2016/Submissions

We invite you to submit a proposal for a workshop, seminar, tutorial, panel, or presentation here. To submit a proposal replace the text "[Your proposal title]" in the box below with the title of your proposal, and click "Create page.” You will be directed to a self-explanatory wiki page. To submit your proposal, please be sure to save the wiki page. You will need to login (or create an account here) in order to submit a proposal.

Also, participate in the Unconference process, for those who want to give a more informal presentation (i.e. Lightning Talk, Open Space, Meetup, etc.)

The deadline is August 31, 2016 at 11:59 PM EDT.

Browse existing submissions

Proposal Review Process
You will be notified about the Program Committee's decision regarding your submission. If your submission is not added to the preliminary schedule, please do not be discouraged. WikiConference North America will have time set aside in the schedule for participants and attendees to participate in self-organized talks and working groups during the unconference on the third day of the conference. You will have many opportunities to bring topics forward on-site.

Terms of Participation
By submitting a proposal, you agree that the text of your proposal, your presentation slides, and any video recordings can be distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License or a compatible license. You also agree that, under the terms of the license, recordings of your presentation may be broadcast live, recorded, and made available for download later. If you prefer not to be recorded, please contact one of the conference organizers, we are happy to accommodate your request.

Further, by submitting a proposal, you agree to abide by the terms of the WikiConference USA 2016 Safe Space Policy.

Academic Peer Review Option
Presenters have the option of submitting their proposals under Academic Peer Review, which will be evaluated by a subset of academics serving on the Program Committee. This option is entirely voluntary, and is intended primarily for academic-type presenters who require a peer review process for travel support through their home institutions.

After the conference, authors might also wish consider submitting these presentations to the new journal Wiki Studies.

Proposal Themes
We invite attendees to submit proposals for panels, workshops, seminars, and other presentations in topics that fall under topics related to Wikipedia or free culture. We have created five themes for the conference, though you are welcome to submit proposals on any relevant topic.

Community

 * Why do people contribute to Wikipedia?
 * What are the major concerns of Wikipedia contributors and readers, and how can we address them?
 * How might we broaden and diversify the community (in terms of professional experience, multicultural and gender participation), while building on the original grassroots spirit of the project?

Proposals under this theme could explore the dynamics of wiki culture and community, and provide a forum for participants and researchers to share methods for community management, engagement, participation, and conflict resolution.

Topic areas under this theme may include:
 * paid editing, generic advocacy editing, and conflict of interest editing;
 * multicultural, linguistic, and gender diversity on Wikipedia;
 * dispute resolution for Wikimedia projects;
 * discrepancies and conflicts between different policies; and
 * community and chapter dialogue.

Beyond a critique of the current situation, we hope that the track will lead to suggestions for future improvement and reconciliation between people in conflict with one another.

Advocacy & Outreach

 * How do contributors find community, local and global?
 * How do usergroups and chapters mobilize independent contributors?
 * How does the Wikimedia community fit into the global conversation about open culture, information freedom, and digital rights?

Proposals under this theme could focus on outreach to diverse institutions and communities to promote Wikipedia’s mission.

Topics under this theme may include:
 * free culture advocacy;
 * local community building and outreach events;
 * broad campaigns like Wiki Loves Monuments and Wikipedia Loves Libraries;
 * copyright licensing and legislative reform (for example, orphan works);
 * building partnerships with open access allies;
 * methods for digital collaboration;
 * internal and external grant funding for Wikimedia chapters and contributors;
 * effective use of social media to promote chapter activities; and
 * strategies and tactics for effective advocacy

Technology & Infrastructure

 * “How can we empower the non-tech contributors to participate in technological development?”
 * ”How can we make tools more user-friendly for the non-tech users?”
 * ”How can communities more effectively and sustainably contribute to the development of new tools for Wikimedia?”
 * ”How we can empower our Wikimedia community on privacy and cybersecurity?”

Proposals under this theme could focus on showcasing technology applications and theories, demonstrate new uses of existing and evolving technologies, and applying technologies to meet user needs and improve the overall user experience.

Topic areas in this track may include:
 * usability studies;
 * the VisualEditor project;
 * Wikipedia mobile interface;
 * respositories and documentation for tools;
 * Article Feedback tools;
 * MediaWiki extensions;
 * Tool labs
 * translation and localization;
 * Wikidata;
 * PDF Rendering
 * Wikimaps and geo projects
 * Tools for GLAMs (RAMP, Authority Control)
 * batch uploading of multimedia content donations.

Health care and science

 * How do we create strong and long-standing institutional partnerships among health care and science organization and Wikimedians?
 * How can we engage with health topic experts to keep Wikipedia health content up to date and accurate?
 * How can we better incorporate public health and other social factors, such as poverty, into Wikipedia's health content? 

GLAM

 * How do we create strong, long-standing and sustainable cultural heritage and institutional partnerships with Wikipedia?
 * How can institutions use Wikipedia tools and community to increase use and access to institutional resources and digitized materials?
 * How do Wikipedians respond to the concerns of institutions about public domain content donations?
 * How do GLAM projects connect with each other to increase institutional support and develop  best practices?

GLAMs – Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums – and academia have become major contributors of new content. This track aims to foster collaboration and synergy between Wikimedians, GLAMs and educational institutions. Presentations and panels will demonstrate effective outreach techniques and results from ongoing activities as well as envision the future path for these efforts.

Topic areas in the cultural part of this track may include:
 * legal and copyright issues for content donations,
 * partnerships and coordination
 * technical tools such as QRpedia, Wiki Loves Monuments and Wikipedia towns.
 * case studies
 * Wikipedian In Residence programs
 * The Wikipedia Library
 * Project reporting
 * Archives and libraries editing
 * Scientific and medical institution partnerships

Education and Academic Engagement

 * How do we foster greater collaboration among educational institutions, educators, and Wikipedians?
 * ''How can academic literatures on the construction of knowledge contribute to new understandings of Wikipedia's potential?
 * What factors make for a successful educational project?
 * How can we manage growth, collaboration and sustainability in the Wikipedia Education Program?
 * How do we work with different academic disciplines and subdisciplines?
 * ''How do we keep materials up to date in the face of academic change and controversy?

Proposals under this theme could focus on the Wiki Education Foundation (Wiki Ed)'s programs in the United States and Canada, parallel initiatives in Mexico, and furthering mutually beneficial academic partnerships.

Topics in the educational part of this track may include:
 * the Wiki Education Foundation (Wiki Ed) programs, and parallel initiatives;
 * insights for Wikipedia from academic explorations of knowledge across disciplines, cultures, and historical times
 * Wikipedia-editing assignments in universities;
 * implications of theories about how knowledge is constructed and legitimized for Wikipedia assignments
 * information literacy among students;
 * Wikipedia as a secondary education resource;
 * expert engagement and identifying experts in fields with multiple points of view
 * perceptions of Wikipedia in academia;
 * teaching the increasing reliability of Wikipedia
 * identifying systemic bias in Wikipedia and identifying the causes and potential solutions