Category Archives: Wikimedia

Call for Participation: WikiSym + OpenSym 2013, the 9th International Symposium on Open Collaboration

Announcement, OpenSym 2013, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2013

WikiSym, the 9th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration
OpenSym, the 2013 International Symposium on Open Collaboration

August 5-7, 2013 | Hong Kong, China

Registration >> Program Overview | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Industry Tutorials

Conference Program

The conference program is led by three renowned keynote speakers: Phil Bourne, founding editor of PLOS, will talk about the era of open, Pockey Lam, of the Digital Freedom Foundation, will talk about open education, and Dario Taraborelli, of the Wikimedia Foundation, will talk about current and future Wikipedia research.

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Wikipedia Research at WikiSym 2011 and Onward

OpenSym 2013, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2013

The Wikimedia Foundation has been an important sponsor of WikiSym as well as this year’s WikiSym + OpenSym 2013. We are very happy to have received funding once more.

The Wikimedia Foundation also just published an independent report on its funding strategy. The research comes to the following conclusion as to WMF’s funding of WikiSym:

A large grant was given to the John Ernest Foundation in support of WikiSym 2011. This was the first grant of any size given by the Wikimedia Grants program to a non-Wikimedia movement organization. WikiSym is an annual conference focused on research into wikis, including into Wikimedia Foundation wikis. In 2011, eleven WMF-focused papers, one WMF-focused demo, and seven WMF-focused posters were presented. More research about WMF projects was presented at WikiSym than anywhere else in 2011. WikiSym is a good example of where a WMF grant to a non-movement group (for a mission-aligned event) can be very worthwhile. The Wikimedia Grants program currently has very limited visibility outside of the movement. It is likely to prove difficult to raise the profile of the Wikimedia Grants program outside of the movement, but increasing the Grants program’s engagement with non-movement members (for movement-aligned goals) is likely to be worthwhile.

Emphasis is ours. We believe that the increase in Wikimedia Foundation related project research in 2012 has kept us in this leadership position, and we are looking forward to further extending the WMF related research in 2013. To that end, we created a dedicated Wikipedia and related research track. Two more weeks to submit your paper! (Please also consider any of the other tracks, which are equally part of the sponsorship.)

Call for Papers: Open Access, Open Data, and Open Government Research Track at WikiSym + OpenSym 2013

Announcement, OpenSym 2013, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2013

WikiSym, the 9th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration
OpenSym, the 2013 International Symposium on Open Collaboration

August 5-7, 2013 | Hong Kong, China

ACM In-cooperation with SIGWEB and SIGSOFT. Archived in the ACM Digital Library.

Research paper submission deadline: May 17, 2013 (March 17, 2013).

The 2013 Joint International Symposium on Open Collaboration (WikiSym + OpenSym 2013) is the premier conference on open collaboration research, including wikis and social media, Wikipedia, free, libre, and open source software, open access, open data and open government research. WikiSym is in its 9th year and will be complemented by OpenSym, a new conference on open collaboration research and an adjunct to the successful WikiSym conference series. WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 is the first conference to bring together the different strands of open collaboration research, seeking to create synergies and inspire new research between computer scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, and everyone interested in understanding open collaboration and how it is changing the world. Read more about the conference at opensym.org/2013.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: OPEN ACCESS, OPEN DATA, AND OPEN GOVERNMENT RESEARCH TRACK

Recent years have seen a huge growth in demand worldwide for Open Access to an extensive range of materials, across a broad range of sectors. The online environment and digital technologies provide unprecedented opportunities for information sharing and collaboration, in both developed and developing countries.

At present, much attention is focused on facilitating access to and reuse of public sector information, government data, research outputs (publications and data), educational resources, legal information (legislation and judgments), spatial and location information, and cultural works.

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Call for Papers: Open Collaboration (Wikis, Social Media, etc.) Research Track at WikiSym + OpenSym 2013

Announcement, OpenSym 2013, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2013

WikiSym, the 9th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration
OpenSym, the 2013 International Symposium on Open Collaboration

August 5-7, 2013 | Hong Kong, China

ACM In-cooperation with SIGWEB and SIGSOFT. Archived in the ACM Digital Library.

Research paper submission deadline: April 2, 2013 (March 17, 2013).

