[Air-l] DiGRA 2004: Call for Conference Hosts

[Jason Rutter]

DiGRA CALL FOR CONFERENCE HOSTS:-
Digital Games Research Conference; DiGRA 2004


The Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) has as a central goal for its
organisation the support of an annual conference on digital gaming to take
place at a different venue each year. This document is a call for proposals
for a committee and location to host the association’s second international
games research conference in 2004. The inaugural conference will take place
in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on 4-6 November 2003.

Institutions wishing to put themselves forward should consider the following
aims of DiGRA when putting their proposal together and highlight how the
event they would organise would achieve these:

•       To support digital games research as an interdisciplinary field
•       To encourage dialogue between researchers, practitioners, commercial
organisations and policy makers
•       To support digital gaming students and curriculum development
•       To disseminate work produced by the association’s community

DiGRA is keen to receive proposals that tackle these issues in an innovative
manner and build upon standard conference practices.

There is no compulsory format for conference hosting proposals but is it
highly recommended that they deal with the following:

Venue:
•       Location: Institution, town/City, Country.
•       Background: What is the host city like? Attractions for visitors?
        Entertainment options? Location for visiting other areas 
        before/after conference? Proximity to local game industries or 
        other relevant sites?
•       Venue: Description, facilities, access, lecture theatres, meeting 
	  rooms, exhibition space, etc.
•       Accommodation: Description, university/hotel, location in relation 
	  to conference venue, facilities, etc.

Conference:
•       Programme structure
•       Overview of themes
•       Draft Call for Papers
•       Type of abstracts requested and review process
•       Potential keynote/plenary speakers
•       Special events:
•       Social events: What? When Where? Are they particularly digital 
	  gaming relevant or locally typical?
•       Delegate packs: Contents. Proceedings

Travel:
•       Distance from international airport/s?
•       Access by bus, cab, coach, train, etc
•       Travel between conference venue and accommodation
•       Estimated  travel costs from a range of major cities

Costs & Finance (in Euro and US$)
•       Conference registration: Full & Day rates, student rates, DiGRA 
        member rates
•       Accommodation: Per person, room share scheme?
•       Meals/Conference Dinner
•       How will booking be handled?

Organisation
•       Conference committee: Details of organisers, responsibilities, 
        administrative support, etc. Status of their DiGRA membership or 
        office. Short research biographies. Plan for coordination of 
        duties within committee as well as with DiGRA executive board; 
        estimate of deadlines for conference planning schedule.
•       Institutional support: Level and nature of department/institution 
        involvement and funding
•       Additional support: Details of finance, facilities, sponsorship or 
        other involvement from additional organisations     

Dates: 
	Proposed conference dates, deadline for abstracts, etc. (It is 
      strongly recommended that proposers avoid dates conflicting with 
      events such as E3, GDC, GDCe, ECTS, SIGGRAPH, CHI, etc)

It is recommended that proposers produce a simple business plan to estimate
incoming and outgoing monies for the conference depending on different
levels of attendance and financial support. Issues such as how any loss will
be accounted for should be dealt with, as DiGRA cannot currently offer any
financial guarantee.

Procedures should be in place so that in the event that the conference makes
a profit DiGRA will receive 10% of this. The association will use this
towards developing funds to support conference costs for some students or
researchers coming from economically unstable countries.

There will be more details in the Conference License Agreement that will be
signed by the representatives of the conference organiser and the
association.

Completed proposals or general enquires about the conference hosting call,
and details of the Licence Agreement etc. should be directed to Jason Rutter
(Jason.Rutter at man.ac.uk) or Frans Mäyrä (frans.mayra at uta.fi).

*** Deadline for proposals is Monday, October 27, 2003. ***

Finally, if you haven’t organised an international conference before do not
underestimate the time and resources it consumes. Think carefully about your
organisational network and distribution of labour as well as contingency
plans for if your people or funding arrangements change.

--- (please feel free to forward to all relevant parties) ---


--
Dr Jason Rutter

Mobile Entertainment: User Centred Perspectives 
25-27th March 2004 - www.mobile-ent.org

Digital Games Industries: Developments, Impact and Direction 
19-20th September 2003
www.cric.ac.uk/cric/workshops/dgi/

ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC), 
The University of Manchester, 
Harold Hankins Building, Booth Street West,
Manchester M13 9QH. UK
Ph: +44 (0)161 275 6859 Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 7361 
www.cric.ac.uk/cric/Jason_Rutter