Call for Participation

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Wikimania is an annual global event devoted to Wikimedia projects around the globe (including Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikinews, Wiktionary, Wikiversity, Wikiquote, Wikispecies, and Wikimedia Commons). The conference is a community gathering, giving the editors and users of Wikimedia projects an opportunity to meet each other, exchange ideas, report on research and projects, and collaborate on the future of the projects. The conference is open to the public, and is a chance for educators, researchers, programmers and free culture activists who are interested in the Wikimedia projects to learn more and share ideas about the Wikimedia projects.

This year's conference will be held from August 26-28 in Buenos Aires, Argentina at San Martín Cultural Center (see Wikipedia and official site).

For more information, please visit the official Wikimania 2009 site at http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org.

We are accepting submissions for presentations, workshops, panels, posters, open space discussions, and artistic works related to the Wikimedia projects or free content topics in general. Please carefully follow the submission guidelines below.

Call for Participation

Important dates

Submissions will open on: March 1

Deadline for submitting workshop, panel, and presentation submissions: ~~April 15~~ April 30.
We have extended the submission deadline until April 30. However, we cannot guaranteee that submissions received after April 15th will be reviewed on time to award a scholarship to the submitter.

Deadline for submitting posters, open space discussions, and artistic works: April 30

Notification of acceptance of workshops, panels, presentations: May 15

Notification of acceptance of posters, discussions, and artistic works: May 31

Conference dates: August 26-28

Themes and tracks

There are two tracks for submission: the Casual Track, for members of wiki communities and interested observers to share their own experiences and thoughts and to present new ideas; and the Academic Track, for research based on the methods of scientific studies exploring the social, content or technical aspects of Wikipedia, the other Wikimedia projects, or other massively collaborative works, as well as open and free content creation and community dynamics more generally.

Submissions to either track should address one or more of the following themes:

"Wikimedia Communities," including the topics of conflict resolution and community dynamics; reputation and identity; multi-lingualism and languages and cultures.
"Free Knowledge," including open access to information; ways to gather and distribute free knowledge, use of the Wikimedia projects in education, journalism, research; ways to improve content quality and usability.
"Latin American challenges," centering on efforts and limitations for expanding the reach of Wikimedia projects in Latin America; promotion of projects in Native American languages; specific problems of the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Wikimedia communities.
"Technical infrastructure," including issues related to MediaWiki development and extensions; Wikimedia's technical infrastructure; and new ideas for development.

Papers should be of interest to members of the Wikimedia communities, and fit within one of the themes above.

Types of Submissions

We are seeking submissions for:

Presentations (10–30 minute talks with discussion afterwards)

This type of submission is appropriate for presenting substantial research or community projects

Workshops (60–120 minute session with a discussion leader and more audience involvement)

This type of submission is appropriate for sessions designed to teach a specific subject or explore it in depth

Panels (group of 2-5 speakers to discuss aspects of a topic with audience questions, 45-90 minute sessions)

This type of submission is appropriate for discussions on a topic of wide interest among community members, with several participants who may be presenting their work. For less formal discussions of limited interest, consider an open space discussion instead.

Open space discussions (informal discussion on a specific topic; the discussion leader helps moderate the conversation but the session is open to anyone interested to join in)

This type of submission is good for a topic that several participants want to discuss or brainstorm about in an informal setting

Posters (printed visual displays that can stand on their own, with no associated presentation)

This type of submission is good for presenting research in progress, or smaller community projects

Artistic works (plays, competitions, comedy, visualizations, displays or other representations of some aspect of the projects)

This type of submission is good for showing creativity or showcasing beautiful work about the projects.

In addition there will be the chance to give lightning talks, which are 5-minute short presentations. Lightning talk sessions will be organized on the Wikimania 2009 wiki shortly before the conference begins, without any need to submit them via the submission system. These talks are best for those who want to quickly present an idea or project without giving a formal presentation. These are informal talks that are open to everyone to participate in.

Submission Guidelines

Wikimania is organized by volunteers, so please help us minimize wasted effort by submitting via the submission system and following these guidelines. All submissions MUST include the following:

Event title: an English or Spanish title.
Abstract: a short English or Spanish abstract of your event in 50 to 100 words. The abstract will be used for the public schedule.
Themes and track: list the track you wish to submit to (Casual or Academic) and the single theme you think your submission fits in best (Wikimedia Communities, Free Knowledge, Latin American challenges, Technical infrastructure). Note that posters and artistic works have their own track in the submission system.
Information about the speaker: full name, email, and a short biography.
Submission file: A plain text, PDF or OpenDocument file, in English or Spanish, containing:
- A long description of the submission, in English or Spanish that can be used for reviewing, not to exceed 1000 words. Please give an overview of the areas to be covered or taught. State clearly the relevance to the Wikimedia projects and whether submission concerns a specific wiki project. You can also include links, graphics or diagrams if they do not exceed one page.
- Event type: please state if the event is a presentation, workshop, panel, open space discussion, poster, or artistic work; if a presentation or panel, whether the presentation is expected to be a certain length.
- For panel submissions only: name of a suggested moderator and short biographies of each suggested panelist
- Language: list the language you plan to present in. The conference will be bilingual in English and Spanish.
- Special requirements: list any special requirements, including any equipment.

In the "Comments for conference director" field you should tell us whether you will attend to Wikimania (a) surely, (b) probably, (c) only if your submission is accepted, or (d) only if we provide travel and/or accommodation. You can also add yourself to the public list of attendees at the Wikimania 2009 wiki: http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Attendees

Please note that all submissions must be dual licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 or later and the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0! By submitting for Wikimania 2009 you agree to this condition.

Submissions

Once you are sure you have included all of the required information, please send your submission before the respective deadline through our submission system: http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submission

If you have further questions, email wikimania-program@wikimedia.org (In English or Spanish).

Scholarships

If you need a scholarship to travel to Buenos Aires, you must apply for it throught the scholarships system. The fact that your submission is approved by the Program Committee does not imply that you are automatically granted a scholarship.