Guidelines for Proposals

5 Steps to Presenting in the MW2013 Program

Before submitting your proposal, please ensure you understand these 5 steps in the process. Post any questions not answered below through the comments fields on this page so we can answer them for everyone!

1. Choose your proposal type carefully.

Multiple proposals from the same author(s) are rarely accepted. You can propose the following kinds of presentations through this website (find more detail on each in the Call for Proposals):

Deadline 30 September:

  • Formal Papers
  • How-to Sessions
  • Professional Forums
  • Pre-conference Workshops

Deadline 31 December:

  • Demonstrations
  • Lightning Talks

Deadline 28 February:

  • Exhibitor Briefings

2. Submit your 500 word proposal on-line by the deadline above.

You must be logged in to the Museums and the Web website to submit a proposal. If you have never had a Museums and the Web account, create a profile and then log in. You can edit your profile information at any time.

You will be able to update your proposal until the call for that type of proposal closes (see the deadlines above).

Required information for your proposal:

  1. Proposal title
  2. Proposal text (up to 500 words)
  3. Proposal type (e.g. formal paper, how-to session, demonstration, etc.)

Optional:

  • Website address for your project
  • Co-authors’ email addresses (if any) – if your co-authors create their own MW2013 account with the same email address at http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/submit-proposal, their details and bio will link automatically to the proposal
  • Bibliography and/or reference materials to be used in the research for this proposal (optional, but hugely strengthens your proposal)

3. Agree to the MW terms and conditions for authors and presenters.

Submission of a proposal indicates your acceptance of the terms and conditions of participating in the Museums and the Web conference if your proposal is accepted by the Program Committee.

These include:

  • At least one author of the proposal must register for the conference by December 31.
  • A written paper (required for formal and how-to sessions) must be submitted by January 31. Authors who fail to submit the required papers by the January 31 deadline will be removed from the conference program.

4. Register for MW2013.

Early registration will open Dec 1. At least one author of the proposal must be registered for the conference by December 31 or the proposal will be removed from the program.

5. Submit your written paper by 31 January (if required).

If your formal Paper or How-to session proposal is accepted, you are required to submit a written papery by 31 January. Written papers are optional for Demonstrations.

Word lengths:

  • Formal papers: up to 5,000 words
  • How-to sessions: up to 2,500 words

Authors who submit their written paper by the January 31 deadline receive an honorarium in the form of a $150 credit against their bill at the Conference Hotel. The honorarium will not be offered in any other form and is, therefore, forfeited by authors who do not stay in the Conference Hotel. If author(s) request an extension to the January 31 paper deadline, they forfeit the honorarium.

What Happens Next

1. Communications about your proposal:

  • You will receive an email acknowledging your proposal, sent to the address given in the profile of the lead author (the proposer); if you do not receive a reply, please contact us via email.
  • The Co-Chairs will email the lead author only for each proposal that has been accepted by the Program Committee. It is the responsibility of the lead author to communicate with co-authors.
  • Please make sure your spam filters deliver email from museumsandtheweb.com addresses.
  • Email is the preferred mode of communication and any questions about your proposal should be sent by email.

2. Proposal Peer Review

The Program Committee and the Program Co-Chairs review all formal paper, how-to session and professional forum proposals in October. Invitations are sent to the lead author only for each accepted proposal in November. It is the responsibility of each lead author/proposer to notify any co-authors if the proposal is accepted for inclusion in the MW2013 program.

Workshops, Demonstrations and Lightning Talks are selected by the Program Co-Chairs and presenters are notified by January if not before. Exhibitor Briefings are reviewed and accepted on a first come, first serve basis until February 28.

Acceptance of any proposal type may be conditional upon refining the proposal, and may require the submission of a revised abstract. The Committee may judge that a different format is more appropriate for the proposed content, e.g. a Demonstration rather than a formal Paper, and offer an alternative slot in the program.

The decision of the MW2012 Program Committee is final.

10 thoughts on “Guidelines for Proposals

  1. I have submitted a proposal for a paper. My research project also included development of interactive content. My main interest is to present a paper. Nevertheless, I believe it would be interesting to present a demonstration of it. Therefore, I have presented a copy of the Paper proposal for the Demonstration. Is this OK?

  2. For some reason I passed the deadline for submit a proposal, I am not sure if you would still accept it. I have a plan for how to session or Pre-conference Workshops.

    Let me know if I can still submit it.

    If not, I want to ask a bout demonstration, we customize and themed a content management system to display 2 exhibits online which also available physically at the university. Is that kind of the work suits the demonstration!

    I was planning to gave a workshop how people can use the Costumed content management system we created to create their own online exhibits.

    Also, we would like to submit the site for Best on the Web, do we have to attend the conference to submit the site!.
    thanks

    • You can still propose a demonstration or a lightning talk, but the deadline for papers, how-to sessions and professionals forums was Sept 30 and I’m afraid that’s immutable.

      You are very welcome to nominate your site for Best of the Web, and you do not have to attend the conference to be considered. Nominations will open in early 2013.

  3. I’m wondering if there is more information on the “Demonstrations” format. Is this an event to highlight tools that I have designed myself? Or could I demonstrate my local customization of a tool I did not design? Thanks.

  4. Is it too late to submit a demonstration proposal? Or get involved with lightning talks? We designed an interactive exhibition for the Jewish Museum which is still on display. I think this would be perfect material for your conference. Attaching press release. I’d like to introduce you to MESH Architectures, we design both inventive physical and digital environments, bringing a fresh approach to exhibition design.

    MESH recently designed “Crossing Borders” an exhibition of exquisite medieval manuscripts at the The Jewish Museum (http://www.thejewishmuseum.org) . The material embodies the crossing over of cultural influences among Jews, Muslims, and Christians at a rare time of relative harmony among the European religions. MESH designed every aspect of the exhibition including walnut-and-steel vitrines, lighting, graphics (in collaboration with Karlssonwilker (http://www.karlssonwilker.com) and interactives (in collaboration with Morpholio).

    “The custom modified Morpholio app created was an extension of space.” says Toru Hasegawa, Morpholio co-creator. The result represents a new process for museums to employ in future exhibitions and a new way to consider the role of the audience. “App and device culture have already begun to permeate the museum experience and will, in all ways, be a part of their future.” says Jeffrey Kenoff, Morpholio co-creator. For Morpholio, what makes this additionally intriguing is that, as the visitor is experiencing the exhibition, the app has the unique ability to track and record their interaction. This data has the potential to inform the curatorial team as well as the exhibit thereby making the installation itself a utility for the museum. “The iPad applications enrich our exhibition exponentially.” Says Rebecca Pristoop, former assistant curator at the Jewish Museum and “offer our visitors an amazing entryway into the visual depths of these precious treasures.”

    LED projectors, hung from the ceiling, precisely light each object. This unconventional design solution is a perfect example of how we solve problems by thinking differently.

    “The manuscripts have also been hauntingly mounted by the exhibition designer, MESH Architectures (www.mesh-arc.com), in vitrines, each illuminated by beams from LEDs projected down, so that when a visitor looks across the galleries, the open codices seem to hover against the deep red walls, a sensation at once reverential and elevating. (MESH also designed the show’s rich Web site)” —Edward Rothstein, New York Times

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