Conference Concept

WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 is the conference for researchers and practitioners of open collaboration processes and technology, as found in wikis, Wikipedia, open source, citizen engineering, open access, open data, etc. (See definition at http://wp.me/pezfy-fB). WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 brings together these different strands of open collaboration research and practice in one unifying event, scheduled for Aug 5-7, 2013, in Hong Kong, China.

The conference features a research program comprised of multiple traditional research tracks. Research submissions are peer-reviewed by a research track program committee under the leadership of a research track program chair. The core conference proceedings are archived in the ACM Digital Library; however, authors can opt out and have their paper be published as part of the extended conference proceedings on the WikiSym + OpenSym website only or not published at all. The conference seeks to satisfy the needs of the different research disciplines that contribute to the event.

All tracks and events are supplemented by an open space track. Open space is a technique for organizing events to allow otherwise passive participants to become an active part of the conference. Open space is like an “unconference”, just more organized and much more effective. Open space has a long and distinguished history at WikiSym. Using open space, WikiSym + OpenSym activates not only traditional speakers but every participant, creating the desired synergy between all strands of open collaboration researchers and practitioners.

Conference Structure

WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 research tracks are:

• Open collaboration (wikis, social media, etc.) research (WikiSym)
• Wikipedia research (WikiSym)
• Free, libre, and open source software research (OpenSym)
• Open access, data, and government research (OpenSym)

The research track comprises traditional research papers and posters. Submission deadline is in March 2013, and the call for submissions will follow shortly. We will also have a Doctoral Symposium for Ph.D. students to discuss their work with experienced advisors. In addition, a community track will provide space for experience reports, workshops, tutorials, panels, and demos.

At this stage, we have a clear picture of what “open collaboration” means in the engineering disciplines and other sciences, where they are concerned with engineering as a research subject. We don’t know yet what open collaboration means in other sciences proper; thus we welcome your feedback and engagement to help create the space and energy to bring these communities to WikiSym + OpenSym, the 2013 Joint International Symposium on Open Collaboration.

Conference Sponsorship

We are open to sponsorship through third parties, academia, non-profits, and industry alike. In the past, WikiSym has been sponsored (repeatedly) by the Wikimedia Foundation, Creative Commons, Google, Microsoft, SAP, British Telecom, SAPO, Bank, WikiHow, About Us, CosmoCode, XWiki, TWiki, Kaltura, University of Michigan, University of Porto, the NSF, and the ACM.

If you are interested in sponsoring WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 feel free to talk to us!

Organizational Matters

WikiSym + OpenSym has in-cooperation status with ACM SIGWEB (WikiSym) and ACM SIGSOFT (OpenSym).

The conference series website is http://wikisym.org, http://opensym.org. Prior conference proceedings can be found in the ACM Digital Library at http://acm.org/dl/ and on the WikiSym website at http://wikisym.org/category/proceedings/.

We can be reached at info@wikisym.org and info@opensym.org.