DiGRA Call for Conference Hosts: Inaugural Digital Games Research Conference 2003 The newly formed Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) has as a central goal 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 inaugural conference in 2003. The selection process will be undertaken in two stages. First a preliminary proposal (no more that 4 pages) must be submitted to conference@digra.org by December 1, 2002. This need not include the full list of details as asked below, but provide an overview of the planned event and conditions for its realization. Based on review of these confidential outlines, DiGRA will invite full proposals from chosen institutions. The DiGRA Executive Board will make the selection and announce the host for the first international DiGRA Conference early in 2003. Guidelines for Conference Proposals Institutions wishing to nominate themselves are recommended to consider the following aims of DiGRA when putting their proposal together and highlight how the event they would organise would achieve those: * 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 which tackle these issues in an innovative manner and build upon standard conference practice. As DiGRA is currently in the process of establishing its formal organisation and finalising its agenda (the organisation will be officially launched in 2003), you are invited to occasionally check the organisation website at www.digra.org for updates. You are welcome to address any questions you may have to conference@digra.org. There is no compulsory format for conference hosting proposals but is it 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, registration area, 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 & Social events: What? When? Where? Are they particularly digital gaming relevant or locally typical? * Delegate packs: Contents. Are Conference Proceedings planned? How will that be financed and published? What format will they take? Travel: * Distance from international airport/s? * Access by bus, cab, coach, train, etc * Travel between conference venue and accommodation * Indicative travel costs from a range of major cities Costs & Finance (in Euro and/or 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. * 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) Previous scholarly conferences (Manchester, Tampere) from which DiGRA has developed have attracted up to 200 international participants. Since the DiGRA conference will have world-wide attention and wider interdisciplinary and collaborative character, the potential attendance may be higher and as such a conference duration of 2-3 days would seem appropriate. It is recommended that proposers produce a simple business plan to gain a better insight in to 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 students or researchers coming from economically unstable countries. Completed proposals or general enquires about the conference hosting call should be directed to DiGRA working group at address conference@digra.org. Deadline for preliminary proposals is December 1, 2002. Finally, if you haven't organised an international conference before do not underestimate the time and resources it consumes. Think carefully about your organisation network and distribution of labour as well as contingency plans for if your people or funding arrangements change. About DiGRA Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) is a non-profit, international association of academics and practitioners whose work focuses on digital games and associated activities. Focus technologies of the association include (but are not restricted to) existing types of computer and video games, online games, arcade games, games on handheld and mobile devices and games delivered through digital television or other forms of interactive technologies. The association aims to encourage high-level digital games relevant research and to promote the dissemination of work by its members through research, development, commercial, practitioner and policy communities, networks and organisations. More details can be found at www.digra.org -- Dr Jason Rutter (Research Fellow) ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC), The University of Manchester, Harold Hankins Building, Booth Street West, Manchester, M13 9QH PH: +44 (0) 161 275 6859 Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 7361 http://www.cric.ac.uk/cric/Jason_Rutter