B652 Symbolic Models of Machine Learning
Spring 2011

Each student will be assigned to one paper presentation as a discussant. The discussant will make a short commentary (about 5 minutes) after the main presentation, giving ideas, raising questions, and responding to the points raised in the presentation, and will participate actively in the following discussion. The discussant has two roles:

• To provide a brief alternative view of a paper, to raise questions and spur discussion. The discussant is responsible for doing a careful reading of the paper in advance, and discussants are encouraged to talk with the presenters before the presentation, to get an idea of their views. The discussant should independently analyze the paper (the points described in the presentation guidelines will be helpful for this). The discussant is welcome to talk with other discussants as well.

  In the discussant presentation, the discussant should raise points comparing and contrasting that analysis with the one presented and raising questions on the material covered. The discussant should feel free to play "devil's advocate" to spur debate!

• To provide the presenters with constructive feedback on strengths and weaknesses of their presentation sessions, and with suggestions for future presentations. After the presentation each discussant will submit a brief (about 250-word) writeup of comments and suggestions on the presentation (in light of the posted guidelines for the presentations), and comments on the presenters' positions on the paper. This will be submitted as a plain text file submitted via oncourse. This should be submitted within 24 hours of the presentation. These written comments will be read by the instructor and passed on to the presenters.