Hi all, We're happy to announce that the Call for Participation for Wikimania 2012 is open! During this time of reflection, please take a few minutes to consider what topics you've been thinking about most and how you'd be willing to share what you know with the worldwide Wiki community. The two most important dates to keep in mind - outside of July 12-14 - are as follows: Deadline for submitting proposals: 18 March 2012 Notification of acceptance: 8 April 2012 To submit a proposal, visit http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions. If you'd like to forward this message to other mailing lists or for broader distribution (please do!), please use the Call for Participation included below my signature line. Thanks so much for your consideration, and, on behalf of the Program Committee, we look forward to reviewing your proposals and seeing you in Washington. Best, Tiffany Tiffany Smith Program Committee Chair, Wikimania 2012 tiffany.lmb.smith(a)gmail.com -- Call for Participation - Wikimania 2012 To submit a proposal, visit: http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions Important Dates Deadline for submitting proposals: 18 March 2012 Notification of acceptance: 8 April 2012 Overview Wikimania conferences provide unique opportunities for the wiki community and its sister projects (including Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikinews, Wiktionary, Wikispecies, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikimedia) to come together, share their common goals, and develop better ways to work together on an international level. The Wikimania 2012 program structure is designed to create multiple opportunities for conference participants to actively engage with the subject matter, the environment, and, most importantly, each other. Washington, D.C, can play an important role in Wikimania 2012 as a locale that gathers interest in government, culture, media, and academia around the general goals of the Wikimania conference series. In accordance with these goals and themes, the program will include traditional conference offerings such as paper presentations, tutorials, panels, and poster sessions; provide lounge space and breaks throughout for participants to gather; and innovate with an unconference day for attendees to design their own schedule and participation around common interests. Submissions will be reviewed and selected in advance by the program committee. Attendees are welcome to present in the open space track of the conference, regardless of whether their submitted presentations were accepted. The eigth annual Wikimania will be held between 12th and 14th July, 2012 in Washington D.C. For more information, please visit the main site. Presentation length Due to the extensive amount of program submissions received in the previous years, we request your presentation be a maximum of 25 minutes, including time for questions. You may request more time, though shorter individual presentations are more likely to be accepted. This does not apply for keynote speakers, panels, or workshops. 70 minute presentations must be submitted either as panel presentations to include at least three presenters or as workshops with a clear lesson plan. Tracks Tracks are used by Wikimania to organize submissions and diversify audiences so that presentations of competing interest do not have time conflicts. Five tracks are proposed: Wikis and the Public Sector The Washington, DC, location for Wikimania 2012 provides a special opportunity for those working in the social good, policy, government, nonprofit, and disaster response arenas to share their experience with collaboration on a local, national, or international level. Wikis and complementary technologies are proving to be critical in times of crisis and in ongoing work with citizen participation in government, as well as in long-term goals for education, public policy, social entrepreneurship, and development in the global south and throughout the world. This track will explore the ways that Wikimedia projects and related activities can be used to support citizens worldwide. GLAM: Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums This track aims to support current outreach to Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums and build enthusiasm for continued work in this area. Presentations and panels will demonstrate effective outreach techniques and results from ongoing activities as well as envision the future path for these efforts. Topics of particular interest to this track may include: wiki technology as a tool for cultural preservation; use of wikis by museums and libraries for information management for the public good; legal and copyright issues; use of content in GLAM projects, education, journalism and research; conflicts between different laws that apply to the same wiki system simultaneously. This track may also incorporate “field trips” before, after, or during the evenings of the conference to visit Washington, D.C., organizations. WikiCulture and Community Why do people contribute to Wikimedia projects? How might the community grow and expand while retaining its inherent cultural ethos? This track will explore the sociology of wiki culture and community and provide a forum for practitioners and researchers to share insights and best practices for community management, engagement, participation, and conflict resolution. The assessment of different wiki cultures and demonstration of clashes and effects of those interactions between wiki communities and chapters is relevant to this track. A special focus will be a discussion of gaps between different community groups, most notably related to gender and age; within this context, submissions related to female and teenage participation, representative roles within the community, and the use of wikis as a tool for different gender and age group dialogues, are strongly encouraged. Research, Analysis, and Education The scope of research and analysis on wikis has grown significantly in recent years, and wikis are rapidly being introduced to educational institutions in the course of teaching and more formally through the Campus Ambassador Program. The scholarly atmosphere of the selected venue creates a special opportunity for researchers working in this area to present papers and panels to a well-informed audience. Subjects associated with the research component of this track can include a diverse range of topics including: technical development, philosophy and the humanities, communications, community management and collaboration, information science, and a broad range of other areas. The practitioner side of this track can include: expert participation and inviting expert contributions; Wikiversity and other higher education wikis; wiki sources deployed and implemented in academia and research practice; approaches to the improvement of collaboration in research institutions and universities; and contribution to content quality, among other areas. Technology and Infrastructure Technology and infrastructure play essential roles in the success of Wikimedia projects and other uses of wiki technology. This track will incorporate research and practice to showcase technology applications and theories, demonstrate new uses of existing and evolving technologies, and focus on applying technologies to meet user needs and improve the overall user experience. Issues and areas particularly of note in this track include: OTRS, MediaWiki development, semantic wikis, wiki-based Augmented Reality (AR), the use of QR codes, Wikipedia on mobile devices, Wikipedia offline, User Interface Design, WikiLove, Liquid Thread and related technical focus points. Lounge Space Presentations All proposals and presentations will be welcome in the Lounge space of the conference, whether or not they are accepted in this initial process. If you have any questions, please contact: Tiffany Smith Program Committee Chair, Wikimania 2012 tiffany.lmb.smith(a)gmail.com Thank you very much for your consideration, and we look forward to seeing you at Wikimania 2012 in Washington, DC. http://wikimania2012.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions --