General talk about software patterns

[Michael Krisper <michael.krisper AT tugraz.at>]

Dear Pattern Writer,

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join us once again by
submitting a paper to the 25th European Conference on Pattern
Languages of Programs (EuroPLoP 2021). The conference will take place
on July 7th-11th, 2021, again at the beautiful Kloster Irsee in
Germany (given that COVID-19 is hopefully finally defeated until
then).

Please find the call for papers attached. The deadline for the initial
paper submission is February 6th, 2021.
More information is available on the website: https://europlop.net/

We would appreciate if you could forward this call for papers to your
colleagues, co-workers, and pattern friends in your network.

Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions regarding the
conference. We look forward to receiving your submission for EuroPLoP
2021!

Best Regards,
Michael Krisper, Tiago Boldt Sousa
EuroPLoP 2021 Chairs
EuroPLoP 2021 - CALL FOR PAPERS
=======================================================================
25th European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (EuroPLoP 2021)
July 7-11, 2021 – Kloster Irsee*, Bavaria, Germany
www.europlop.net
=======================================================================

Patterns represent practical experience and best practice, and EuroPLoP
is the premier European conference on patterns and pattern languages.
Hereby, we invite you to submit a paper for the EuroPLoP 2021.

IMPORTANT DATES
===============
Feb. 6th, 2021:   Submission deadline for pattern papers
                  Submission deadline for pattern school applications.
March 8th, 2021:  Acceptance for shepherding notification.
                  Shepherding starts.
May 7th, 2021:    Submission deadline for revised paper after shepherding
                  Submission deadline for focus group proposals.
May 21st, 2021:   Acceptance notification for the conference
                  Registration opens.
June 18th, 2021:  Submission deadline for conference version.
July 7th-11th, 2021: EuroPLoP Conference.
Sept. 30th, 2021: Submission deadline for final proceedings.

WHY COME TO EUROPLOP 2021?
==========================
Patterns represent practical experience and best practices, and EuroPLoP is 
the
premier European conference on patterns and pattern languages.

- Authors gain visibility by publishing patterns and get active, high-quality
  feedback that can significantly improve their pattern writing and daily
  activities.
- Practitioners enlarge their network and increase visibility at EuroPLoP by
  meeting leading experts and practitioners, and getting feedback.
- Academics gain from EuroPLoP’s intensive process of shepherding, peer
  reviews, and peer discussions at Writers’ Workshops which will yield a
  high-quality publication:
  * Accepted papers will be published in the ACM ICPS
  * Further elaborated accepted papers qualify for submission to the Springer
    journal LNCS Transactions on Pattern Languages of Programming (TPLoP).
- Participants may keep up-to-date with contemporary movements in software
  engineering and related topics, with in-depth discussions during EuroPLoP’s
  Writers’ Workshops.


CALL FOR PATTERN PAPERS (Deadline: Feb. 6th, 2021, 23:59 AoE)
=============================================================
EuroPLoP accepts papers containing patterns or pattern languages, as well as
papers related to the theory and the practical application of patterns. The
papers will be assigned to one of the tracks and discussed in the writer’s
workshops. We encourage the domain of software design patterns, but other
domains are also welcome, as well as emerging topics. The topics for the
writers’ workshops are:

A) Software/Systems Engineering, Classical Software Design Patterns
   - All kind of patterns in software and systems architecture,
     design, and implementation
   - Human-computer-interface design and architecture
   - Reports, studies, or empirical evaluations of using patterns and
     pattern languages
   - Patterns for improving software quality and software verification

B) Modern Development and Operations Paradigms
   - Patterns in all kinds of agile processes, e.g., Scrum, DevOps,
     CI/CD, Twelve-Factor Apps
   - Patterns in API Design & Management, DDD, Model-Based
     Development, Microservices, SOA
   - Patterns for cloud/fog/edge environments, and embedded edge computing

C) Patterns in Business, Organization, Innovation, and Requirements 
Engineering
   - Business, organization, requirements engineering, and process management
   - Patterns for design thinking / lateral thinking, innovation
     processes, and creativity
   - Patterns for transformations of corporate processes and
     alternative business cultures.

