Greetings, We will shortly be sending out a Call for Participation to groups around the world: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_CfP If you would like to help organize one of these themes, please add yourself here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006/Program_Team We are also gathering a list of groups to contact (which will eventually be used for more than just this one mailing); if you are on lists or in touch with publishers/people you would send the CfP to, list them here so we don't double-hit any person or list: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006_Call_for_Participation/Distri… The most promising software package we have looked at for processing papers so far is Indico, free in all the ways that matter, relatively cleanly written, and ready to be tested out: http://indico.cern.ch/categoryDisplay.py?categId=1l12 http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceTimeTable.py?confId=048 http://radian.org:8080 Please visit the test site (http://radian.org:8080), beat on it a little, see what registration and abstract-submission is like. There is much customization that can be done, but with only a little customization we could have this ready for would-be presenters to use in a couple of days. Share your thoughts on the software: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimania_2006_Call_for_Participation Finally, two upcoming program meetings to note: * We will have a (very) short meeting on Tuesday night at 23:00 UTC, to verify that the CfP and the instructions on how to submit an abstract are good to go. Barring any problems, the CfP will go out by February 1. * We need a proper Program meeting, to discuss how to organize each theme and find speakers; and everything other than the CfP. I propose 22:00 UTC Saturday evening, as that has worked well in the past. Please sign up if you can make it, and leave comments if you want to make such meetings but can't at this time. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006/Planning#Future_meetings Regards, SJ