The 2013 Joint International Symposium on Open Collaboration (WikiSym + OpenSym 2013) is the premier conference on open collaboration research, including wikis and social media, Wikipedia, free, libre, and open source software, open access, open data and open government research. WikiSym is in its 9th year and will be complemented by OpenSym, a new conference on open collaboration research and an adjunct to the successful WikiSym conference series. WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 is the first conference to bring together the different strands of open collaboration research, seeking to create synergies and inspire new research between computer scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, and everyone interested in understanding open collaboration and how it is changing the world. Read more about the conference at opensym.org/wsos2013.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: OPEN COLLABORATION (WIKIS, SOCIAL MEDIA, ETC.) RESEARCH TRACK

Defined as “collaboration that is egalitarian (everyone can join, no principled or artificial barriers to participation exist), meritocratic (decisions and status are merit-based rather than imposed) and self-organizing (processes adapt to people rather than people adapt to pre-defined processes)“, we are seeking research submissions that best exemplify this definition of open collaboration. We are looking for research papers that represent new and innovative research on wikis, social media and other applications that best exemplify open collaboration. We seek submissions that will bring together the different strands of open collaboration research, create synergies and inspire new research between computer scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, and everyone interested in understanding open collaboration and how it is changing the world. Some of the topics that would be appropriate for submission to the “open collaboration” track are:

  • Innovative development and/or implementation of wiki applications
  • Building open systems and tools
  • Social and cultural aspects of open collaboration
  • Open collaboration beyond text: images, video, sound, etc.
  • Communities and workgroups
  • Open knowledge and information production
  • Uses and impact of wikis and other open resources, tools, and practices in fields and application areas, for example:
    • Open source software development and use
    • Education and Open Educational Resources
    • E-government, open government, and public policy
    • Law/Intellectual Property (including Creative Commons)
    • Journalism (including participatory journalism)
    • Art and Entertainment (including collaborative and audience-involved art)
    • Science (including collaboratories)
    • Publishing (including open access and open review models)
    • Business (including open and collaborative management styles)

Continue reading Call for Papers: Open Collaboration (Wikis, Social Media, etc.) Research Track at WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 →

Call for Papers: Free, Libre, and Open Source Software Research Track at WikiSym + OpenSym 2013

Announcement, OpenSym 2013, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2013

WikiSym, the 9th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration
OpenSym, the 2013 International Symposium on Open Collaboration

August 5-7, 2013 | Hong Kong, China

ACM In-cooperation with SIGWEB and SIGSOFT. Archived in the ACM Digital Library.

Research paper submission deadline: April 2, 2013 (March 17, 2013).

The 2013 Joint International Symposium on Open Collaboration (WikiSym + OpenSym 2013) is the premier conference on open collaboration research, including wikis and social media, Wikipedia, free, libre, and open source software, open access, open data and open government research. WikiSym is in its 9th year and will be complemented by OpenSym, a new conference on open collaboration research and an adjunct to the successful WikiSym conference series. WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 is the first conference to bring together the different strands of open collaboration research, seeking to create synergies and inspire new research between computer scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, and everyone interested in understanding open collaboration and how it is changing the world. Read more about the conference at opensym.org/wsos2013.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: FREE, LIBRE, AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE RESEARCH

Although free, libre, and open source software (FLOSS) can be studied with the general methodologies and techniques developed for other kinds of software, it shows enough peculiarities (such as the extent to which it can be reused, the fact of being usually build by cooperating communities, or the exploration of new business models) to need new developments that help to understand it. In addition, in many cases it also offers new possibilities and opportunities to researchers, such as the availability of detailed data about the development process, the openness of the decision taking procedures, or the open and collaborative nature of communities around FLOSS projects, which allow for the development of new techniques and methodologies.

The track on FLOSS research is one of the peer-reviewed research tracks of OpenSym. It aims at hosting current research papers on issues related to the different aspects of this kind of software, from different points of view. Multidisciplinary research is specially welcome, but specific lines within a given research field also have their place. In any case, the works presented should show specific aspects of FLOSS, and should not be limited to showing research issues on products that happen to be FLOSS, but have no differential aspect because of that.

Practical cases or industry presentations are welcome, provided they meet the scientific standards that will be applied by the program committee.

Topics of interest to this track include, but are not limited to:

  • FLOSS development, including software engineering aspects
  • FLOSS technologies, specially those taking advantage of being FLOSS
  • FLOSS communities, including developer, but also user or business communities
  • FLOSS and innovation, how both are related, and new innovation models based on FLOSS
  • Motivation and incentives to FLOSS development and adoption
  • Business models based on FLOSS and sustainability of FLOSS projects
  • Legal aspects of FLOSS, including copyright and licensing
  • Education and FLOSS
  • Impact of FLOSS in specific domains or technological areas, and FLOSS adoption
  • Measurement of significant parameters related to FLOSS

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Call for Papers: Wikipedia Research Track at WikiSym + OpenSym 2013

Announcement, OpenSym 2013, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2013

WikiSym, the 9th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration
OpenSym, the 2013 International Symposium on Open Collaboration

August 5-7, 2013 | Hong Kong, China

ACM In-cooperation with SIGWEB and SIGSOFT. Archived in the ACM Digital Library.

