siggraph@watcgl.waterloo.edu (07/23/89)
Facts about using dorms for SIGGRAPH housing (from the conference management people): 1. The last time dorms were used was SIGGRAPH '84 in Minneapolis. 2. Each year some effort is made to see if dorms make sense. Since 1984, the answer has been (at least in the opinion of the people looking into it) "no". 3. Most housing bureaus won't work with dorm rooms thus resulting in a lot of (paid) staff time for SIGGRAPH to coordinate arrivals, departures, changes, etc. (All of this is handled FOR FREE by convention/housing bureaus for hotel rooms.) 4. Some dorms required full prepayment of rooms before they will hold anything. Rooms are then non-refundable. SIGGRAPH would need to front the money, with students paying SIGGRAPH (more paid staff time required to bill for and collect this money -- here's a place where it might be possible for students to do the work and reap the benefits -- but this is REAL work, starting months in advance of the conference and almost certainly taking many hours during the week of the conference if it is to be done right). 5. Dorms rooms are usually not conveniently located, thus adding substantially to busing costs (or complaints about no buses). 6. If "cheap student housing" is available in limited quantity, how does SIGGRAPH control it so the rooms really do go to students? Or should this be controlled, since many artists are in the same situation of very limited incomes and government employees have maximum hotel allowances that mean they can't afford room rates in cities like Boston, SF, and Chicago. 7. For SIGGRAPH '90 (Dallas) and SIGGRAPH '91 (Las Vegas), we are loaded with low price rooms. But SIGGRAPH '92 (Chicago) will be another bad situation like Boston. It would probably be worth the added effort to make some special arrangements.
buck@drax.gsfc.nasa.gov (Loren (Buck) Buchanan) (07/24/89)
If a student (or other non-funded person) really wants to go I suggest doing what I did for my first two SIGGRAPHs, I stayed at the YMCA in Boston and in Detroit. For another conference I stayed at a youth hostel. All were within walking distance. Loren "Buck" Buchanan | internet: buck@drax.gsfc.nasa.gov | standard disclaimer CSC, 1100 West St. | uucp: ...!ames!dftsrv!drax!buck | "By the horns of a Laurel, MD 20707 | phonenet: (301) 497-2531 or 9898 | sky demon..."
mink@cfa.HARVARD.EDU (Doug Mink, OIR) (07/24/89)
From article <391@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>, by buck@drax.gsfc.nasa.gov (Loren (Buck) Buchanan): > If a student (or other non-funded person) really wants to go I suggest > doing what I did for my first two SIGGRAPHs, I stayed at the YMCA in > Boston and in Detroit. For another conference I stayed at a youth hostel. > All were within walking distance. The Boston International Hostel, at 12 Hemenway St. (617)536-9455, is within easy walking distance of the Hynes Convention Center, as is the Central Boston YMCA, at 316 Huntington Ave. (617)536-7800. I'm not sure whether the Y has rooms, and summer tends to be a high occupancy time at the hostel. Doug Mink
wrf@mab.ecse.rpi.edu (Wm Randolph Franklin) (08/08/89)
It seems that SIGGRAPH could have done much more for cheap housing in Boston. 1. About there being few dorm rooms: Boston has 250K students in the academic year. One would think that there would have been a few thousand dorm rooms near public transportation, perhaps at Simmons, BU, etc. Do all the places have summer schools to fill the dorms? 2. About the prepayment problems: SIGGRAPH shouldn't have to front the money. Let the person desiring the dorm room pay the university directly. 3. About checking student status: Let anyone who wants use the dorms. 4. About the hassles of doing this: SIGGRAPH should absorb it as a cost of encouraging students into the field. They shouldn't get complacent: just because there are a lot of people in the field now doesn't mean there will always be. RPI has seen a big trend away from graphics/CAD in applications. Now students want computer architecture. In addition since the dorms make so much money on the deal, they might be willing to help somewhat. I stayed at an MIT dorm for a week in June for the Computers & Math conference. The dorm people seemed to do the reservations themselves. The cost was $45/day for single or $66/day for double, breakfast and lunch included. Unfortunately they wouldn't take individual reservations for SIGGRAPH. 5. Cheap hotels: SIGGRAPH doesn't even want to deal with the cheaper HOTELS, let alone dorms. My travel agent got me a Howard Johnsons adjacent to Fenway Park (15 minute walk away) for $79, $50 cheaper than the best SIGGRAPH could do. Sending students to an occasional conference is an excellent way to get them wired into a field. The leaders in any field less crowded than law should help to encourage this. SIGGRAPH is already helping a lot with the student volunteer program; I'm just suggesting a little more help. (Please email replies to me as well as posting.) Wm. Randolph Franklin Internet: wrf@ecse.rpi.edu (or @cs.rpi.edu) Bitnet: Wrfrankl@Rpitsmts Telephone: (518) 276-6077; Telex: 6716050 RPI TROU; Fax: (518) 276-6261 Paper: ECSE Dept., 6026 JEC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy NY, 12180