Journal-Club @ LIIR - Instructions

Journal Club - Reading

In the reading meetings, we come together to discuss a paper. There are no restrictions on these papers, as long as they are not very trivial and simple to understand. We regularly schedule this meeting every two weeks where we discuss one paper a time.

Papers are chosen by the means of a poll. Everyone can propose and vote for a paper for the next meeting when the poll opens. The discussion-leader and the in-depth-reader choose a paper one week in advance, hopefully considering the votes. These polls are hosted on the LIIR slack channel.

Everybody that comes to these meetings is expected to have read the paper. However, to guide the discussion, we have some roles that go deeper into it.

  • In-Depth-Reader(s): Reads the paper in advance in much detail. Ideas for how to prepare:
    • Read per paragraph/part/section.
    • For each part, determine what the main points are.
    • For each part, how clear was this part? Well written, weird idea, difficult math, etc?
    • For each part, is there some discussion point: How do we interpret this? Does it make sense? Can we ever use this? Would it survive different settings? etc.
    • For each part, is external information required to understand this? (If you have time to spare, feel free to search for it.)
  • Discussion-Leader: Same as the in-depth-reader(s). Additional tasks:
    • Starts the meeting with a very short summary.
    • Guides the discussion during the meeting.
    • The main person who is responsible for bringing forward discussion points.
    • Engages others to participate in the discussion.
    • Optional: displays paper on-screen with markings, prepares some slides to guide the reading and discussion (no lecture or long presentation).

All the roles are filled randomly, making sure everybody will be discussion-leader, and you collaborate with different in-depth-readers.

There will be a host present to make sure there is a good flow in the discussion. Most importantly, the host makes sure there are snacks present.

If you are planning to join regularly and want to be added to the pool of in-depth-readers/discussion-leader, please contact Katrien Laenen. Send a mail to firstname (dot) lastname (at) kuleuven (dot) be, or message on Slack. If we note that you participate on a regular basis, we might add you to the pool (or contact you directly about it).