1 Dear {{ name }},

     2 

     3 Thanks for helping to make the first annual SciPy India conference such

     4 a great success!  There is one last thing you can contribute to this

     5 conference.

     6 

     7 We've decided to publish a conference proceedings this year.  Submitting

     8 a paper is completely optional.  However, all submitted papers will be

     9 peer-reviewed and the proceedings will only include accepted papers.

    10 

    11 As a speaker at the 2009 conference, you are invited to submit a 5-8

    12 page paper for the proceedings.  If you wish to submit a paper, you

    13 will have around 6 weeks to write your paper.  The review process will

    14 take another 6-8 weeks. Given this schedule the proceedings will be

    15 published in April 2010.

    16 

    17 We ask you to write the paper bearing in mind that the SciPy conference

    18 is a multidisciplinary conference focused on sharing tools and

    19 experience using the Python language in a scientific context. Readers

    20 may not be familiar with the specifics of your technical field. To

    21 maximize the impact of your contribution, you should put your work in

    22 context and explain the techniques used.  If your paper is about a

    23 library or an application, code samples and screenshots are welcomed;

    24 however, the paper should not be a replacement for a user manual, but

    25 rather a motivation and a presentation for the software. Finally,

    26 please note that your paper should have a significant discussion of the

    27 role Python played in your work.

    28 

    29 Papers should be written using rst (restructured text) a popular markup

    30 tool in the Python world.  We are still finalizing the review process,

    31 but the review criteria will be something like this:

    32 

    33 * Does the paper describe a well-formulated scientific or technical

    34   achievement?

    35 * Is the content of the paper accessible to a computational scientist

    36   with no specific knowledge in the given field?

    37 * Are the technical and scientific decisions well-motivated?

    38 * Does the paper reference the software and scientific sources and

    39   material used?

    40 * Are the code examples (if any) sound, clear, and well-written?

    41 * Is the paper fit for publication in the SciPy proceedings?

    42   Improvements may be required, with or without a second review.

    43 

    44 The deadline for submitting the papers will be in the beginning of

    45 February. After this date, a review board will review your paper and

    46 send you feedback to improve the paper, before the final acceptance.

    47 

    48 We are still working out the details regarding publishing the

    49 proceedings and will provide more information at the end of next week.

    50 As soon as it is finalized, we will provide you with the following via

    51 email:

    52 

    53 * A detailed schedule of the various deadlines related to publication.

    54 * The complete review criteria the proceedings reviewers will use.

    55 * Detailed instructions on how to submit your papers.

    56 

    57 Please respond to this email, letting us know whether you intend to

    58 submit a paper. If you are submitting a paper, please begin doing

    59 the following:

    60 

    61 1. Look at the 2008 and 2009 SciPy proceedings to get an idea of what

    62    kinds of papers the reviewers will be looking for.

    63 2. Begin writing your paper using restructured text.  For help using

    64    restructured text, see the following:

    65    http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/quickstart.html

    66 3. As always, don't hesitate to Let us know whether you have any

    67    questions of not.

    68 

    69 Yours truly,

    70 

    71 Madhusudan.C.S (SciPy India 2009 program chair)

    72 FOSSEE team member

    73 Mumbai, India

    74 

    75 Jarrod Millman (SciPy India 2009 conference co-chair)

    76 Managing Director, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute

    77 Director, Computational Infrastructure for Research Laboratories

    78 University of California, Berkeley, USA

    79 

    80 Prabhu Ramachandran (SciPy India 2009 conference co-chair)

    81 Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering

    82 Principal Investigator, FOSSEE

    83 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India