FAQs

General Information about CKVK*:

Q: Who are the organizers?

Micah Chrisman, Sujoy Mukherjee, Robb Todd.

Q: What is the organizational structure of the seminar?

This seminar is an asynchronous seminar on knot theory. Talks will appear as an entry on a blog. Viewers can post questions for you about your talk as comments. Speakers will answer questions as they appear over time.  

Q: Why was this seminar organized?

Many talks at AMS Sessions were cancelled due to the pandemic. Our goal is to give these speakers a forum to present their results. After this initial need is met, we will open the seminar to anyone in knot theory or a related area (e.g. low-dimensional topology, non-associative algebra, quantum algebra…). The * in the seminar name is to signify inclusiveness. We are happy to host talks on all topics in the field, from speakers at all levels of academia and at all stages in their careers.

Guidelines for CKVK* speakers:

Q: I would like to give a talk. WHAT DO I DO?!

First send an e-mail to one of the organizers or to the seminar e-mail address (ckvkseminar@gmail.com). We will schedule a week for your talk to be announced and advertised. Record a talk of your choosing (for example, using Zoom or WebEx). We will upload the talk to YouTube. This video will be embedded in a blog entry which includes your title, abstract, and any references your might like to include. Viewers are then able to post comments and questions about your talk. You can answer their questions by replying to their comments. Each blog entry will be given tags for keywords related to your talk.

Q: How long should my talk be?

 Your talks can be as long as you want.

Q: What kind of talk should I record?

You can record an old talk, a cancelled talk, or a new talk. You can record a chalkboard-style talk, an online-lecture style talk, or use any format that you feel comfortable with. We are all just figuring this out, so nothing needs to be highly produced, we just want to hear what you are working on!

Q: What happens if I realize later I have made a mistake in my talk?

It does not need to be perfect. If you make a mistake while recording, you can just correct yourself in the comments section. No worries!

Guidelines for commenting on CKVK*:

Q: I don’t see a place to make a comment. How do I make a comment?

From the homepage, click on the title of the talk you want to comment on. This will open the page for the talk entry. You can type your comment at the bottom of the page. If you want your comment to be e-mailed directly to the speaker, reply directly to the very first comment. It is the one that says something like “Thank you Prof. Astérix for your talk! To ask a question to Prof. Astérix, please reply to this comment below.”

Q: How do I write LaTex in a comment?

To make LaTex appear in a comment, type $ latex “your math here” $ (omit the space between $ and latex). It looks like this \pi_1(S^3\smallsetminus K).

Q: I made a comment but it did not appear immediately. What happened?

Since the internet can sometimes be unkind, we manually approve each comment before it appears. Your comment will appear as soon as the organizers have a chance to read it.