The 2024 Global Digital Humanities Symposium will take place over the course of 3 days: 2 half-days will run as a virtual event, and 1 full day will run as an in person event. The in person event will take place at Michigan State University (USA), and we hope to collaborate with 1-2 partnering organizations or institutions globally to simultaneously host their own in person events. Further details about partnering to host an in person event as part of the Global DH Symposium will be forthcoming in May 2023.
The Symposium will be organized by a planning committee of 16 people. This committee size may adjust as partnering in person events join, so that local planning teams can be a full part of the Symposium planning. 4 planning committee member spots will be dedicated to each local planning subcommittee.
The committee as a whole will meet monthly (virtually) beginning in April 2023 through May 2024 in order to plan, execute, and close out the 2024 event. Committee members will join one of four subcommittees (each including 4 people) which will also meet monthly (virtually) and as needed.
Attendance at the Symposium (whether in person and/or virtually) is required for committee members.
We recognize the extraordinary time and commitment that this process requires. As such, we will provide a letter of appreciation for their work. Because we depend on the commitment of planning committee members for the success of the Symposium, however, we reserve the right to remove from the committee anyone who does not participate in committee and/or subcommittee work for two months or longer (either via meeting attendance or through email contribution).
We welcome applications to join the Planning Committee! The application form will remain open until Thursday, March 30, 2023. Feel free to message Kristen Mapes (kmapes@msu.edu) with any questions.
Description of Committee Work and Subcommittees
Committee work as a whole
- Select dates and format(s) for the Symposium
- Determine multilingual approach
- Consider accessibility across the event
- Craft the schedule of the event (session length, types, etc)
- Select an emphasis or theme for the year
Subcommittees
These subcommittees will work closely with a local planning committee for each in person event to coordinate communications, practical needs, and program arrangement.
Content and Publications
- Select and communicate with keynote speakers
- Draft the Call for Proposals in English and arrange for translation of the CFP as appropriate
- Take lead on review of proposals, including drafting the rubric for reviewers, soliciting reviewers, and thanking them
- Craft the program, including determining acceptances and rejections
- Communicate with submitters regarding acceptance or rejection, and communicate with presenters leading up to and following the event as needed
- Maintain conference proceedings website (msuglobaldh.hcommons.org)
- Draft criteria and framework for proceedings and communicate with presenters as needed
- Consider additional publication opportunities for presenters (special issues of journals etc) as appropriate
Technology and Volunteers
- Solicit and communicate with reviewers, ensuring there are reviewers available to handle submissions in all languages of the CFP
- Solicit and communicate with virtual and in person volunteers in collaboration with Local Planning Subcommittes (e.g. moderators, streaming support, Tweeters, microphone runners)
- Update the livestreaming and recording permissions form as needed and keep track of permissions from presenters
- Coordinate in person spaces and technologies (for presentation and streaming) with MSU Libraries
- Plan for technologies related to virtual components of the Symposium (meeting system, livestreaming, Q&A, etc)
- Arrange live captioning in English and live interpretation among the languages of the Symposium as appropriate
Communications and Community Building
- Maintain symposium website (msuglobaldh.org)
- Disseminate information about the Symposium (CFP, registration, etc) to email lists and other communication channels
- Draft and disseminate registration form and sign in form, and communicate with attendees as needed
- Draft and disseminate the post-event survey
- Update the Code of Conduct and reporting protocol
- Plan and run social activities (to be determined by the subcommittee), for virtual days of the Symposium
Local Planning – Michigan State
- Manage space needs in coordination with MSU Libraries; work with facilities to plan logistics and technology needs for the space
- Plan social activities and reception as appropriate (work with Communications & Community Building subcommittee)
- Plan for food needs (coffee, etc) during the event
- Solicit and communicate with volunteers for in person event (e.g. moderators, microphone runners, Tweeters, setup/cleanup crew) (work with Technology & Volunteers subcommittee)Create welcoming materials for attendees, including local accommodation information, parking, etc. Option to foster a host-stay program, if desired.
