We are organizing a workshop on supporting the collaborative activities of amateur participants at GROUP 2009 (http://www.group2009conference.org/), which will take place on May 10-13th in Sanibel Island, FL. Please consider submitting a 1-2 page position paper by Mar 27th, 2009. Early submissions are highly encouraged. Approaching 'Amateur': Workshop at Group 2009 Saturday, May 10th Organizers: Jennifer Thom-Santelli, Cornell University Eric Cook, University of Michigan Kurt Luther, Georgia Institute of Technology Jeffrey Bardzell, Indiana University Amy Bruckman, Georgia Institute of Technology OVERVIEW What do a birdwatcher, photographer, tennis player, video gamer and Wikipedia editor have in common? Each might be characterized as an amateur in his or her respective area of participation. While discussion of the amateur participant emerges in a number of groupware & collaborative contexts, the meaning of amateur and its implications for CSCW remain unclear, and few theoretical and practical guidelines exist for guiding the design of systems to support amateur activities. The purpose of this workshop is as follows: 1) to unpack the concept of the amateur, particular in relation to technology design and analysis, 2) to develop a more critical stance on the concept, in order to bring precision to our use of the term and the particular factors and characteristics that it implies, and 3) to build a cohort of researchers interested in advancing this topic in the realm of CSCW. Topics for discussion include: * Designing for voluntary involvement and variable commitment * The acquisition of expertise by amateur participants * The relationship between amateurs and professionals in collaborative activity * The construction of the audience by amateur participants * Critical or historical perspectives regarding amateur participation and its relationship with technology * Addressing methodological challenges in studying amateur participants Important dates: Mar 27th, 2009: Position papers due Mar 29th, 2009: Notification of acceptance Apr 5th, 2009: Early registration deadline for GROUP 2009 May 10th, 2009: Workshop SUBMISSION INFORMATION We invite 1-2 page position papers in ACM proceedings format (http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates) addressing an aspect of the proposed topics of discussion or an extended abstract of relevant research. Please email .pdf or .doc versions to jt17@cornell.edu by 5:00pm PST on Mar 27th, 2009. For further information about the workshop, including the proposed agenda, see the workshop website at http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/amateursworkshop. Please pass on this CFP to colleagues who might be interested. -- Jenn Thom-Santelli PhD Candidate HCI Group & CEmCom Cornell University http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/jt17/