[Foundation-l] Wikimania 2008 - Call for participation

Sat Feb 23 18:00:12 UTC 2008

Hi
Sorry for the spam like email but this is just an email to let you all know
about the Wikimania 2008 Call for Participation.  I have included this
below, and the page can also be found on the Wikimania wiki @
http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Call_for_Participation. Please do
forward this onto any local project mailing lists or anyone else who may be
interested in this.  Also there are translations in the following
languages: de/Deutsch<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Call_for_Participation/de&uselang=de>
es/ <http://tr_1203787823173>Español<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Call_for_Participation/es&uselang=es>
fr/ <http://tr_1203787823178>Français<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Call_for_Participation/fr&uselang=fr>
ja/日本語<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Call_for_Participation/ja&uselang=ja>
pt/Português<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Call_for_Participation/pt&uselang=pt>
sv/Svenska<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Call_for_Participation/sv&uselang=sv>
zh/ <http://tr_1203787823208>中文<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Call_for_Participation/zh&uselang=zh>.
More translations are always welcomed and appreciated, so please see the
translation page<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Translation/Call_for_Participation>to
help out.

Many thanks

Mark
(User:Markie)

Call for Participation

[image: Image:Wikimania logo with text
2.svg]<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Wikimania_logo_with_text_2.svg>

Wikimania <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimania> is an annual global event
devoted to Wikimedia
<http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Main_Page>projects around the
globe (including
Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_page>,
Wikibooks<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/b:en:Main_page>,
Wikisource <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/s:en:Main_page>,
Wikinews<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/n:Main_page>,
Wiktionary <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wikt:en:Main_page>,
Wikiversity<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/v:en:Main_page>,
Wikiquote <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/q:en:Main_page>,
Wikispecies<http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_page>,
and Wikimedia Commons <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_page>) 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 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria>,
Egypt<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt>at the new Library of
Alexandria (Bibliotheca
Alexandrina <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina>).

[image: The Wikimedia Foundation
projects]<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikimedia_logo_family.png>

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<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/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<http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submission>system
and following these guidelines. All submissions MUST explicitly
include the following:

   1. an English "Event title"
   2. a short English "Abstract" of your event in 50 to 100 words. The
   abstract will be used for the public schedule.
   3. the "Track" your submission fits in best (Wikimedia Communities,
   Free Knowledge, Technical infrastructure, or Scientific)
   4. the "Event type" (presentation, workshop, panel, poster,
   artistic...)
   5. information about the speaker (full name, email, a short
   description of at least 2 sentences...)
   6. 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