Microsoft Research Social Computing Symposium

I serve as the conference chair for Microsoft’s annual Social Computing Symposium, an invitation-only event that brings together academic researchers and industry experts to explore specific social computing topics in depth. I was an invited participant for the first two symposia in 2004 and 2005, and began chairing the event in 2006 during the year I spent at Microsoft as a visiting researcher. As chair of this event, it is my responsibility to work with the organizing committee (made up of both academic and industry representatives) to identify the topical themes for each event, as well as to select and invite participants and speakers. My lab also provides the computing infrastructure for the symposium invitations and materials. This symposium is considered one of the premier events in social computing by many researchers, industry professionals, and journalists.