(''OopslaProgramCommitteeMembershipPatterns'')

OOPSLA is one (albeit large) part of a larger,
world-wide community drawn together by a common
interest in the object paradigm.
This community is fragmented by geography, which has led to multiple
conferences around the world.
ECOOP has its own focus and constituency,
which differs slightly from those of OOPSLA.
Each conference has its own structure, which
breaks the sense of community.
The geographic distances make it impractical
to staff both committees with a critical mass
of the same individuals.

'''Therefore''', seed the program committee with
the chairs of other conferences with shared interests.
Program chairs can represent the interests of their
communities, and can take ideas and concerns back to
their own communities, engaging appropriate people.

This pattern has become a tradition, but extending the
formal invitation is part of the tradition.

One benefit of this cross-fertilization is to detect
duplicate work, as when an author submits the same paper
to multiple conferences.

-- JimCoplien/PierreCointe