Research paper submission deadline: April 2, 2013 (March 17, 2013).

The 2013 Joint International Symposium on Open Collaboration (WikiSym + OpenSym 2013) is the premier conference on open collaboration research, including wikis and social media, Wikipedia, free, libre, and open source software, open access, open data and open government research. WikiSym is in its 9th year and will be complemented by OpenSym, a new conference on open collaboration research and an adjunct to the successful WikiSym conference series. WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 is the first conference to bring together the different strands of open collaboration research, seeking to create synergies and inspire new research between computer scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, and everyone interested in understanding open collaboration and how it is changing the world. Read more about the conference at wikisym.org/wsos2013.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: WIKIPEDIA RESEARCH TRACK

Topics of interest to the Wikipedia research track include, but are not limited to:

  • What do particular articles or groups or articles tell us about the norms, governance and architecture of Wikipedia and its impact on media, politics and the social sphere? How is information on Wikipedia being shaped by the materiality of Wikipedia infrastructure?
  • What is the impact of all/some of Wikipedia’s 211 language editions having on achieving the project’s goal to represent the “sum of all human knowledge”? Do smaller language editions follow the same development path as larger language editions? Can different representations in different languages tell us anything about cultural, national or regional differences?
  • What are the gendered dimensions of Wikipedia editing? How are issues around power, knowledge and representation drawn into focus by gender, geography and other gaps and imbalances in Wikipedia editing?
  • What skills/competencies/connections/world views are required to become an empowered member of the Wikimedia community? What does a Wikipedia literate person look like? How are those skills/competencies/connections/world views obtained and enacted?
  • Does Wikipedia enact an open source of authoritative knowledge that impacts learning in formal and informal settings? For instance, how do students employ Wikipedia as a covert/overt source in their papers or as a generative site for problem formulation? Or how is Wikipedia being used as a serendipitous experience of knowledge acquisition? What methods can be employed to understand these varied utilizations?
  • What is the effect of outreach initiatives involving the growing institutionalisation of Wikipedia activities? As galleries, libraries, archives and museums hire Wikipedians-in-residence to digitize, showcase and/or represent their collections, is Wikipedia able to fill some its key knowledge gaps? Or are there unintended effects of this institutionalization of knowledge?
  • What are the methodological challenges to studying Wikipedia? How are researchers engaging with innovative methodologies to solve some of these problems? How are other researchers using traditional or well-established methods to study Wikipedia?
  • How are wiki projects other than Wikipedia evolving? What are the benefits to studying other wiki projects and can comparisons and generalisations be made from our observations of these systems?
  • How does information contained in Wikipedia shape our understanding of broader social, economic, and political practices and processes? What theoretical frameworks in social, economic, legal and other relevant theoretical traditions can be applied to enrich the academic discourse on Wikipedia?

SUBMISSION INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS

The following types of submissions are invited:

  • Long research papers (5 to 10 pages)
  • Short research papers (1 to 4 pages)
  • Research posters (1 to 2 pages)
  • Research presentations (1 to 10 pages)

Research papers present integrative reviews or original reports of substantive new theoretical or empirical work. Research papers will be reviewed by the research track program committee to meet rigorous academic standards of publication. Papers will be reviewed for relevance, conceptual quality, innovation and clarity of presentation. They must be written in English. At least one author of accepted papers is required to attend the conference in order to present the paper.

Research presentations present integrative reviews or original reports of substantive new theoretical or empirical work. This is a new format is specifically aimed at the requirements of social science researchers enabling those researchers to use WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 (WS+OS) as a pre-publication venue before journal publication. Only the abstracts of these papers will be published as part of the proceedings thus leaving open the opportunity for journal publication at a later date. Research presentations will be reviewed by the research track program committee to meet rigorous academic standards just like research papers.

Research posters enable researchers to present late-breaking research results, significant research work in progress, or research work that is best communicated in conversation. WS+OS’s lively poster sessions let conference attendees exchange ideas one-on-one with authors, and let authors discuss their work in detail with those attendees most deeply interested in the topic. Successful applicants will display their posters, up to 1x2m in size, at a special session during the event.

