% Notes from the STAMP 2012 Workshop
% Michael Stone
% April 22, 2012

Earlier this week, I was privileged to attend the [2012 STAMP
Workshop][workshop] ([materials]), organized by [Prof. Nancy
Leveson](http://sunnyday.mit.edu) and her tireless students [Blandine], John
T., [John H.][helferich], [Qi][qi], Cody, and [Bill], (presumably along with several
others who I was not fortunate enough to get to know).

The subject of the workshop was *accidents*, understood as "unplanned and
unacceptable loss events".

The attendees came from all over the world and from sectors as diverse as
the aerospace, automotive, transportation, chemical process, food safety,
medical devices, and the military and public sectors.

The common cause for the workshop was provided by Nancy's wonderful book,
published earlier this year by MIT Press, entitled ["Engineering a Safer
World"][easw] ([pdf]), on how to think about accidents, accident reporting, and
accident prevention in complex socio-technical systems like those found in each
of the industries mentioned above.

My favorite talks were presented by [Lane Desborough][lane], on the development of an
artificial pancreas and by [Dr. Qi Hommes][qi], on adaptive cruise control.

Following the workshop, I'm also looking forward to future research
collaborations with John Thomas (whose PhD research on software support for
safety analysis is very near my own heart) and Col. Bill Young (whose research
on cyberwarfare seems quite professionally relevant.)

Next, in the hope of getting even more out of next year's conference, three
things that I would enjoy helping to organize for next year include:

 1. improving slide readability and presentation length, e.g., by
    
       * creating and distributing a style guide for presentations, e.g.,
         to recommend reasonable font-sizes and to help with diagram layout and
    
       * offering optional 5 minute length and readability reviews so that
         presenters get more definite feedback in advance of their presentations

 2. providing a shared text channel (e.g., via [Etherpad]) for the
    collaborative development of notes by audience members, and

 3. soliciting and distributing "recommended reading" from all presenters
    (or even all attendees) so that we can better prepare the way for future
    collaboration and learning.

Last but not least, thanks again to Nancy and the other workshop organizers for
all that they've done to make the first event a success: you all should be
really, really proud of the work you've done and of where your ideas are going!

[workshop]: http://csrl.scripts.mit.edu/home/stampstpa-workshop
[materials]: http://csrl.scripts.mit.edu/home/stampstpa-workshop/materials

[Blandine]: http://www.linkedin.com/in/blandineantoine
[helferich]: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelferich
[Bill]: http://www.linkedin.com/in/youngwilliam
[qi]: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=20409599

[lane]: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lanedesborough

[easw]: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12662
[pdf]: http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/full_pdfs/Engineering_a_Safer_World.pdf

[etherpad]: http://etherpad.org/