<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">As expected, something bad did happen on Friday the 13th: since COVID-19 has decided to co-locate with, well, everything, SIGBOVIK 2020 will no longer be held in Rashid Auditorium! We’ve taken CMU’s advice on social distancing to heart and will have a virtual conference this year.</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">In the spirit of minimizing bias, we will exercise a level of blindness. This means that authors (and non-authors) are encouraged to submit </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">audio recordings</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> of their talks; those that submit talks are also required at the same time to submit at least two audio recordings of their answers to (imagined) questions but we encourage five answers (details for submission will be up on our website [</span><a href="http://sigbovik.org/2020" style="text-decoration:none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">http://sigbovik.org/2020</span></a><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">] shortly). On conference day, upon streaming a particular talk, we will blindly match questions from the audience to said answers.</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Lastly, the submission deadline (for papers, reviews, talks, AND answers) for SIGBOVIK 2020 has been extended to Friday, March 27! </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">This really is the final extension this time, probably. Almost certainly.</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">---</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">To All Students, Faculty, Staff and Sentient AIs:</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">The fourteenth annual SIGBOVIK conference will take place at Carnegie Mellon University on </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Wednesday, April 1, 2020</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> in </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">[your current location]</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">. The Special Interest Group on Harry Q. Bovik is a multidisciplinary conference dedicated to lesser-known research areas neglected by mainstream conferences, such as:</span></div><ul style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;" class=""><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;" class=""><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:0pt;" role="presentation" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Complexity practice,</span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Highlight syntaxing,</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Multi-armed philanthropists,</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Connotational semantics,</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Science computers,</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Data of unusual size,</span></div></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;" class=""><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:9pt;" role="presentation" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">And many more!</span></p></li></ul><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">The SIGBOVIK Organizing Committee is proud to announce that SIGBOVIK is the first conference to adopt a triple-blind peer review</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""><span style="font-size:0.6em;vertical-align:super;" class="">1</span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> process.</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-left: 27pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""><span style="font-size:0.6em;vertical-align:super;" class="">1</span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">triple-blind peer review</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> /ˈtrɪpl-blaɪnd piːr rɪˈvjuː/</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-left: 27pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">noun</span></div><br class=""><ol style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;" class=""><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; margin-left: 27pt;" class=""><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:9pt;" role="presentation" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Scholarly peer review that minimizes bias by concealing not only the identities of the authors and reviewers from each other, but also by concealing the papers from the reviewers. Compare: single- and double-blind peer review.</span></p></li></ol><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">We encourage everyone to submit both papers, reviews, talks, and answers regardless of affiliation, discipline, rationality, or goodwill. Authors of accepted papers are encouraged (but not required) to give a </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">five</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">-minute (not ten!) presentation of their work.</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">The submission deadline for both papers, reviews, talks, and answers is now March 27, 2020</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">.</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">Further disinformation is available at our website:</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><a href="http://sigbovik.org/2020" style="text-decoration:none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">http://sigbovik.org/2020</span></a></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">To keep up with our announcements, subscribe to our low-traffic mailing list:</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><a href="https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/sigbovik-announce" style="text-decoration:none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/sigbovik-announce</span></a></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">If you have no idea what’s going on:</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">SIGBOVIK is an evening of tongue-in-cheek academic presentations. If we have a goal, it’s to poke fun at our fields and provide a venue for silly ideas with (often but not always) serious executions. SIGBOVIK has both a published proceedings and live talks, and everyone is welcome to participate in either or both of these. All subjects are welcome, although be advised that the primary audience is computer scientists. The best way to get a feel for SIGBOVIK is to look at our past proceedings, which you can find at </span><a href="http://sigbovik.org" style="text-decoration:none;" class=""><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; -webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">http://sigbovik.org</span></a><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">.</span></div></body></html>