Without

Associate Editorship (AE)¶

I was an AE for ITID for quite a few years. I don't think I was very good at it; only a handful of submissions were steered by me into print (that's what an AE does: the AE corrals reviewers to shepherd a submission into publishable material, typically in 2-3 cycles of review and revision). ITID is going through some changes; entering its 3^rd phase. Maybe they'll ask me to help out? I dunno. I'm kinda old. Journals need new blood; and new ideas to stay relevant. Old folk like me, are we really relevant anymore? I guess we've got experience . . . what do I know?

Programme committees (PC)¶

I typically review for ICTD on a regular basis; and occasionally for other conferences like IST-AFrica, DEV (see below) CHI, PDC and others. I mean, you review for the conferences where you (would like to) submit. That's how this works. It's called Science. On the local side, for (too) many years, I reviewed for SATNAC on an annual basis; sometimes for SAICSIT. I also think that reviewers should be changed up for conferences. It's too easy to fall into a rut. So I was glad to make space for other people at SATNAC and ITID (above), and will do so for ICTD at some point, too.

Conference chairing¶

In 2013 I co-chaired a smallish ACM conference that used to be called DEV here in Cape Town; now that conference is called COMPASS. Chairing that conference nearly killed me. And chairing the larger conference co-located with it, and overlapping one day, actually did kill someone (literally) very close to me. I swore I would never do that again; and I'll keep my word. I might consider chairing a programme committee, but I'd have to really move some plates off the countertop to do that. This kind of stuff is Major Pain. As I said above, I'm older now. I'd like to live and minimise Pain. Life is Pain enough already. You young people can do this stuff. It builds character.

Adjunct and external moderation¶

I remain appointed at UWC as Extraordinary Professor, clearing the BANG pipeline (which will total an impressive 99 postgrad completions as of the end of 2022!). I external Computer Networks for the University of Zululand; and have externally examined MSc and PhD theses/dissertations for both South African and international universities. I promise you, none of this pays very well; if at all. That's why I view it as service to the Academic Community.