On Opting Out: not submitting to CVPR 2022
12 Nov 2021I thought about submitting a paper to CVPR this year. That thought was with me for a very, very short time – when I remembered the new social media ban for this year, which wasn’t even implemented at the time. I decided to opt out and submit the paper somewhere else.
I’ve laid out the problems I see with the social media ban already for the community, but want to discuss my issues with this kind of restriction personally in this post.
First, my work is publicly funded. It is part of the culture of the place where I work and my own feeling that one should be able to communicate the research to stakeholders at different levels, whether they be other scientists in my field, other fields, farmers, students of all ages, administrators, etc. The research, when published, is in the public domain – I don’t sign over copyright.
Against that backdrop, a ban on talking about finished research products seems like it is from another planet. It doesn’t make sense.
In addition, at my location I am the only computational scientist or engineer. Local seminars are about insects, pathogens, and genetics – somehow I’m able to follow along with some of it at this point, but not all of it. So communicating with others on Twitter, and hearing about new works on Twitter, is the main way I interact with and learn from my scientific community now.
So again, this ban doesn’t make sense to me coming from that context. Do I email people I know for feedback in a pre-arXiv style? Wait for a rejection? I would much rather not be constrained in this way. I have enough going on personally as it is.
It is fine for me not to submit to CVPR. My work is interdisciplinary and it doesn’t always fit well in the CV conferences. For those whose work fits perfectly at CVPR, and are still writing, good luck!