Submissions for experience reports (long and short), tutorials, workshops, panels, non-research posters, and demos are also sought but are handled through the community track, please see the community track call for submissions. Submissions to WS+OS’s Doctoral Symposium are also sought but are handled separately, please see the doctoral symposium call for submissions.

Submissions should follow the standard ACM SIG proceedings format. For advice and templates, please see http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates. All papers must conform at time of submission to the formatting instructions and must not exceed the page limits, including all text, references, appendices and figures. All submissions must in PDF format.

All papers and posters should be submitted electronically through EasyChair using the following URL: https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=wikisym2013.

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Definition of Open Collaboration

General, OpenSym 2013, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2013

Many years after we started to use the term open collaboration and after some discussion between the WikiSym steering committee members, here is our definition of “open collaboration”. It provides the umbrella motivation for WikiSym + OpenSym.

Open collaboration is collaboration that is

  • egalitarian (everyone can join, no principled or artificial barriers to participation exist),
  • meritocratic (decisions and status are merit-based rather than imposed) and
  • self-organizing (processes adapt to people rather than people adapt to pre-defined processes).

Prime places to find open collaboration are on wikis, on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects, in open source, in open data and open government initiatives, open innovation, citizen engineering, peer production, and so on.

WikiSym Program Announced

Announcement, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2010

We announced the WikiSym program, please check it out!

WikiSym 2010: Where great minds collide!

Announcement, Wikimedia, WikiSym 2010

Now in its sixth year, WikiSym, the International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration, reliably draws together many of the diverse crowds that comprise the Wiki ecosystem. Its location alternates between North America and Europe; this year’s WikiSym is in the Polish city of Gdańsk, situated on the southern edge of the Baltic Sea.

WikiSym is the only international conference that focuses exclusively on wikis and open collaboration. WikiSym’s core audience has always been academics, but the Symposium’s reach extends to all groups using and interested in wikis, including consulting firms, corporate managers responsible for deployments, and not-for-profits. Presentations at WikiSym include research into community dynamics of wikis and online collaborative projects, demos  of wiki technologies, in-depth workshops, and discussions about the future of wikis. WikiSym is very inclusive and vendor-neutral, and has become an fertile venue for insight and opportunity:

  • Academics share their research and prototypes;
  • Different wiki platforms openly share customer issues, plans, techniques and technologies;
  • Plugin developers share with academics their experiences of taking an idea to market;
  • Practitioners explain real-life challenges of getting adoption in their organizations;
  • Consultants help managers responsible for deployments learn how to seed adoption and frame requests for assistance;
  • Students finishing up their PhDs learn from consultants how to provide consulting services;
  • Friendships, business relationships and alliances form across the ecosystem.

For me, the hallmarks of a good conference are the insights I take away, great networking contacts, and knowing relevant next steps on which I can take immediate action. In WikiSym’s Open Space sessions, participants are systematically encouraged to reflect on and distill their conference hallway conversations, this brings partial ideas to fruition.

The WikiSym community is a major draw in itself. We are a friendly, intelligent crowd who often only sees each other at the annual WikiSyms, even though some of us continuously collaborate online on specific projects. Many open-source projects use WikiSym as a natural venue to bring together their teams.

WikiSym is an ACM-sponsored conference and has frequently co-located with OOPSLA (the Object Oriented Computing Science Research conference). This year, however, we partner with Wikimania, the International Conference of the Wikimedia Foundation, which attracts Wikimedia and Wikipedia contributors and leaders from around the world. So, if you’ve ever thought about going to either conference, here’s your chance to go to both!

WikiSym runs July 7-9, and Wikimania is July 9-11th. Visit http://wikisym.org/ws2010 for more information.

WikiSym 2009: Demos and Posters session (2008)

Wikimedia, WikiSym 2008, WikiSym 2009

The following video is a tour around very lively conversations for Demos and Posters last year.

[kaltura-widget wid=”w9nufs0m28″ width=”400″ height=”365″ type=”whiteblue” addPermission=”1″ editPermission=”1″ /]

It’s a fairly noisy video due to the intensity of conversation. Many of these researchers, are booked to be participants this year so if you have favorites you’ll have the opportunity to get an update this year. Hopefully we’ll hear of some collaboration opportunities and perhaps some promising research projects having successfully made their way into commercialization.

This particular video clip is open for collaborative edits: we’ve set up Kaltura to permit registered blog subscribers to remix the video. So, in the spirit of open collaboration, feel free to experiment with the video, and clip the best bits. I’m sure a 30 second version wouldn’t take too long to put together.

If you want to see the posters themselves, see Last year’s program

Best,
Martin.