community are    satisfied with the conference organisation and governance ( 67% ) with    smaller fractions preferring the poc to be directly elected from and    by the community ( 18% ) , or wanting to change the length of the term of    poc membership ( 17% ) .
+    it was noted at the bof session that the poc is gender - unbalanced at    present , and has been so for all of adass s history . additionally the    wish was expressed for the composition of the poc to be more    geographically diverse .
costs and sponsorship : :    there was agreement at the bof that we should seek industry support    for the conference .
this was mainly seen as a way to reduce costs , and    particularly to make it easier for students to attend .
the    practicalities are open to debate , but nobody saw it as bad , as long    as our independence is preserved .
+    once specific idea which saw considerable support was to secure    sponsorship from a printer company in the form of a printer loan for a    few days at the start of the meeting .
the posters could then be    printed at the conference location , avoiding the too - common event of    posters getting lost or damaged in transit .
+    the conference fee was discussed , but there was no obvious consensus    on whether lowering the fees would make a difference to people s    ability to attend the meeting , as this is often a fraction of the    travel and accommodation cost .
the comment was made that it is hard    for young people to obtain travel funding to come to adass , although    it was agreed that it is important that they do .
student conference    rates help slightly as does the financial aid scheme .
+    finally , the demonstration fees were deemed to be too high by some    survey respondents , who argued that demo booths are no longer the    technological burden on the loc that they once were , and that several    of the institutes who wish to have a booth at adass are the same ones    who sponsor the conference .
after discussion the poc agreed to reduce    the fee for demonstrations from research institutions , but maintain    the current fee for commercial bodies .
the discussion must continue . please make your ideas and suggestions known .
speak with a member of the poc , or send your thoughts by email ( poc@adass.org ) .
alternatively tweet your suggestions to ( @astroadass ) or use appgree to participate in adass polls .
adass has been a successful conference series for 24 years . if it is to continue to be successful and relevant we need to ensure that it provides what we as a community need from an annual conference . 
 earlier this year the adass program organising committee conducted a survey on the content , style and governance of adass , in order to ascertain the conference needs of our community of astronomy software , methods and algorithms providers and users . 
 140 people participated in the survey : familiar faces , newcomers and a significant number of people who have yet to attend an adass .    
 we summarise the birds of a feather session held on 7 october 2014 , which discussed the findings of the survey and the shape that the community would like future adass meetings to take : what do we like of the current format ? what would we change ? what can we do to make adass fit our current and future needs ? if we are to ensure that adass is vibrant , interesting and at the cutting edge of our subject we need to take collective responsibility for shaping its future .