Making a science out of applied idiocy

April 17, 2005

Richard Jinman

Saturday April 16, 2005

The Guardian

The research paper was clearly the work of experts. It had a long,

baffling title and its authors were familiar with key topics such as

" simulated annealing " and " flexible modalities " .

Submitted to the World Multiconference on Systematics, Cybernetics and

Informatics (WMSCI), a computer science event to be held in Florida in

July, it was promptly selected for presentation.

There was just one problem: it was complete gibberish. A random

collection of charts, diagrams and obtuse lines such as " We implemented

our scatter/gather I/O server in Simula-67 " , it was generated by a

computer program written by three Massachussetts Insitute of Technology

students.

Article continues

MIT graduate student Jeremy Stribling, 25, and two friends created the

fake paper because they were tired of being sent emails by WMSCI

organisers soliciting admissions.

Mr Stribling said he was " definitely surprised " when Rooter: A

Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy,

was accepted, but " we kind of suspected they had low standards " . He

added: " They ask for submissions, but once you get in you have to pay a

$400 (£220) fee to have your paper published. " The prank had been aimed

at the WMSCI and was not a statement about jargon in computer science.

Nagib Callaos, a WMSCI organiser, said the bogus paper had been accepted

on a " non-reviewed " basis.

Mr Stribling said the trio wanted to present their paper. " It's just a

matter of whether we can get in. "

--

Recommended Posts