Posted Academic and Other Historic Data

As part of an on-going discussion on academic transparency and openness, we have decided to publish the historic academic data (no. submissions, acceptance rate, etc.) for WikiSym, now OpenSym. Please find it on the Historic Data page. This data has always been made available as part of the foreword to each year’s proceedings, but now it is available at one glance and not hidden away in some archive.

We intend to ensure a high quality of publications (which implies selectivity). We believe that the combination of a high quality of community events at OpenSym (workshops, tutorials, panels, demos, etc.) together with a high-quality academic program is the way to go to keep building a vibrant community at the conference. We believe this will support the scope extension from the more narrow WikiSym to the broader OpenSym in 2014.

OpenSym Impact Factor, Metrics, etc.

The renaming of WikiSym to OpenSym and the scope extension from “everything wiki” to “everything open” has invalidated various metrics of scholarly assessment and so we wanted to ask your opinion on how to position the revamped conference.

In the past, WikiSym was a computer science conference. The influx of Wikipedia researchers has benefitted the conference and the community and extended our scope. Still, WikiSym had a strong computer science focus. The expected influx of open access, open data, open source, open educational resources, open innovation, etc. research will further sharpen the profile of the conference. We certainly won’t be a pure computer science conference any longer.

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The OpenSym 2014 Research Program Committee

The OpenSym 2014 research program is structured into research tracks, each of which is being handled by its own chair; please see below for the chairs and their calls for submissions (papers).

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software Research

Chaired jointly by:

Call for submissions (papers)

Open Access Research

Chaired by:

Call for submissions (papers)

Open Data Research

Chaired by:

Call for submissions (papers)

Open Educational Resources Research

Chaired jointly by:

Call for submissions (papers)

IT-driven Open Innovation Research

Chaired by:

Call for submissions (papers)

Wikipedia Research

Chaired by:

Call for submissions (papers)

Wikis and Open Collaboration Research

Chaired by

Call for submissions (papers)

Reviewing Standards for Research Paper Submissions

The reviewing standards for OpenSym (WikiSym) 2014 submissions have been published.

A Short Report on WikiSym + OpenSym 2013

WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 took place at Hong Kong’s Cyberport facility. 98 registered participants from around the world enjoyed a two-track program centered on the common topic of open collaboration. Four keynotes and invited talks covered topics of open access, open educational resources, Wikipedia research, and open science. Open access, open source, and traditional wiki research contributed several sessions. A main thread was Wikipedia research, which was strongly represented at the conference, perhaps not surprisingly given that we had co-located WikiSym with Wikimania, the Wikipedia user conference. Social media coverage was strong, as can be seen from Twitter and Google Plus searches.

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OpenSym 2014 General Call for Submissions (Papers)

For 2015, please see the OpenSym 2015 Call for Papers.

OpenSym 2014, the 10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration
WikiSym 2014, the 10th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration

August 27-29, 2014 | Berlin, Germany

Jump ahead to call for submissions for

About the Conference

The 10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym 2014) is the premier conference on open collaboration research and practice, including wikis and social media, Wikipedia, free, libre, and open source software, open data, open access, and IT-driven open innovation research.

OpenSym is the first conference series to bring together the different strands of open collaboration research and practice, seeking to create synergies and inspire new collaborations between computer scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, and everyone interested in understanding open collaboration and how it is changing the world.

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Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Berlin!

Tonight, WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 finished successfully at Hong Kong’s Cyberport facility. Not to miss a beat, we are happy to announce that OpenSym 2014 will take place in Berlin, Germany, on August 27-29, 2014. We are saying goodbye to everyone in Hong Kong and are looking forward to seeing you again in Berlin in 2014!

WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 Day 3, Phil Bourne on the Era of Open

This final day of WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 opened with a keynote by Phil Bourne, professor at UCSD and co-founding editor of the PLoS journal on computational biology. Key takeaways are that openness has the power to deinstitutionalize science, disrupt trad. academic evaluation, that open access is thriving but needs a business model, and that we need a new research life-cycle.

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WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 Day 2, Remembering John Riedl

Today, Phoebe Ayers of the Wikimedia Foundation board and a member of the WikiSym steering committee opened the second day of WikiSym + OpenSym 2013. She introduced Dario Taraborelli of the Wikimedia Foundation, who talked about Wikipedia research and how the foundation supports it.

Phoebe also remembered John Riedl, a researcher extraordinaire and a member of the WikiSym community, who died of melanoma last month. John and his research group made many contributions to WikiSym, including papers that won best paper awards:

John, you will be missed.

john

John Riedl by Nicole Holdorph (CC BY SA)

WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 Starts Today!

WikiSym + OpenSym 2013 starts today, Aug 5, 2013, at Hong Kong’s Cyberport facility, see the conference website at http://opensym.org/wsos2013/. We are located in the Cyberport 3 building, Function Rooms 1-3, Training Room 1, and Sea View Concourse. Just follow the electronic signs like the one below to find us!

The Twitter and similar services hashtag is #wikisym #opensym and the conference wifi is Cyberport_OpenWifi. The proceedings are available now: table of contents, direct download. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter! Please also see the opening remarks with more information.

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