Citizen Science Association
CitSciVirtual: Workshops
—The call for workshops has closed. Accepted workshop presenters will be notified on February 15th, 2021.—
WORKSHOP GOALS
Practitioners, researchers, and the broader citizen science community members are invited by the Citizen Science Association to submit workshop proposals to be held at our upcoming community-wide convenings, CitSciVirtual: Local, Global, Connected (May 2021). We encourage hands-on, interactive, experiential, engagement-focused workshops that will enable hosts to share expertise and practices with workshop participants, who will gain the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to enable citizen science innovations.
We are particularly keen to host workshops that connect to current global environmental and social challenges and environmental and social justice. We would also like to involve practitioners who are engaged in the delivery of citizen science projects in different contexts, across the globe.
VISION FOR WORKSHOPS
The workshop program will run throughout May 2021. Workshops will be able to mix pre-recorded videos, live sessions, and text resources to share content with participants. We encourage applicants to consider creative approaches to workshop design, which might incorporate, for example, online demonstrations, virtual tours, or live-project walk-throughs. Workshops should NOT include only panel discussions or lectures. Rather, workshops should be skills-based and participants should walk away with new knowledge, tools, and resources that can be applied in other projects or places.
WORKSHOP ATTRIBUTES
Applicants are encouraged to think creatively about the best ways to share content and engage participants. Workshops can include a maximum of three hours of content, which can include a mix of pre-recorded and live sessions. Presenters may also include links, documents, and resources for participants to explore before and after the workshops session. Workshop sessions may include one individual session, or multiple sessions that allow participants to reflect on content or practice skills in-between sessions. For highly interactive session components, presenters may propose duplicate sessions on different days or multiple synchronous sessions in order to engage a larger number of participants. We hope that this flexibility allows presenters to design workshops that encourage participation and time for reflection and practice, as well as to determine the structure that is most appropriate for the audience and content being delivered.
Workshop content will primarily be delivered through the Mighty Networks platform and will use Zoom for all live sessions. Workshop hosts will be responsible for creating and uploading any pre-recorded content, worksheets, resources, and hand-outs, as well as facilitating live sessions and participating in workshop chat feeds. To help you imagine what is possible and see the ease of creating and sharing workshop content, we recorded a short, 30 minute, webinar which you can view here.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
If you would like to host a workshop as part of CitSciVirtual, please complete the workshop proposal form, available here.
You can access a Word version of the form here. This is only intended as a way for you to prepare and save your responses. Please note that you CANNOT submit via the word file, and all submissions must be submitted via the Google Form in order to be considered.
Rather than a traditional academic abstract, workshop presenters will be asked to answer a series of questions related to their workshop (each 100 words max).
This includes:
- A short summary of your workshop to be shared with potential attendees.
- What are the expected outcomes of the workshop?
- How will your workshop highlight connections with the community or how will it embrace the interests, decisions, community voice, and/or research priorities of marginalized or under-represented groups?
- How will workshop participants benefit from this workshop?
- How will you ensure an engaging workshop experience for participants?
- How will you keep your workshop accessible and inclusive for all audiences?
Deadline to submit proposals is 17 January 3 January 2021, 11:59 Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8).
Submission Portal is Google Forms:
https://forms.gle/vfsfeHtjdM7rztLK8.
If you have questions about your workshop proposal, please email citscivirtual_workshops@citizenscience.org.
For more information on the conference, please visit: https://citizenscience.org/events/conferences/
TIMELINE
9 November 2020 Call for proposals opens
24 November 2020 Workshop Proposal Q and A Webinar [View Recording]
17 January 2021, 11:59 PST (GMT -8) Deadline for proposal submissions
15 February 2021 Notification of proposal status
16 April 2021 All videos and materials are uploaded
1-30 May 2021 CitSci Virtual Events
EVALUATION PROCESS AND CRITERIA
All proposals will be reviewed and ranked by the CSA Conference workshops committee. With limited spaces and an eye to providing a broad selection of excellent workshop choices, the Committee may accept or decline your proposal, or offer you the opportunity to work with another workshop proposer.
Workshop proposals will be assessed using the following criteria:
- Potential to engage and offer useful learning for practitioners in this field
- Broader impacts (e.g., relevance of content to many people, evidence of reaching new people)
- Creativity approach to workshop design
- Alignment with conference scope and principles
- Evidence of well organized and engaging workshop plan
SUPPORT FOR WORKSHOP PRESENTERS
You can learn more about the unique opportunities of presenting a workshop in an online environment and how to best cater your proposed workshop to the available technology in a short, 30 minute, webinar hosted on 24 November. Additional questions about proposals can directed to the workshop subcommittee at citscivirtual_workshops@citizenscience.org.
Accepted presenters will have access to complimentary live webinars that will cover virtual workshop design, including best practices for presentations and video production. Webinars will be recorded if you cannot attend the live sessions. Additional office hours will take place prior to the conference for any questions as well as a Q&A document posted on the CSA website.
PARTICIPATION AND CANCELLATION POLICY
You may only be listed as the corresponding presenter for one workshop proposal. All presenters will be asked to participate in the delivery of the workshop. If the workshop is accepted, all presenters must register for CitSciVirtual in order to share the workshop content and discussions.
It is disruptive to meeting programs if any accepted workshops are canceled. Submit a workshop proposal only if you are sure to attend the meeting and are willing to fulfill your responsibility as an organizer. In case of unavoidable circumstances, a principal organizer may be replaced by a co-organizer.
CSA reserves the right to charge workshop fees. Any fees will be determined in conjunction with presenters, and will be set with an eye for equity in terms of access for both attendees and presenters.