RESPONSIBILITIES OF A HICSS MINITRACK CHAIR

 

 

The HICSS series of conferences has become a unique and respected forum in computer and information systems and technology for the exchange of ideas among the researchers and development communities in North America, the Asian and Pacific Basin nations, Europe, and the Middle East.  A Track consists of three full days of parallel technical sessions, coupled with a set of advanced seminars and tutorials.  A Minitrack is either a half-day or a full-day of technical sessions.  Participants may be involved in several different Tracks. 

1.  Prepare for a Workshop-like Setting

A HICSS Minitrack consists of a set of 90-minute sessions conducted in a workshop-like setting.  A full-day Minitrack is 4 sessions; a half-day is 2 sessions.  Each session consists of three papers; each paper is summarized by the Author(s) in 15 minutes with another 15 minutes devoted to discussion and questions.  In a full-day Minitrack, the last session may consist of an "open forum" which typically is a lively, open dialogue on the issues raised in the presentations.  You are to solicit manuscripts, have them refereed, collaborate with the Track Chair in determining which manuscripts are to be accepted, structure the sessions, introduce the speakers in your sessions, and act as the moderator of the forum.

 

There are no "panels" at HICSS.  Panels typically involve people that have little connection to the written record of the conference.  Panels are walk-on/walk-off and those involved often do not participate in the full slate of conference activities. If you have a topic that seems suited for a panel discussion, please contact the Track Administrator Eileen Robichaud eidennis@indiana.edu for guidelines for developing a Special Forum.

 

2.  Solicit Manuscripts for the Minitrack

After your Track Chair approves your Minitrack, you are encouraged to publicize your Minitrack.  Please observe the guidelines in the HICSS Publicity Plan.  You should solicit high-quality manuscripts from people who are known to do excellent work in the field.  We recommend you contact potential Authors and referees to describe the overall objectives of the conference and of the Minitrack, and solicit their ideas, a manuscript, or a commitment to referee.  A full-day minitrack should receive 25-30 papers, and a half-day minitrack should receive 12-15 papers.

 

Each manuscript submitted to the file submission site should be in publication format, as defined in the submissions instructions on the conference web site. The material must contain original results and not have been submitted elsewhere while it is being evaluated for acceptance to HICSS.  Manuscripts that have already appeared in publication are not to be considered for this conference.

 

3.       Follow the HICSS Publicity Plan

We have developed a standard approach to the announcements and calls for papers at HICSS, so that all the announcements for the many Tracks and Minitracks are consistent, and so that redundancy in bulletin boards and other channels is controlled.  All Track Chairs and Minitrack Chairs should follow these procedures. (See bottom of this message for specific details).

 

4.  Acquire Referees Who Will Critically Review all Manuscripts Submitted to Your Minitrack

Using the HICSS Peer Review system you will assign three (3) reviewers for each paper.  Quality refereeing is essential to ensure the technical credibility of HICSS.   HICSS does not have "invited" manuscripts; all submissions go through a rigorous peer refereeing process.   Each manuscript should be stringently reviewed by qualified people who are actively working with the topics dealt with by the paper. Do not use Authors of submitted manuscripts as referees, as this potentially places them in a conflict-of-interest situation.

·        You are responsible for having each manuscript reviewed by at least three people in addition to yourself.  The Author should be given only reviews that are technically substantive. 

·        If you wish to submit a paper to your own Minitrack, submit it to the Chair Review Site.  The Track Chair will then administer the refereeing process.

 

5.  Accept Manuscripts for the Minitrack

A full-day Minitrack should accept 10-12 papers, and a half-day Minitrack should accept five to six.  Acceptances are limited to allow time for the discussion.  To ensure excellent papers, typically more than two to three times the number of papers needed must actually be solicited.  Many papers will not meet our quality standards (i.e., will not make it through the refereeing process) and some Authors may not be able to fulfill their initial commitment and complete the paper for you.  If nine technically solid papers do not survive the refereeing process, the full-day Minitrack can be changed to a half-day session.

 

6.  Republication of the Enhanced Manuscripts

We encourage you to work with an Editor-in-Chief of a professional society periodical to use your accepted papers as the basis of a special issue of the publication.  Such an arrangement encourages quality submission and requires good refereeing standards.  Enter into such an agreement as soon as possible.

 

7.  Write an Introduction to the Minitrack for the Proceedings

After Authors have been notified of the acceptance of the final version of their manuscript, you are to write an Introduction to the Minitrack (maximum length: one page) for inclusion in the conference proceedings.  This should not be an overview of the papers, but should introduce the reader to the important issues that exist in the research area.  Submit your Introduction to file submission site before October 1.

 

8.  Select a Best Paper Nomination from the Manuscripts

After you have selected the manuscripts for inclusion in your Minitrack, your candidate Best Paper selection must be forwarded to the Track Administrator.  If you have your own manuscript accepted in your Minitrack, you may include your paper in addition to another.  An external committee will make the selection for the Best Paper in the Track, considering your manuscript along with the candidates you have provided.  Due October 1.

 

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The Publicity Plan is as follows.   All Track Chairs and Minitrack Chairs should follow these procedures.  Observing these procedures will eliminate much of the confusion that can otherwise develop.

 

1.       HICSS Call for Papers:  In November, Track Chairs submit highlights for the general conference HICSS Call for Papers (CFP).  A version of this Call for Papers is included in the registration packet, placed on the web site, and mailed to a mailing list of about 2,500 names in January.  The CFP that is mailed is also available to Track Chairs and Minitrack Chairs in small quantities for personal distribution.   It is also mailed by the conference office to a selected number of flagship periodicals for posting by several professional societies in their calendar sections.  If you have a journal to suggest, please send the name and address to the Conference Office.    The conference office will post the HICSS CFP for the overall conference, as well as a description of each Track and each Minitrack on the conference web site at http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu

 

Track Calls for Papers:  A CFP for each Track is prepared in both electronic and paper form by the Track Administrator (Eileen Robichaud, eidennis@indiana.edu ), based on information provided by the Track Chair and approved by the conference office for consistency of dates and deadlines.  It lists the names of all Minitracks in the track and the contact information for each Minitrack Chair. The Track Administrator will provide a Track CFP to each Track chair for their particular track's publicity to be posted elsewhere other than ISWorld.

 

The Track Administrator ONLY will post the general conference Call for Papers on ISWorld.  Please note that ISWorld/AIS regulations allow only this official Call for Papers to be posted.  Any suggestions for bulletin boards or other publicity outlets (other than ISWorld) should be forwarded to the Track Administrator.

 

2.       Minitrack Calls for Papers:  Each Minitrack Chair prepares both paper and electronic versions of their Minitrack CFP explaining the scope, purpose, and emphasis of the Minitrack in more detail.   The template will be provided to Minitrack Chairs by email from the Track Administrator.   All information included in the template must be used in preparing the Minitrack CFP. 

Your minitrack CFP is used to solicit participation from specific people or groups, and may also be used, for instance, in response to inquiries from someone who saw the Track Call.    The Minitrack CFP may be submitted to listservs other than ISWorld.   Minitrack Chairs should also send their CFP to those individuals who have submitted to the Minitrack in previous years, so that these authors may also provide names of others who might be interested, and a CFP can forwarded by the Chair. 

 

3.   Minitrack Websites: If you set up a website for your Minitrack, please send the URL to both the Track  Administratoar and the HICSS