Hi

Appologies for the previous mail, which due to mailman functions etc, has ended up in peoples mail boxes horribly formatted.  Appologies for that.  So below is a (hopefully) better formatted version.  Also you can go to -> http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Call_for_Participation to see the nice version :-)

Sorry and thanks

Mark



== Call for Participation ==
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) and for its editors and users to gather, meet each other, exchange ideas, and report on research and projects.  It is a community event, which is also open to the public and to researchers. This year's conference will be held from '''July 17-19, 2008''' in Alexandria, Egypt at the new Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina).

For more information, please visit the Wikimania 2008 Home page at http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org

We are accepting submissions for presentations, workshops, panels, posters, open spaces, and artistic artifacts. Please carefully follow the submission guidelines below. Submissions can be sent via the following link:

:https://wikimedia.pentabarf.org/submission/wikimania2008

=== Important dates ===

* 1 February – 16 March : Submission
* 17 March – 30 April : Review, feedback and notification of acceptance
* 17 – 19 July 2008 : '''Wikimania'''

=== Conference Tracks  ===

Submissions should address one or more of the following themes:

; Wikimedia Communities : Interesting projects and particularities within the communities; policy creation within individual projects; conflict resolution and community dynamics; reputation and identity; multi-lingualism, languages and cultures; social studies. We explicitly invite you to discuss your local Wikimedia project's community.

; Free Knowledge : Open access to information; ways to gather and distribute free knowledge, usage of the Wikimedia projects in education, journalism, research; ways to improve content quality and usability; copyright laws and other legal areas that interfere with Wikimedia projects. Free Content in the Middle-East/Africa.

; Technical infrastructure : Issues related to MediaWiki development and extensions; Wikimedia's technical infrastructure; new ideas for development (including case studies from other wikis or similar projects).

; Scientific track : Academic papers about massively collaborative work, open and free content creation, community dynamics, the social or economic aspects of the Wikimedia projects, and other topics related to Wikimedia projects. Papers submitted to the scientific track will be peer reviewed by a reviewing committee regarding their novelty, rigour, and estimated impact, and accepted or rejected based on these reviews. The papers will be published in proceedings afterwards, and depending on the number and the quality of the submissions, a journal special issue may be pursued. Scientific track papers must be in English, and must not exceed 7,500 words (or 15 pages LNCS).

Your topic must be related either to the Wikimedia projects and their communities, or to the creation of free content in general.

=== Types of Submissions ===

We are seeking submissions for

* presentations (10–30 minute talks with discussion afterwards)
* workshops/open discussions (60–120 minute session with a discussion leader and more involvement of the audience)
* panels (group of 2-5 speakers to discuss on a specific subject)
* posters (printed presentations or visual displays that can stand on their own)
* artistic artifacts (plays, competitions, comedy, visualizations, or other representations of some aspect of the projects)

In addition there will the possibility to give [[lightning talks]] (5 minute short presentations). These will be organized on the Wikimania 2008 wiki without need to submit via the submission system.

=== 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 explicitly include the following:

# an English "Event title"
# a short English "Abstract" of your event in 50 to 100 words. The abstract will be used for the public schedule.
# the "Track" your submission fits in best (Wikimedia Communities, Free Knowledge, Technical infrastructure, or Scientific)
# the "Event type" (presentation, workshop, panel, poster, artistic...)
# information about the speaker (full name, email, a short description of at least 2 sentences...)
# for submissions to the scientific track: set "Submission of paper for proceedings" to "yes" and upload a paper instead of the "Description" below as "Attachment". Papers must be in English, and must not exceed 7,500 words.

In addition you can add some more information like a a subtitle of the event, an image (will be resized to 128x128px) and private "Submission notes" for reviewers and conference organisation. In particular you should give:

* a more detailed "Description" of your event in English or Arabic. The description is essential for review: please give an overview of the areas to be covered or taught. The better you describe your submission, the more likely it will get accepted. State clearly the relevance to the Wikimedia projects and whether submission concerns a specific wiki project. You can also include links. The description will later be used for the public schedule but you can edit it before.
* special requirements (such as equipment for a workshop or panel) if needed
* the language used for presentation
* whether you want to submit a paper for proceedings
* whether you want to submit presentation slides
* whether the presentation is intended to be a specific length
* the target audience you are going to reach and what previous knowledge is needed
* images or sketches of the poster or artistic artifact if available
* for panel submissions a suggested moderator and short biographies of each suggested panelist

In the "Submission notes" 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 2008 wiki: http://wikimania2008.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 License! By submitting for Wikimania 2008 you agree to this condition.

For more information see the submission guidelines at http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submission

===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''':

:https://wikimedia.pentabarf.org/submission

== See also ==
* About the venue: http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Venue
* Brainstorming page for program ideas: http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Program_ideas
* Editable list of attendees: http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Attendees