DTRAP and ACM are committed to hearing from practitioners. To that end, DTRAP has created a paper called a Field Note, which is in essence a case study with data. We also have two columns, one on the Benefit of Hindsight and the other on Research to Practice. See here for more information on the columns.
We also have a mentoring program.
We realize that it isn’t easy for someone who has never written a paper for a journal before. Jumping in to the abyss when you don’t even know what the abyss contains is never easy. (Words. Our abyss contains words. And ideas.)
So this blog post is written for you, the potential author, that doesn’t know where to start by me, one of the co-Editors-in-Chief of DTRAP.
All papers, presentations, or work start with an idea. A list of questions you can consider can be found here and include:
- “What’s something you notice that your existing tools can’t do?”
- “Things you know that your tools don’t seem to get yet”
- “Creative combinations that led to better results”
- “Open problems in practitioner-land”
- “How we solved/mitigated problem X in our environment”
I’m going to pretend you stared at that list for a while, thinking furiously (or laconically, your choice) and hit upon an idea. I’m not going to make something up for your idea, it’s your idea, and I’m sure it’s awesome. You’re just not sure what to do next.
Your next step is to write that idea down along with an explanation of why you think it’s so awesome.
For example, if you have an open problem you think should be addressed. Write down the problem and then write down what you’ve done to find any solution to the problem. Links to papers or webpages you’ve found that talk about the problem are also useful. This isn’t a paper, this is an argument for why you think this is important.
You want your enthusiasm to show in this. You’re enthusiastic about it, others should see that and be excited too.
Once you’ve done that, contact dtrap-editors@acm.org We’ll find a mentor to work with you.
Let’s talk about what that will mean for you. The mentor isn’t going to write the paper for you, at the most, they’ll write it with you. You will still need to write. Keep that in mind.
First, the mentor is going to give your idea a sniff test. This is a “huh, this could be useful!” or “You need to do a lot more work before this is something useful”. If they agree that it’s worthwhile, then you’re on to the next step, the writing of the paper.
There are two levels at which a mentor can work with you. The first level is to agree the idea is good or bad, and maybe look over your final draft before you submit it. They aren’t there to help you write, they aren’t there to help you refine, but merely be a sniff test.
If you’d like more extensive help, at that point the mentor becomes a co-author to recognize the amount of work they’re putting into the idea and paper.
The goal of this is for you to learn how to write your own paper next time. It’s a learning process, there’s no magic wand that I can use that will skip the learning process, sorry! Contact dtrap-editors@acm.org if you have any questions, we’d love to hear from you.