D) Education and Learning Patterns
   - Education, collaboration, and interdisciplinary topics
   - Gamification-Patterns

E) Patterns in the Internet of Things / Cyber-Physical-Systems
   - Patterns in (Industrial) IoT, Cyber-Physical-Systems, embedded
     devices, control systems
   - Hardware/Software Co-Design patterns
   - Patterns about safety, security, reliability, or dependability in general

F) Patterns in Emerging Topics
   - Hyper-automation, robotic process automation, digital
     transformation, Industry 4.0
   - Pattern about blockchain and smart contracts
   - Patterns for AI and machine learning
   - Patterns for virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality,
     and immersive applications
   - Patterns for multi-experience environments and people-centric smart 
spaces


PATTERN SCHOOL / ON-SITE SHEPHERDING (Deadline: Feb. 6th, 2021, 23:59 AoE)
==========================================================================
Pattern school is a special workshop taking place at the conference, which 
gives
authors the possibility to learn or improve their pattern-writing skills and
increase the quality of their papers. The authors will get a direct on-site
shepherding by highly-experienced pattern writers and can take part in the 
other
workshops during the conference to interact with the other participants. For 
the
pattern school, you must at least submit a draft of your paper containing the
idea and a basic structure, but mature papers are also possible, as EuroPLoP
also accepts excerpts from PhD theses or book projects. In the past, many book
authors have submitted parts of their work to get feedback from the pattern
community. Papers in the pattern school will not be published.


CALL FOR FOCUS GROUPS (Deadline: May 7th, 2021, 23:59 AoE)
==========================================================
Focus groups are 1-2 hour workshop sessions during the conference where you
present or elaborate a pattern-related topic. This gives you the possibility 
to
get in-depth feedback on a specific topic you are working on or to undertake a
survey amongst the participants. The exact session design is up to you. Your
submission should sketch the content, how you will organize your session, its
time budget, and the required number of participants on 1-2 pages.


SUBMISSION PROCESS
==================
The submission runs through three quality gates before the final proceedings
will be published. After the first draft is accepted, your paper will be
assigned to a shepherd. This is an experienced pattern author, who will 
provide
feedback and suggestions on how to improve your paper. Following several
iterations of shepherding, your improved second draft will be reviewed again 
and
accepted or rejected for the conference. On acceptance, your paper will be
discussed in the writers’ workshop during the conference. Based on the 
feedback
received during the workshops, you must submit a final revised version that 
will
be published. The submission system is available under
https://europlop.net/content/submission.


SUBMISSION FORMAT
=================
The final submission for publication must be formatted using the two-column 
ACM
sigconf template (https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template), but
for the drafts and intermediate versions, you can use any format. However, we
encourage you to use ACM two-column format right from the beginning to avoid
layout problems in the end. If you don’t intend to publish, you can choose
whatever format you like. We recommend 10 pages as a guideline and especially
welcome shorter papers. Longer papers are also possible but bear in mind that
the writers’ workshop might decide to focus only on a part of your paper.


EUROPLOP VALUES
===============
- High-quality feedback: All submissions will benefit from an iterative
  shepherding process prior to the conference: an experienced pattern author
  will give you feedback and suggestions on how to improve your paper. In
  Writers’ Workshops – the core of the conference – peers, and experts will
  discuss your paper. You will receive in-depth, constructive feedback and
  insights to improve your paper further. If you wish, you may introduce your
  contribution to the Writers’ Workshop with alternative media (e.g., short
  video clips) to get feedback on that format as well.

- Share and learn: Patterns are an effective way to share knowledge about a
  domain. The interdisciplinary topics of the conference will provide you with
  new insights and inspiring ideas from other fields.

- Theory and practice: EuroPLoP, with its creative and constructive
  atmosphere, attracts participants from both industry and academia. You will 
be
  part of a unique community of thought-leading people such as pattern book
  authors, researchers, and practitioners.

We are looking forward to receiving your contributions!

Conference Chair: Michael Krisper
                  Graz University of Technology, Austria
                  
michael.krisper AT tugraz.at

Program Chair: Tiago Boldt Sousa
               University of Porto, Portugal
               
tiagoboldt AT gmail.com


HILLSIDE EUROPE
===============
EuroPLoP 2021 is run by Hillside Europe e.V. Chairs of Hillside Europe:
Christian Kohls, Uwe van Heesch, and treasurer Niels Seidel

Hillside Europe e.V. was entered into the register of associations at the 
Munich
Court under number VR 17650 on 6th May 2002, and is registered at the Munich
Tax Office under tax number 143/843/46079 and was last approved as non-profit 
on
27th January 2004.

MORE INFORMATION
================
www.europlop.net
Twitter: @euPLoP
Facebook: www.facebook.com/euplop

*) The conference might be moved to an online or hybrid model,
considering the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.