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@man.ac.uk) or Frans Mäyrä (frans.mayra@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