13th ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing | UBICOMP2011

Ubicomp 2011 invites proposals for the workshop program of the 13th International ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing. Workshops provide a forum for attendees to discuss topics of special interest. The day-long workshops will be held on Sunday, September 18, 2011, prior to the main conference.

Important Dates

Apr 1, 2011 - Submission deadline is extended to Apr. 1, 2011
Apr 18, 2011 - Notification of Workshop Acceptance
May 2, 2011 - Distribution of all accepted Workshop CFPs
July 11, 2011 – Camera Ready Accepted Workshop Papers Due
Sep 18, 2011 - Ubicomp 2011 Workshop Program

Pre-Proposal Submission Inquiries

Should you wish to discuss ideas for a workshop proposal prior to the submission deadline, feel free to contact the chairs of the Workshops Program at workshop2011@ubicomp.org.

Proposal Content

We are soliciting workshop proposals in all areas related to Ubiquitous Computing. We are aiming for a balanced workshop program that avoids overlapping themes. Workshop organizers are expected to be active in the area of their workshop proposal. In addition to workshops that explore new research areas, we would especially encourage more ambitious workshops of three types.

The first type is academic in nature and can be viewed as mini-tracks to the main conference. These workshops should have the potential to be sustainable and re-occur in the coming years. Hence, we are looking to host workshops with the ambition of setting up a program committee and aim for publication for improved versions of the workshop papers.

The second type of workshops aims at building ubiquitous systems or applications during the day at the workshop. Hence, this type of workshops is a place for people to meet and design, build, or integrate ubiquitous systems. This may range from physical design mock-ups containing no technology, to a video prototype, to building an application on a hardware toolkit provided by the organizers. Such a workshop should feed directly into the other parts of the conference by producing a demo or a video for the demo and video program.

The third type of workshop aims at developing new interdisciplinary collaborations to better define a subarea of research related to Ubicomp systems. Hence, workshop proposers should come from the various disciplines necessary for the workshop with a plan on how to recruit participants from multiple disciplines to create a productive, collaborative environment.

The workshops should include a proposal of how to transfer results from the workshop to the main conference. It is important that the workshop activities can be transplanted to other conference activities. Thus, proposals should specifically address how workshops can provide input and contribute to the main conference. Each workshop will be provided a 1-minute lightening talk slot at the main conference to present results and activities from the workshop.

Workshop proposals should include a main document and an appendix. The main document should include:

Workshop title
Organizers as the article authors
Introduce the area
Describe related literature
Proposed results of the workshop

The workshop proposal abstract should be the SIGCHI archival format, up to 4 pages (see the Ubicomp 2011 web site for links to these templates). ALL accepted workshop papers will be included in the ACM digital library and the supplemental proceedings. Depending on the workshop type, the organizers could decide not to put papers in ACM digital library. This should be clearly described in the workshop proposal. Please note that the workshop organizers can specify the page counts for their workshop papers, but all papers should be in the SIGCHI archival format and be ready for inclusion into ACM digital library and the supplementary proceedings by 18 July 2011.

The appendix should describe more process-oriented parts of the workshop, in a format that the authors deem appropriate. The appendix should:

Include a summary (no more than 150 words) describing the theme(s) of the workshop
Describe the workshop format, activities, and goals (e.g., traditional workshop format with publishable papers, oral presentations only, posters, prototyping, etc.)
List the specific topics of interest
Provide names, affiliations, and research interests of the organizers. International teams of organizers from different institutions for each workshop are encouraged.
Describe whether the workshop papers will be put into ACM digital library, and alternative plans (if any) for publishing the workshop papers.
Describe envisioned workshop attendees (e.g., areas of expertise).
Explain how the organizers plan to attract submissions and/or participants.
Provide an estimate of how many workshop participants the organizers expect.
Describe how the organizers will facilitate discussion among workshop participants.
Clearly define the expected outcome of the workshop.
Outline the planning of the workshop (e.g., participant selection, time line, type of contributions)
Propose an expected agenda for the workshop.
Proposed Request for Workshop Papers (if appropriate)

Proposals for hands-on workshops should list the resources that the organizers will provide to build prototypes (e.g., video cameras, software, frameworks, toolkits, hardware components, etc.). In addition, the appendix should clarify any technical requirements, e.g., for building prototypes during the workshop (e.g., Internet access).

Workshop Organizers’ responsibilities

The organizers of each workshop are expected to:

Publicize the workshop with a call for participation via the Ubicomp Web and email
Setup a web site for the workshop containing more details on the workshop, including CFP, workshop format, strategies for publication (if any), participants, program, etc. In particular, the CFP should clearly specify that accepted papers must be in the SIGCHI archival format and will be published in the Ubicomp 2011 supplemental proceedings. Organizers should mention if the publications will be published anywhere else in the future (e.g., a special issue journal).
Encourage potential participants to submit papers
Work with the Ubicomp Publication Chairs to include workshop papers in the ACM digital library and the supplementary proceedings
Work with the Ubicomp Workshop Chairs to arrange the workshop.
Actively run the workshop.

Note that workshops are an integral part of the Ubicomp conference. Hence, workshop organisers and attendees are expected to register for the workshop in addition to the conference.

Submitting your proposal

Please email your proposal, as two separate PDF attachments, directly to the workshop chairs at workshop2011@ubicomp.org. The deadline for submission of workshop proposals is extended to Apr. 1, 2011. Workshop proposals should be no longer than 4 pages for the main document. There is no limit for the appendix. Please download and use the required templates to prepare your submission.

Workshop Chairs:

Katie A. Siek, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
Zhiwen Yu, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China

If you have any further queries please contact workshop2011@ubicomp.org