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

About the OpenSym Conference

The 10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym 2014) is the premier conference with a focus on open collaboration research, including social media; wikis and Wikipedia; free/libre/open source software; open data; open access; and IT-driven open innovation. OpenSym is the first conference series to bring together the different strands of open collaboration research, seeking to create synergies and inspire new research projects between computer scientists, social scientists, philosophers, legal scholars, and everyone interested in understanding open collaboration.

OpenSym 2014 will be held in Berlin, Germany, on August 27-29, 2014.

OpenSym is held in-cooperation with ACM SIGWEB and ACM SIGSOFT. The conference proceedings will be archived in the ACM digital library like all prior editions.

Research paper submission deadline: May 4th, 2014 (changed from April 20th to evade Easter celebrations/vacation).

Call for Submissions to the Wikis and Open Collaboration Track (WikiSym)

While Wikipedia has shown that Internet-enabled open collaboration can be amazingly successful, the potential of open collaboration extends well beyond this single instance. This track is dedicated to the science and application of wikis and open collaboration technology outside of the context of Wikipedia.

Researchers and practitioners from all disciplines interested in open collaboration technologies are encouraged to submit to this track. We anticipate that papers accepted to this track will examine these technologies using a variety of lenses informed by diverse disciplinary perspectives.

We expect that some of the topics covered in this track will include (but by all means will not be limited to):

• Novel open collaboration technologies ranging from entirely new socio-technical systems to MediaWiki extensions
• Geowikis like OpenStreetMap
• Wikis in corporations, non-profits, and other organizations
• Wikimedia Foundation projects other than Wikipedia
• We hope to receive a number of submissions on collaboration in Wikidata in particular
• Open collaboration in a multilingual context
• Collaboratively-built online encyclopedias other than Wikipedia (e.g. Baidu Baike, Conservapedia, Ecured)
• Online collaboration using social media technologies (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest)
• The “cold start” problem for new online collaboration communities
• Open collaboration in the arts
• Collaborative learning environments
• Theoretical work on open collaboration
• Research that uses Wikipedia data but whose research questions are targeted at wikis or open collaboration technologies in general
• Digital divides and open collaboration technologies

For more examples, please see the submissions accepted in this track from OpenSym 2013: http://wikisym.org/wsos2013/program/day3

Deadlines

• Submission: May 4th (in the local timezone of the submitter)
• Notification to authors: June 15th, 2014
• Camera-ready: July 15th, 2014

Submission information

The following types of submissions are invited:

• Research papers: Long (5 to 10 pages) and short (1 to 4 pages)
• Research-in-progress presentations (1 to 10 pages)
• Research posters (1 to 2 pages)

Length limits are for the paper in the ACM SIG proceedings format (see below for details).

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-in-progress presentations present integrative reviews or original reports of substantive new theoretical or empirical work. This is a new format is specifically aimed at social science researchers enabling those researchers to use OpenSym 2014 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. OpenSym’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 also have a separate 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 specified page limits, all text, references, appendices and figures included. All submissions must be in PDF format.

** Note: Submissions are single-blind. No need to anonymize your text. **

All papers, presentations, and posters should be submitted electronically to EasyChair using the following URL: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=opensym2014.

The OpenSym Conference Experience

OpenSym 2014 will be held in Berlin on August 27-29, 2014. Research and community presentations and performances will be accompanied by keynotes, invited speakers, and a social program in one of the most vibrant cities on this planet.

The open space track is a key ingredient of the event that distinguishes OpenSym from other conferences. It is an integral part of the program that makes it easy to talk to other researchers and practitioners and to stretch your imagination beyond the limits of your own subdiscipline, exposing you to the full breadth of open collaboration research. The open space track is entirely participant-organized, is open for everyone, and requires no submission or review.

Research Track Committee

Research track committee chair:

• Brent Hecht – University of Minnesota

Research track program committee members:

• Ewa Callahan – Communications – Quinnipiac University
• Dan Cosley – Information Science – Cornell University
• Scott Hale – Oxford Internet Institute – University of Oxford
• Masahiro Hamasaki – Information Technology Research Institute – National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
• Shyong (Tony) Lam – Google
• Wen Lin – Geography – Newcastle University
• Afra Mashhadi – Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs
• Giovanni Quattrone – Computer Science – University College London
• Shilad Sen – Computer Science – Macalester College
• Monica Stephens – Geography – University at Buffalo, State University of New York
• Jenn Thom – Amazon.com
• Jude Yew – Communication and New Media – National University of Singapore
• Haiyi Zhu – Computer Science – Carnegie Mellon University